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What’s New in Home Video & Pop Culture – October 6, 2026 – Jackass, Star Trek, Doctor Strange, TMNT, & More!

Mike Spring

By Mike Spring

 on 

What’s New in Home Video & Pop Culture – October 6, 2026

It’s a big week this go around with home video, graphic novels galore, and even a game! Dive in to see all the new goodies!

In This Week’s Column:

Jackass: Best and Last (Blu-ray + Digital)

Official Synopsis:

Johnny Knoxville and the gang return for one final fling at the big screen. Featuring all-new stunts and stupidity along with the greatest hits and biggest laughs from the past, this is a joyously raucous celebration of all the mischievous camaraderie that you’ve come to love and expect from these idiots over the past 25 years. So, grab your dumb little buddies, raise your glasses, and come experience the cinematic event that promises to be the last time you’ll ever laugh this hard in a theatre.

The Movie: 

I never feel better about myself after watching a Jackass movie, but I do feel better, usually because I’ve been laughing so much. Even though I fully realize I’m killing brain cells every time I watch a Jackass outing, they’re just so much fun I can’t stop. 

Jackass: Best and Last sees Johnny Knoxville and friends in what appears to be their last hurrah. As an aging group of now fiftysomethings, it seems understandable that their bodies might not still be able to handle the torture they put themselves through, but they’re still pretty game. This film mixes brand new stunts and pranks with a bunch of unreleased footage from previous movies (some of which is pretty fantastic.) As always, there’s a little too much focus on the gross-out stuff, which has never been my favorite, but the stunts and pranks are fantastic as always. Some of the archival footage is top-notch as well, especially a prank involving Brad Pitt and a Bad Grandpa outtake that had me crying with laughter. 

I’m not sure if this is truly the last outing for the Jackass crew – although it feels like the time is right to let it end – but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy watching one last hurrah. 

The Bonus Features: 

Digital Copy Included: Yes

Blades of the Guardians: Wind Rises in the Desert (4K Ultra HD) 

Official Synopsis:

Legendary action master Yuen Woo-ping brings together martial arts icons Wu Jing, Nicholas Tse, Max Zhang, and Jet Li on an epic wuxia adventure across the desert sands. Bounty hunter Dao Ma takes a job escorting the empire’s most wanted man, Zhishilang, to Chang’an city. As word gets out, his group is hunted down by warriors across the land. The chase is relentless, the action is non-stop, and the blades cut deep.

The Movie: 

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the name, Yuen Woo-ping is one of the most respected and popular Asian action film directors of the last 50 years, helping to revolutionize the genre and bring wuxia filmmaking to the forefront of popular cinema. He was also one of the major action choreographers on The Matrix, and we all know what an impact that movie had on cinema. (He also directed a little movie called Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which you might have heard of.)

So when I saw that he was directing a new movie (that also starred some heavyweight action names), of course I was champing at the bit to watch it. And even though Yuen is 80 years old, he’s still got the action chops that made him such a legend to begin with. Despite the unwieldy title Blades of the Guardians: Wind Rises in the Desert, this new film is an epic adventure with a western flair that gives you everything you could ask for from a modern action movie: insane fight choreography, inventive swordfights, beautiful cinematography, and non-stop thrills. 

And while Jet Li isn’t the main character, he obviously brings some star power to the proceedings. I’m a big fan of Wu Jing as well, and he takes on the lead role and handles it well. The film is a gorgeous spectacle that weaves in enough character study to keep the movie not only entertaining but engaging, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. 

The 4K Video/Audio:

Crisp. That’s the best word I can think of to describe how Blades of the Guardians: Wind Rises in the Desert looks in 4K. There’s so much detail in the razor-sharp imagery, but when you couple that with gorgeously rich color saturation, the overall effect is stunning. The surround soundtrack also dazzles, as it captures the onscreen action impeccably, enlisting your surround channels to put you right in the middle of the action. This is the kind of film that only 4K Ultra HD can truly do justice to. 

The Bonus Features: 

Digital Copy Included: No

Star Trek: Warped Phrases (Card Game)

Official Synopsis:

Space. The final frontier… and the funniest frontier! Respond to prompts with the most hilarious answer in this 350-card party game inspired by the Star Trek™ universe. In Star Trek: Warped Phrases, a judge deals out a prompt card and each player must complete the phrase with an answer card. The more ridiculous, the better. 

