Mike Spring
Recap
Review
What’s New in Home Video & Pop Culture – August 19th, 2025
It’s always an exciting week when one of the biggest movies of the year comes to home video! Add in another recent box office outing, a couple of stand-out catalog releases, and a few of the usual hidden gems, and it’s a strong slate for home video!
In This Week’s Column:
- How to Train Your Dragon (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital)
- The Accountant 2 (4K Ultra HD + Digital)
- The 40-Year-Old-Virgin (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital Steelbook)
- Blaxploitation Classics Volume 2 (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)
- Martial Law: Lo Wei’s Wuxia World (Blu-ray)
- Shinobi: Volume 2 Box Set (Blu-ray)
How to Train Your Dragon (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital)
The Movie:
Since the very beginning, the How to Train Your Dragon movies have always been somewhat of a surprise for me. The first film was more fun than I expected, the kind of movie that kids and adults could both enjoy. The second film built on the mythology of the first, adding new characters and settings and proving the first film wasn’t a fluke. The third film in the trilogy added a new dragon and possible love interest for Toothless along with a new villain, plus stakes that were bigger then ever. It was a fantastic animated trilogy.
So it seemed odd to me that Dreamworks decided to do a live action remake of the first film as their next effort in the franchise; after all, the original film only came out 15 years ago. It’s barely had time enough to age, much less need a remake. Admittedly, I went into the new/old How to Train Your Dragon movie a little skeptical.
And wouldn’t you know it? Color me surprised once again! The movie works just as well as a live-action family film, filled with all the adventure and humor and characters we’ve come to know and love. While it is pretty much a straight remake of the original with very little deviation, the fact that there are now real versions of characters like Hiccup and Stoick and Astrid to care about gives it some real emotional heft. And the interaction between the human actors and the CGI-dragons is flawless, making for a complete fantasy world. Mason Thames is absolute perfection as Hiccup, looking like a cloned version of a younger Jesse Eisenberg, while Gerard Butler absolutely (and quite literally) dominates the screen as Stoick. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I ended up loving — once again — How to Train Your Dragon.
The 4K Video/Audio:
The film looks and sounds terrific in 4K, with crystal clear imagery and colors that seem to leap off the screen in many of the brighter scenes. I do wish some of the darker scenes — of which there are a fair amount — were a little brighter, though. I can’t say the action is obscured, but I think the film would have popped more if the overall look was a little lighter. The flying/training scenes are the highlights of the film. That is all coupled with an incredibly immersive surround soundtrack, however. There’s a ton of action in the movie and the satellite speakers get a nice workout, with a nice, rumbly bass channel anchoring it all. It’s a very strong A/V presentation overall.
The Bonus Features:
- Love and Legacy: Making How to Train Your Dragon (46 minutes)
- Audio Commentary – With writer/director Dean DeBlois
- Deleted Scenes (5 minutes)
- Gag Reel (3 minutes)
- Building Berk (8 minutes)
- Fit for a Viking (5 minutes)
- Forbidden Friendship (6 minutes)
- Test Drive (3 minutes)
Digital Copy Included: Yes
The Wrap-Up:
I don’t know what the plan is for sequels to How to Train Your Dragon; I imagine the studio will just remake the entire original trilogy. Seeing how big of a hit this movie was, sequels are inevitable. And while I think that more remakes feels odd, I enjoyed this movie so much that I guess I’m not complaining!
The Accountant 2 (4K Ultra HD + Digital)
The Movie:
2014’s The Accountant was a surprise in more ways than one: it was a hit at a time when Ben Affleck’s box office clout had been pretty diminished, and it was also really, really good. The story of an accountant with an unspecified autism spectrum disorder who worked for criminals but had a strong personal code, the film was a mix of action flick and mystery that blended in a good dose of humor and great characters to become one of my favorite movies of that year.
So I was naturally excited when The Accountant 2 was released. With both Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal returning, plus the return of Cynthia Addai Robinson and J.K. Simmons, I was hopeful for a sequel that could become a chapter in an eventual franchise, a la John Wick. And while I can’t speak to the studio’s potential future plans for a follow-up, I can say that I was pretty darned disappointed by the film.
