Headsup: Heroes, Hijinks, and Hedgehogs

Chris Farley and David Spade are two ne’er-do-well traveling salesmen who hit the road to save the Callahan family’s auto parts business, resulting in one disastrously funny consequence after another. This larger-than-life comedy features Rob Lowe, Bo Derek, and Brian Dennehy. — from Paramount

Here we have one of the sadly very few Farley front and center films. Tommy Boy is celebrating its 30th birthday this year (Egad) but sadly there are few presents apart from the 4K upgrade and optional SteelBook packaging. But if you are one of those fiends with the appropriate rig at home, then you may be a completist and if so, well, Bob’s your uncle. You will get the legacy content that appeared on (what I believe was) the first Blu-Ray release: director’s commentary, featurettes, and deleted/extended scenes. If you don’t already own it and want it, this is the one. If you don’t have the necessary rig, you might consider giving it a pass. Grab it from Amazon.

Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails are back for their most epic adventure yet. The team reunites to face a new formidable foe, Shadow, a mysterious hedgehog with powers unlike anything they’ve ever seen. Team Sonic must secure an unexpected alliance if they hope to stop Shadow and save the planet. Keanu Reeves joins the all-star cast as Shadow the Hedgehog. — from Paramount

It seems like just yesterday we were seeing an issue that would turn out to be quite possibly the most profitable dental work of all time. I’m referring of course to the original design of live-action Sonic, which had Creepy Teeth. The film franchise overcame that to gross over one billion dollars worldwide. Which makes it, as near as I can tell, the most successful film franchise to be spawned from a video game property. Here Sonic the Hedgehog 3 hits in 4K and with a very respectable amount of bonus bits, which you know we love. There’s a commentary by the director and the voice of Sonic. There are a number of cast and director featurettes, a gag reel, deleted scenes and more. If you are a fan you’re going to want to snag one of these for the bonus content. Snag it from Amazon.

From legendary director Ridley Scott, Gladiator II continues the epic saga of power, intrigue, and vengeance set in Ancient Rome. Years after witnessing the death of the revered hero Maximus at the hands of his uncle, Lucius (Paul Mescal) is forced to enter the Colosseum after his home is conquered by the tyrannical Emperors who now lead Rome with an iron fist. With rage in his heart and the future of the Empire at stake, Lucius must look to his past to find strength and honor to return the glory of Rome to its people. — from Paramount

A long time coming but proof that the Law of Relative Development–that every movie has a sequel somewhere in development–is true. But in this case, a Best Picture and Best Actor Oscar and a box office win, it’s hard to blame them. And the only thing we can blame Paramount for is the lack of director’s commentary (and I only single that out because his commentary on the first film is stellar). That out of the way, there are featurettes covering casting, locations, production design… a large part of the development and production process is at least touched on here. Rounding out the 100+ minutes of bonus bits is a bunch of deleted scenes. The bonuses make it an easy get for any fan of the film. And that can be gotten at Amazon.