Sample prompts include: 

Sample answers include: 

A judge picks the best answer, and the player who wins the most rounds will emerge victorious! Designed for endless replayability, this game includes 350 cards spanning 100 questions and 500 answers so that you can explore a universe’s worth of combinations. Plus, the game’s portable packaging means that you can bring it to your next party or aboard any five-year mission. With Star Trek: Warped Phrases, you’ll share a laugh with friends and family, celebrate the most enduring science-fiction universe of all time, and most importantly, ponder life’s truly profound questions, like “Duuuuude… what was in that hypospray?” 

The Game: 

I’ve been on something of a Star Trek deep dive lately. As a lifelong Trek fan, I’ve always watched or engaged with it in some way or another, but a few months back I started a rewatch of The Original Series, and it’s sparked a new reinvigoration of my Trek fandom. Coupled with Star Trek’s 60th anniversary, it’s the perfect time for Star Trek: Warped Phrases to have dropped. 

Effectively, if you’ve ever played Cards Against Humanity or any of the knock-off/spin-off games based on it, you know what you’re getting here. Each turn, a new player is the judge, and they play a prompt card, to which each player chooses an answer card. Whoever’s answer is the one the judge likes best gets that round’s point. The twist here, of course, is that the prompts and the answers are all Star Trek themed, which is, naturally, a lot of fun. 

Now, I play-tested it with a couple of my friends who are both pretty solid geeks, so we had a blast with it. I’m sure there might be some confusion for people who are non-Trek fans and couldn’t tell the difference between a bat’leth and a baryon sweep, but I also suspect that it could be unintentionally funnier to play with people who have no idea what a trill is. 

One thing I liked is that the cards span all of the various series; while it does often keep things broad rather than getting overly specific, there are also some cards that do have very pointed jokes. So it’s good for casual fans and die-hards alike, because you can always choose your answers based on the prompts, not necessarily how much you get each answer right. Ultimately, Star Trek: Warped Phrases is a lot of fun and I highly recommend it!

The Specs: 

Doctor Strange: Endless Nightmare (Graphic Novel)

Official Synopsis:

The latest book in the critically acclaimed, award-winning Marvel Arts line of stand-alone graphic novels curated by Alex Ross, featuring Doctor Strange in a psychedelic trip to the Nightmare Realm, brought to life by the creative team behind the national bestselling graphic novel adaptations of Dune. 

When Stephen Strange encounters a mysterious patient at his hospital who won’t stop raving about how life is “nothing but the dream of a sleeping god,” the rest of the world is suddenly struck with insomnia. In order to prevent chaos from unfolding as the people around him become more and more desperate for sleep, Doctor Strange must embark into the mind of the madman who seems to have heralded this disaster, taking a psychedelic trip into the Nightmare Realm.

Kevin J. Anderson, Raúl Allén, and Patricia Martín, the creative team behind our trilogy of bestselling graphic novel adaptations of Dune, reunite to combine their creative talents once again. In this visually stunning, fantastical adventure that has shades of Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo, Doctor Strange: Endless Nightmare explores the boundary between dreams and reality, combining forces with an unlikely ally in order to end a waking nightmare that threatens to destroy the world. 

The Book: 

I’ve been a Kevin J. Anderson fan ever since the mid-1990s when he helped revitalized the Star Wars franchise with his Jedi Academy Trilogy books. I followed him through his X-Files adaptation novels and his own original works such as Ill Wind, an incredible (and incredibly underrated) novel. When he started writing Dune books, I fell off a bit, because I’ve never really gotten into reading the Dune novels, but when I saw he was writing a non-Dune comic, I got pretty interested. 

As you can see from the description above: Doctor Strange: Endless Nightmare sees the Sorcerer Supreme up against an unknown foe that takes him on a journey to the Nightmare Realm. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but suffice it to say we encounter villains both new and old, which is pretty cool. 

So let me get my one complaint out of the way first: I found Anderson’s scripting to be a little stiff and his pacing to be a little confusing. There were a few moments where I wasn’t sure exactly what had happened, and more than once I checked to make sure I hadn’t skipped a page that might have had important information on it. So I was a little surprised that the story wasn’t the strongest part of this graphic novel. 

That said… the art. Oh my, what an incredible talent has been discovered in Raul Allen (and Patricia Martin, of course!) Every single page of this book is breathtaking to look at; between Allen’s innovative layouts and the dynamic style he brings to his pencils, I was blown away by the art in the book. Even when the story lost me for a couple of panels, I could still revel in drinking in Allen’s gorgeous artwork. Honestly, it makes the book worth reading, just because the visuals are so gorgeous. 

As part of the MarvelArts line of original graphic novels, which has been an impressive series of books so far, Doctor Strange: Endless Nightmare fits right alongside the others in terms of quality and shelf appeal. Even with some minor quibbles with the writing, I would say the book is absolutely worth checking out. 