Let me be clear: I didn’t hate The Accountant 2. It’s not a bad film per se. It’s just not a great film, and it’s missing so much of what made the first film special. The story this time around, about a missing family and human trafficking, isn’t as engaging, nor does the mystery aspect work as well. And Ben Affleck’s performance is… troubling. In the first film, he played the role pretty straight, with just enough control of his emotions and peculiarities to hint at a neurodivergent diagnosis. This time around, it’s like he forgot to go back and watch the first film to see how he portrayed the character, and he adopts a much more stereotypical style of speaking that I can only describe as what you would expect someone to sound like if they were ‘capital-A acting’ as someone on the autism spectrum. I really didn’t care for that.
The 4K Video/Audio:
The Accountant 2 is a pretty standard action movie presentation on 4K Ultra HD. We get excellent color saturation and crystal clear imagery as well as an outstanding surround soundtrack. This is a nice, immersive soundfield that gives us plenty of directional action and clear dialogue. It’s a terrific effort overall.
The Bonus Features:
A little surprisingly, this is a bare bones release, with nary a single extra feature. That’s pretty disappointing as well.
Digital Copy Included: Yes
The Wrap-Up:
If you liked The Accountant, I’m not saying you shouldn’t watch The Accountant 2. Again, it’s not a bad movie, I just found it disappointing. I’m sure plenty of people will like it more than I did, though.
The 40-Year-Old-Virgin (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital Steelbook)
The Movie:
“AAAAAHHHHHH KELLY CLARKSON!!!”
With that one simple (albeit yelled) phrase, Steve Carell went from a former Daily Show anchor who had had a few supporting roles in movies to a comedic leading man, and Judd Apatow — for better or for worse — went on to become a one-man factory for highly successful (but overrated, in this reviewer’s opinion) comedy films.
It’s been 20 years since Carell ad-libbed his way to stardom in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and I know this thanks to the new 20th Anniversary Edition 4K Steelbook Sony has released to celebrate. Now, while I am not a particularly big fan of Judd Apatow’s brand of humor or many of the movies that he produced and/or directed after the success of The 40-Year-Old Virgin, I do like this movie quite a bit. Carell’s performance as a 40-year-old man whose friends discover that he’s never had sex and try to help him conquer that personal demon is funny and outrageous, but it also has heart and charm, something missing in most of Apatow’s later films that simply relied on crass humor and nothing more.
It’s been a decent amount of years since I’ve watched The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and revisiting it on 4K was every bit as fun as I hoped it would be. The original release was loaded with extra features (and all of those are included here), but there’s even a couple of new extras added, which was a nice surprise. And that Steelbook case is just the cherry on top!
The 4K Video/Audio:
The audiovisual upgrade for The 40-Year-Old Virgin is definitely noticeable, even if it doesn’t exactly look like a brand-new production. Imagery is super clear with excellent shadow delineation, while colors are strong and image clarity is terrific. The surround soundtrack won’t win any awards, but it does create a nice, active atmosphere throughout the film while dialogue remains clear and present, so it’s hard to complain.
The Bonus Features:
- NEW 20th Anniversary Discussion – Director Judd Apatow joins Steve Carell, Catherine Keener, Jane Lynch, Kat Dennings and Gerry Bednob for a lively discussion at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
- Feature Commentary with Director/Co-Writer Judd Apatow, Actor/Co-Writer Steve Carell and Cast
- Deleted Scenes
- The First Time – More deleted scenes with optional audio commentary by director/co-writer Judd Apatow and actor/co-producer Seth Rogen
- Tales from the Stock Room – Even more deleted scenes with optional audio commentary
- You Know How I Know You’re Gay? – Never-before-seen extra material of the infamous routine with optional commentary
- Date-A-Palooza – Watch the complete version of the speed dating scene
- Line-O-Rama – A montage of alternate jokes from different scenes
- Judd’s Video Diaries
- Auditions
- Raw Footage
- Poker Game Rehearsal
- Reel Comedy Roundtable
- Cinemax Final Cut: The 40-Year-Old Virgin
- 1970s Sex Ed Film
- My Dinner with Stormy
- Gag Reel
- Waxing Doc
Digital Copy Included: Yes
The Wrap-Up:
This release is the complete package: a fun film, a huge collection of bonus features, a 4K disc and a Blu-ray and a digital copy, and a sharp-looking steelbook case. It’s a no brainer.
