Mill Creek Entertainent; Amazon

The 1975 action drama White Line Fever was released on Blu-ray (PG; 90 mins; $14.98) last week by Mill Creek Entertainment as part of their Retro VHS Look. The movie stars the late Jan-Michael Vincent who played in the short-lived '80s television series Airwolf.

Co-written and directed by Jonathan Kaplan, Jan-Michael Vincent plays Carrol Jo "CJ" who obtains a big bank loan to buy a 1974 Ford WT9000 cabover rig (a.k.a. the "BLUE MULE") shortly after coming home from serving in the Air Force during Vietnam. He seeks work from an old friend, Duane (played by Slim Pickens) at the Red River, a produce-shipping company in Tucson. CJ's father used to haul for Red River before his death and he has fond memories of the place. However, Red River isn't the same place it used to be. The company now hauls illegal products, such as slot machines, drugs, and untaxed cigarettes.

Unlike many Red River truckers, CJ actually has morals and refuses to haul anything illegal. Lets just say CJ ends up pissing off the Red River owner which leads to him starting a small war with the company.


Final Thoughts

AMAZON

Wouldn't you've believed a comedy starring Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson would be funny?

Unfortunately, that's not the case with The Hustle which was just released to Blu-ray and DVD this week from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. It's also available on Digital HD and On Demand.

Directed by Chris Addison, the film is a gender swapping remake of 1988's comedy Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which itself was a remake of the 1964 classic Bedtime Story.

The Hustle centers around Penny (played by Rebel Wilson), a small-time con artist who makes a living by defrauding wealthy men. On a trip to the French Riviera, Penny runs into Josephine Chesterfield (Anne Hathaway) who just happens to also be a con artist. Eventually, the duo make a bet on who can swindle a young tech billionaire (Alex Sharp) out of his money.

The movie was critical failure but it did manage to pull in $95 million at the box office on a $21 million budget.

Blu-ray Special Features include:

• Hitting the Mark – We’ll reveal the plans behind the film: from Anne Hathaway’s initial discussions with Jac Schaeffer and Rebel Wilson about updating the story for a modern era to Chris Addison’s collaboration with the cast to craft the comedy on set.
• Comedy Class – Every actor in the film brings a very different comedic style to their roles. This comic clash helps sell the conflict between Josephine, Penny, and the other characters in the film.
• Con Artists – The artists behind the camera help bring the story to life…in this case costume designer Emmer Fryer and production designer Alice Normington show off their skills.
• Feature Commentary by Director Chris Addison 

Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @  Caffeinated Book Reviewer!

How did my reading go last week? To tell you the truth - not very good. Did I finish reading IT? Nope!

However, I did read a few pages over the weekend and I'm now on page 535. As you can probably tell, I'm in no hurry to read IT. It's not like I have a review deadline for it, though I would like to post a review sometime during the first week of September.

Additionally, I did listen to an audiobook Wake the Dead by Stacey Rourke yesterday afternoon.

I'll be reviewing it sometime this week. Maybe even today! My reading agenda for this week is to once again finish reading IT. Plus, I'll be listening to the audiobook The Unlucky Ones by Stacey Marie Brown.

Recent Reviews

 

New in the Mail

 

Books

Nearly two weeks ago, I received the novella The Witch Port Video Game by Leonard Bassed. I will be reviewing the title in September for a book tour. On the exact same day, I received The Inn by James Patterson & Candice Fox. Now the latter isn't for review purposes as I had pre-ordered a few days prior to its release. However, whenever I get around to reading it, I'll most likely post a review for it.

DVDs/Blu-rays

AMAZON; Barnes & Noble; Scholastic

I'm feeling a bit old while I'm writing this review as it has come to my attention that R.L. Stine's Goosebumps franchise just turned 27-years-old last month! And this also means it's been 27 years since I read my very first Goosebumps - Welcome to Dead House.

Despite that fact I'm soon to be a 38-year-old in just a few weeks, I still read each and every new Goosebumps title that's published. Yes, I'm well aware I'm way past the Grade 4 reading level but I like nostalgia and that's exactly the feeling I get every time I read a Goosebumps book. Plus, I just love horror stories, even the kid-friendly ones.

The newest entry in the franchise is titled Goosebumps SlappyWorld: The Dummy Meets The Mummy! (a.k.a. - the eighth installment of the spinoff SlappyWorld series). And as you can probably guess by the art cover, this story centers around everyone's favorite villainous ventriloquist dummy - Slappy! There's also a creepy mummy in this tale. No, it's not the same mummy from the classic Goosebumps titles The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb and Return of the Mummy. Instead it's a brand new character named Arragotus.

Of course Goosebumps stories don't just center around the villains as there's always one or two young protagonists, typically around 12-years-old, who have to stop the bad guys from doing some evil deed. For The Dummy Meets The Mummy!, there are in fact two main characters - Cathy O'Connor and Aaron Riggles. 

The plot involves a middle-grade class having a supervised sleepover in the Haunted Horror Museum, which is owned by Cathy's father. The museum's newest attraction is Arragotus the mummy. Just before the kids arrive, the museum received a rather odd donation - a ventriloquist dummy named Slappy! 

Let's just say having Arragotus and Slappy under the same roof isn't a very good thing!

Final Thoughts

Mill Creek Entertainment; Amazon

There were a slew of teens in peril movies released in the 1980s. A few of these titles became classics and many others have mostly been forgotten, such as 1985's The New Kids starring a young Lori Loughlin and James Spader.

The New Kids was released this week to Blu-ray (R; 90 mins; $14.98) for the very first time by Mill Creek Entertainment. There are no special features or bonus extras. It does come with an '80s VHS-style DVD slipcover. 

Directed by Friday the 13th's Sean S. Cunningham, the film centers around Loren and Abby McWilliams (played by Shannon Presby and Lori Loughlin), whose parents were killed in an accident. With no were else to go, the siblings pack their bags and move to a small Florida town to live with their Uncle Charlie on his roadside amusement park.

After helping their uncle get the amusement park in working shape, Loren and Abby start school at the local high school, where I guess you can say things don't go so well there. Unknowingly to Abby, Dutra (played by James Spader) and his redneck gang make a bet to who can take Abby's virginity. However, Abby rejects all their attempts to sweep her off her feet. This leads to Dutra and his goons harassing, stalking, and tormenting Abby and her brother.

The film was critically panned and bombed at the box office; taking in under $200,000 on a $6 million budget.

Final Thoughts