The Specs: 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splinter’s Dojo (Illustrated Novel)

Official Synopsis:

Cowabunga, dudes and dudettes! This hilarious original novel is filled with comics, mischief, and action starring The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Splinter’s Dojo takes the turtles to class at the most radical middle school around.

When the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles — Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello — cause a city-wide blackout, their Master Splinter is at his wits’ end. These out-of-control turtles need structure, routine, discipline… somewhere that will hold them accountable. Where could that be? Middle school, of course! And what better place for a school for mutants than the sewers of New York, with a faculty and student body full of fan favorites from the world of TMNT? Can these Turtles get their act together and become true ninjas? And just what are Bebop and Rocksteady — henchmen of the Turtles’ archenemy Shredder — doing in class with the rest of their peers?

Told through a mix of comics panels, artifacts, and text, this highly illustrated novel from the author/illustrator team of Barb the Last Berzerker is sure to be a totally tubular hit with middle grade readers. 

The Book: 

At first glance, I assumed that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splinter’s Dojo was a new Ninja Turtles graphic novel done in the style of Jeffrey Brown’s popular Jedi Academy and Marvel books. It turns out, however, that while it is still for younger readers, it’s more of a hybrid graphic novel/book, more along the lines of the Diary of A Wimpy Kid books than anything else. The book is made up largely of text, but every page has at least one illustration on it. On top of that, there are some full comic-book-style pages as well, in addition to all kinds of other artwork mixed in. 

The story sees the characters from the TMNT universe in middle school; the Turtles are students (sent there by Splinter to help them learn discipline) while familiar characters like Baxter Stockman, the Fugitoid, April O’Neil, Casey Jones, and others make up the school’s faculty and students. It’s kind of a fun cross between the world you know and love and a completely new take on it. 

I found the book to be fun read as an adult, so I’m sure younger readers will love it. I do wish it was in color rather the black and white, but since it has a relatively high page count, I’m sure black-and-white made more sense. Still, if you have a young read in your house who’s a Ninja Turtles fan, I think they’ll dig Splinter’s Dojo. 

The Specs: 

Mixed Signals (Graphic Novel)

Official Synopsis:

In this funny, feel-good follow-up to Mixed Feelings, Sara struggles to find her place because she’s constantly caught between TWO spaces: childhood and adulthood, drama club and volleyball, friends and a crush. Perfect for fans of The Tryout, The New Girl: First Crush, and Pizza Face.

Getting thrown for a loop!

What is the best part of seventh grade?

A: The cutest boy in school messages you on AIM.

B: You’ve made the volleyball team and nailed your drama club audition.

C: Your parents recognize how responsible you are and treat you like an adult.

D: SIKE! None of this turns out the way you expect it to!

Seventh grade started out strong, but now Sara is struggling… Because of her volleyball schedule, she may not be cast in the play. And due to her commitment to drama club, she could be benched during the big game. To make matters worse, her crush only seems to talk to her when he needs help in math class. And to top it off, her parents pick and choose when to treat her like a kid or a grown-up.

Sara’s finding herself caught in a strange in-between space. Is she an actress or an athlete? A crush or a calculator? An adolescent or an adult? With so many mixed signals, will Sara ever be able to find her place?

In this feel-good follow-up to Mixed Feelings, being a teenage girl has never been so hilarious and harrowing at the same time! 

The Book: 

As I stated in my review of Mixed Feelings, the first book in this series, I like a lot of middle-grade graphic novels, even though I am far from being a middle grader myself. While I know I’m not always the target audience, a good book is a good book. Sometimes, however, a middle-grade graphic novel doesn’t quite resonate with me, and when that happens, I realize that more often than not, it’s because of those demographics and not the book itself. I didn’t love the first book, so I went in a little trepidatious to this second book. 

And while I won’t say it’s my favorite YA book of the year, I actually liked this second volume, Mixed Signals, better than the first. I’m not quite sure why, particularly, although I will point to Shadia Amin’s artwork. I didn’t really care for it in the first book, but it feels like it’s tightened up a little bit in this volume and it worked much better for me. Also, maybe because we don’t have to learn who all the characters are, I felt like the story started to gel a little bit quicker for me. 

So bottom line, if you liked the first book, I think you’ll like this one even more. If you were lukewarm on the first one as I was, you might want to give Mixed Signals another shake. 