Blaxploitation Classics Volume 2 (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)
The Movies:
While unfortunately I was not able to review the first volume of Blaxploitation Classics from Shout Factory, I did receive a review copy of Blaxploitation Classics: Volume 2, and while these things are obviously subjective, I think Volume 2 might actually have a stronger line-up than Volume 1 did. This new box set includes the following classics of the genre: Foxy Brown (1974), Friday Foster (1975), Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970), Bucktown (1975), Slaughter (1972), and Slaughter’s Big Rip Off (1973). By comparison, Volume 1 included Coffy, Black Caesar, Hell Up in Harlem, Across 110th Street, Truck Turner, and Sheba, Baby!.
Now, Pam Grier’s Coffy and Foxy Brown are both instant inclusions in these sets, but I actually prefer Foxy Brown. And the one-two punch of Jim Brown’s Slaughter and Slaughter’s Big Rip-Off outweighs a film like Truck Turner, at least for my money. Like I said, it’s subjective, but I’m pretty happy with the films chosen for Volume 2.
The 1970s saw an explosion of Blaxploitation films, when Hollywood realized it could make cheap action movies with largely African-American casts and they would turn a profit. Like so many other exploitation genres, it eventually petered out as the films got cheaper and faster and the quality went downhill. But there was a good half-decade or so there where there were some really good action/crime movies being produced and a new generation of actors was gaining stardom, Pam Grier, Jim Brown, and Fred Williamson foremost among them. These two box sets together collect some of the best and most popular films of that era, and I’m here for it!
Blaxploitation Classics: Volume 2 is a 12-disc box set that includes each off the aforementioned six films on both 4K and Blu-ray. It also comes loaded with extra features and is all packaged together in a nice box set, making it a real collector’s item.
The 4K Video/Audio:
4K Ultra HD releases of older movie can often be a bit of a mixed bag. The format offers up improvements over Blu-ray, obviously, but it’s not like you can magically transform the source elements from a bunch of movies that are 50+ years old. Shout Factory presents each of these movies on 4K Ultra HD, and each film also includes a Blu-ray of the film. I don’t know what these movies looked like in theaters, but here they look like high-quality home video transfers. Image clarity is nice and sharp, colors feel natural and lifelike, and there’s enough grain to retain the cinematic feel of the films. The soundtracks are DTS Master Studio Audio Mono, meaning there’s no surround sound but you do get improved fidelity. The dialogue is largely clear and free of crush, while the music — an integral part of most of these films — sounds bright and lively, and the overall aesthetic fits the feel of the movies themselves.
The Bonus Features:
Foxy Brown –
- Audio Commentary with Director Jack Hill
- From Black and White to Blaxploitation: Interview with Actor Sid Haig
- A Not So Minor Influence: Interview with Actor Bob Minor
- Back To Black: Interview with Actors Fred Williamson, Austin Stoker, and Rosanne Katon
- Theatrical Trailer
- Image Gallery
Friday Foster –
- Theatrical Trailer
- Image Gallery
Cotton Comes to Harlem, Bucktown & Slaughter –
- Theatrical Trailers
Slaughter’s Big Rip-Off –
- The Cost to be the Boss: The Blaxploitation Films Of A.I.P., Part Two – An In-Depth Documentary Featuring New and Archival Interviews with Filmmakers, Authors, and Film Historians
- Theatrical Trailer
Digital Copy Included: No
The Wrap-Up:
Blaxploitation Classics: Volume 2 is not only a historically important collection, but it’s also a collection filled with some really great films. Foxy Brown is a classic, while I really enjoy the two Slaughter films. Bucktown and Friday both surprised me, as they were films I knew nothing about but enjoyed quite a bit, while Cotton Comes to Harlem is a little more standard Blaxploitation fare. This is a terrific box set and a great companion set to Volume 1!
Martial Law: Lo Wei’s Wuxia World (Blu-ray)
The Movie:
It’s funny, I just wrote about Lo Wei a couple of weeks ago in this column, when I reviewed the home video release of The Tattooed Dragon. For those of you who don’t know the name, Lo Wei shot to fame in international cinema when he directed two of the legendary Bruce Lee’s biggest movies, The Big Boss and Fist of Fury. However, before Bruce Lee transformed the martial arts movie industry by grounding the genre in realism, the order of he day was wuxia, a style of filmmaking characterized by high-flying supernatural and magical feats in films most often focusing on ancient China and its warriors. Lee brought films of the 1970s into the 20th century setting, with no small amount of help from Lo Wei.
But Wei was not a newcomer when he worked with Lee, and this new Blu-ray collection from Eureka Entertainment collects three of Wei’s earlier films, all of which are from the wuxia genre: The Black Butterfly (1968), Death Valley (also 1968), and Vengeance of a Snow Girl (1971). Now, I’m not always a fan of the ancient warrior style of martial arts movies; I, like so many others, prefer more grounded and modern action movies. But there’s no denying that for their genre, these three movies are pretty good. Black Butterfly is a Robin Hood-type of story; Death Valley is more epic in scope, with warring factions vying for a tract of land; and Snow Girl is a pretty straightforward revenge piece (It’s also my favorite of the three films.)
This new release collects all three movies on Blu-ray and adds in som nice extra features to boot.
The Bonus Features:
- New audio commentaries on all three features by action cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema
- Hong Kong Hustle – new interview with Hong Kong cinema scholar Wayne Wong on the life and work of Lo Wei
- Limited edition collector’s booklet featuring new writing on all three films in this set by Hong Kong cinema expert Camille Zaurin
Digital Copy Included: No
The Wrap-Up:
While wuxia films aren’t my go-to in the action realms, this is still a terrific release that gives you three movies in a beautiful package and some pedigree talent behind the camera. Check it out if you like wuxia action or appreciate cinema history in the martial arts realm.
Shinobi: Volume 2 Box Set (Blu-ray)
The Movies:
It’s not just ancient Chinese warriors available this week for your viewing pleasure, we also travel to a different segment of Asian cinema and get a visit from… ninjas! Or one particular ninja family, anyway, in the terrific new limited edition box set Shinobi: Volume 2, from Radiance Films.
This new box set collects three films from the seminal ninja series, giving us Shinobi: Siege (1964), Shinobi: Return of Mist Saizo (1964), and Shinobi: The Last Iga Spy (1965). The first two entries star Raizo Ichikawa as Mist Saizo, a ninja who has a mission of revenge against a high-ranking Shogun. The films play out as a two-part adventure, while the third film continues the saga more generationally, with Mist Saizo’s son continuing on with the mission.
The three films were made in black-and-white and that does two things: one, it definitely makes the movies feel like a product of their time. But two, it also gives them an atmosphere and a moodiness that might have been missing if they were in some of the more garish palettes of early color Asian action cinema.
This terrific new box set features the usual quality we’ve come to expect from a Radiance release, with sharp-looking packaging and some nice bonus features.
The Bonus Features:
- Interview with Japanese period film historian Taichi Kasuga (2025)
- Interview with ninja film scholar Mance Thompson (2025)
- Select-scene audio commentary on Siege by Tom Mes (2025)
- Trailers
- Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Jonathan Clements
- Six postcards of promotional material from the films
Digital Copy Included: No
The Wrap-Up:
Unfortunately, I didn’t receive Volume 1 of Shinobi to review, which is a shame, because I enjoyed these early ninja movies and would love to see what the rest of the franchise had to offer. Still, if you’re a fan of the genre or the series itself, this one is obviously a must-have.