The Specs: 

Careful (Blu-ray)

Official Synopsis:

Guy Maddin’s early masterpiece takes place in a 19th-century Alpine village where the wary residents — adult, child and animal! — must speak softly and tread lightly lest they cause an avalanche. But sexual frenzies teem in this world of repression, setting off incestuous love triangles and quadrangles with deadly consequences. Bathed in lurid, luminescent tints, Careful resembles a vintage melodrama from another planet—something that could only emerge from the singular mind of Maddin (The Forbidden Room, Tales From the Gimli Hospital). 4K Restoration produced by Sphinx Productions from the original 16mm film negative courtesy of the TIFF Film Reference Library.

The Movie: 

I’ve had limited interaction with Guy Maddin’s works, but I know he carries a lot of respect in some film circles. As soon as I read the description of Careful, I knew I had to watch it as soon as possible and, well, let’s just say it was an experience. 

The film is from 1992 and it was clearly shot on a budget. The look of the movie is kind of like a cross between a student art film, a filmed stage play and a 1970s movie like Xanadu. Likewise, the story starts off interesting for a while, and then it becomes more engaging, but then eventually becomes tedious, likely due to the movie’s 100-minute running time. Maddin could easily have trimmed 20 minutes off and no one would have been upset. 

There are some clever moments in the film, and the script shines in places. But the acting, which seems to be deliberately awkward, downplays the intelligence of the script and the concept, so it all just ends up kind of uneven. And that’s fair, as this is Maddin’s first film, but I suspect Careful was more of a starting point than the finish line for Maddin. 

The Bonus Features: 

Digital Copy Included: No

Hell’s Highway: The True Story of Highway Safety Films (Blu-ray)

Official Synopsis:

Critically-acclaimed upon its 2003 theatrical release, Hell’s Highway: The True Story of Highway Safety Films is a morbidly curious exploration of the shocking driver education films of yesteryear. Produced between 1959 and 1979 in Mansfield, Ohio, films such as Signal 30 encouraged safety by force-feeding high school kids color footage of careless driving’s dark consequences: blood-stained wreckage, injured bodies, fresh corpses. In the 1970s and ‘80s, these traumatic films disappeared from the American classroom and assumed an almost mythical status. Hell’s Highway unearths these artifacts of grim Americana and interviews the filmmakers responsible for this radical educational movement. This remastered edition includes three complete “blood-on-the-highway” films, newly restored from the original 16mm camera elements preserved in the Richard Prelinger Collection at the Library of Congress.

The Movie: 

This might the most singularly fascinating title I’ve reviewed in quite some time. In the 1950s and ‘60s, American youth were treated (or subjected) to educational films about all kinds of topics: drugs, sex, fast cars, etc. Most of them are famously unhip and overly earnest, but perhaps none comes close to what was offered up in the safe driving videos. These notorious movies featured footage from REAL accident scenes, including mangled cars and real dead bodies, all in an effort to get teenagers to slow down and drive safer. 

Now, I don’t know if they worked, but they certainly were memorable for youth of the time, and these short films have achieved a sort of legendary cult status. Hell’s Highway: The True Story of Highway Safety Films is a documentary (newly restored for this release) about these movies that combines footage from the original movies (all of which is anachronistically hilarious) with interviews with the original filmmakers, who were pretty much just regular people, not Hollywood filmmakers. 

Hell’s Highway: The True Story of Highway Safety Films is like a time capsule being opened, and frankly it’s both interesting and entertaining. It’s not so much a movie as it is a pastiche, but honestly, I wouldn’t have changed a thing about it. 

The Bonus Features: 

Digital Copy Included: No

Everyone Calls Me Mike (DVD)

Official Synopsis:

Sailing around the world on their elegant blue schooner, Jean, Isabelle, and her son Damien stop in Djibouti to repair their engine. There, they meet a taxi driver named Mike, who helps them track down the missing part. As they search, he asks if they would take him with them. Jean hesitates (the Gulf of Aden is dangerous) but when they finally set sail toward the Seychelles, he reluctantly agrees to bring Mike aboard. After several days at sea, as the four begin to bond, a Somali fishing boat approaches. The fishermen reveal themselves as pirates, attack the schooner, and take the crew hostage. In a sudden reversal, Mike shoots and kills the pirates’ captain, saving the family. With the threat gone but the radio destroyed, they still have a long journey ahead, isolated, off-grid, and trapped with a man they barely know. Why did Mike bring a gun on board? And now, can Jean and Isabelle trust him?

The Movie: 

I’m sure there are people who read this column who have no idea who writes it, but it’s me: Mike Spring. So if you float a movie called Everyone Calls Me Mike in front of me, of course I have to watch it!

It turns out Everyone Calls Me Mike is a dark thriller from France that has echoes of the early-90s outing Dead Calm starring Nicole Kidman and Sam Neill. This time around, there’s a bit of social commentary added in, as the man who joins our protagonist family on their boat is ostensibly trying to leave a dangerous country, while modern-day Somali pirates are a plot point as well. 

The resulting film is an exercise in slowly-ratcheting tension, leading to a climax that is quite serious, rather than popcorn-fare-styled over-the-top action. The film isn’t black-and-white, with characters that are more layered than you sometimes see in these kinds of potboilers. It’s not a masterpiece of cinema, but it is an effective and engaging thriller with dramatic undertones. 

The Bonus Features: 

There are no bonus features on the disc.

Digital Copy Included: No

The Haunted Cop Shop (Blu-ray)

Official Synopsis:

Before he became the darling of the arthouses, Wong Kar-wai (Chungking Express, In The Mood For Love) co-wrote this bawdy horror-comedy. It’s set in a police precinct that was previously a hang-out for Japanese soldiers during the war; the spirits of those who died there are restless, and looking for living victims. It’s up to slacker cops Jacky Cheung (Tiger Cage) and Ricky Hui (The Inspector Wears Skirts) to silence the unquiet dead once more.

Owing more to comedies like The Shadow Boxing and Mr. Vampire than anything Wong went on to make, The Haunted Cop Shop is nevertheless a lot of wicked fun, filled with the bad-taste humor that Hong Kong filmmakers do so well. Stylishly directed by Jeff Lau (The Eagle Shooting Heroes), this is a superior slice of supernatural silliness.

The Movie: 

I don’t know what’s weirder: The Haunted Cop Shop as a movie, or the fact that it was written by a pre-fame Wong Kar-Wai, the auteur responsible for beloved films like In the Mood For Love and The Chungking Express. But hey, a lot of filmmakers start out in genre filmmaking before they find their groove, so I guess it makes sense. At least as much sense as the plot of this movie. (Okay, I don’t know if I landed that metaphor, but it boils down to this: this movie doesn’t make a ton of sense, and I don’t think it was trying to.) 

So instead of a coherent narrative, what you get is a mash-up film that takes everything it can think of (horror, comedy, ghosts, slapstick, mystery, vampires, and more) and throws it against the wall to see what sticks. The result is a wildly uneven and broadly entertaining movie that isn’t quite like anything else you’ve probably seen recently. Jacky Cheung is an Asian cinema favorite, and his willingness to do anything and his comedic chops really carry the show here. 

This new Blu-ray edition of Haunted Cop Shop features the film in high def as well as a nice collection of bonus materials and gorgeous new cover art on a stylized slipcase. It’s a great addition to the home video of any Asian cinema enthusiast. 

The Bonus Features: 

Digital Copy Included: No

Sex and the Emperor (Blu-ray)

Official Synopsis:

The title tells you all you need to know – set at the highest levels of imperial China, Sex and the Emperor is full of palace intrigue and lots & lots – of sex.

It’s told through the eyes of Li, a servant who isn’t quite the eunuch he’s meant to be. Nonetheless, he does the emperor’s bidding – whether helping him perv over women, rescue his favorite concubine from a whorehouse or deal with his enemies. A full-on Category III shag-a-thon (with a bit of torture), Sex and the Emperor is a degenerate delight of Asian softcore and a perfect example of Hong Kong cinema at its absolute wildest.

The Movie: 

It’s funny, I’ve watched no shortage of genre films from China and Japan in my reviewing career, and for the most part, they shy away from sex. Now, I’m not naïve, I know there is Asian cinema that features lots of sex, just like there is American cinema, but I just don’t tend to get much of it for review. 

Sex and the Emperor, then, is a bit of an exception. Now, it’s not like this is a full-on XXX movie, it’s more of a sexcapade, if you will, but it is certainly more raucous than I’m used to seeing from the genre. It also veers wildly in tone; what starts off as a sex comedy becomes a drama which becomes an uncomfortable look at power dynamics that even includes some surprisingly dark scenes of torture. The tonal shifts are a bit jarring, and I think the film works best when it’s in lighter mode; the darker stuff felt a little out of left field to me. 

Now, while I said this isn’t a full-on adult film, I don’t want to underplay the sex, either. This isn’t a movie you want to put on in mixed company; there’s a fair amount of R-rated stuff. So… just be forewarned before you gather grandma and the kids around the couch. Still, Sex and the Emperor is a unique movie with some visual flair and the new Blu-ray edition from 88 Films is a top-notch release. 

The Bonus Features: 

Digital Copy Included: No

What’s New in Home Video & Pop Culture – October 6, 2026 – Jackass, Star Trek, Doctor Strange, TMNT, & More!
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