The Pope’s Exorcist (2023, Sony Pictures, 4K Ultra HD, R, 103 min.). As Monty Pythonput it in 1970: "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!" However, in this portrayal of real-life figure, Father Gabriele Amorth, a priest who acted as chief exorcist of the Vatican and who performed more than 100,000 exorcisms in his lifetime, the big evil is, in fact, related to the Spanish Inquisition, with its victims entombed below the San Sebastian Abbey.

The real Amorth passed away in 2016 at age 91. He wrote two memoirs, “An Exorcist Tells His Story” and “An Exorcist: More Stories,” which detailed his experiences battling Satan and demons that had clutched people in their evil. This film itself opens with this Amorth quote: “When we jeer at the Devil and tell ourselves that he does not exist, that is when he is the happiest.”

Amorth is played by Russell Crowe (“Gladiator,” “A Beautiful Mind,” “L.A. Confidential”), whom we first see riding his motor scooter into Tropea, Italy in June 1987. There he treats a young man whose parents believe he is possessed by challenging the “demon” to transfer itself to a pig, which is then killed.

Back in Rome, a commission is looking into vacating the position of Vatican exorcist to make the church look more modern. Amorth will have none of it, but points out most of his investigations involve psychological problems rather than possessions.

The scene then shifts to the former San Sebastian Abbey in Castile, Spain, the following month. Widow Julia (Alex Essoe of “Doctor Sleep,” TV’s “The Haunting of Bly Manor,” “Midnight Mass”) and her two children – the bit rebellious teenager Amy (Laurel Marsden of TV’s Ms. Marvel”) and younger Henry (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney in his debut) – move into the abbey, which she is having renovated so she can sell it and move back to the United States.

Henry, who has not spoken in the year since he was in the car crash that killed his father by impalement, becomes possessed by the demon that is revealed to be Asmodeus (voiced by Ralph Ineson of “The Fantastic Four: First Steps”). Asmodeus apparently has a liking for possessing exorcists – hence the start of the Spanish Inquisition – and is pleased when Amorth shows up to do battle. The demon wants an inroad to the Vatican.

During the battle with the demon, Amorth is helped by local priest Father Esquibel (Daniel Zovatto of “It Follows,” TV’s “Station Eleven”), who had an affair with a parishioner in the past.

The setting and music are creepy, but when the supernatural stuff starts happening, it all is rather standard. It seems more attention was spent on the catacomb beneath the abbey. Crowe is solid, as usual.

The director is Julius Avery (“Overlord”) and the Pope is played by Franco Nero (2 “Django” films, “John Wick: Chapter 2”). Extras are brief looks at Amorth’s career (6:24) and the making of the film (4:50). Grade: film 2.75 stars; extras 1 star

Rating guide: 5 stars = classic; 4 stars = excellent; 3 stars = good; 2 stars = fair; dog = skip it

Purchase link for some titles: https://moviezyng.com?bg_ref=ApLKdWV51k

The Purge: The Complete TV Series (2018-2019, Universal Studios, 4 Blu-rays, NR, 14 hours 5 min.). Based on the 2013 film, which also had four sequels, this two-season TV series has the same basic plot as the film, set in that in an altered United States. Several unrelated people discover how far they will go to survive a night during which all crime – including murder -- is legal for 12 hours thanks to the totalitarian politicians. The show delivers a consistently dark, violent atmosphere with strong suspense and jump scares.

Each main character, and several secondary ones, develop in some way throughout the night, both as expected and unexpectedly, as true motivations are revealed or as circumstances alter their perception of the violent world around them.

The main characters in the first season include Miguel Guerrero (Gabriel Chavarria), a U.S. Marine who returns home on Purge Night after receiving a cryptic message from his sister Penelope (Jessica Garza of TV’s “Penny Dreadful: City of Angels”), who is a member of a cult whose members pledge to be sacrificed, but she finds her faith tested when exposed to the realities; Jenna Betancourt (Hannah Emily Anderson of “Jigsaw,” “X-Men: Dark Phoenix”), an anti-Purge proponent who is devoted to charitable causes and previously always locked down on Purge Night; Rick Betancourt (Colin Woodell of TV’s “Pulse”), who has been  climbing the social ladder and currying favor with the pro-Purge elite, which puts him at odds with his wife; Lila Stanton (Lili Simmons of TV’s “Ray Donovan”), a young, rich and rebellious woman who refuses to fit in with the pro-Purge socialite crowd but has unfinished business this night; Jane Barbour (Amanda Warren of TV’s “The Night Agent,” “East New York”), a hardworking finance professional facing an insurmountable glass ceiling at her firm which leads her to hiring a Purge-assassin; and seemingly ordinary Joe Owens (Lee Tergesen of “Wayne’s World,” TV’s “Oz”), an armored, masked man who drives through town, intervening in acts of Purge violence.

Season’s two main characters are Marcus Moore (Derek Luke of TV’s “Thirteen Reasons Why”), an accomplished professional with a loving wife and a beautiful house whose life is shattered when an assassin breaks in on Purge Night; Ryan Grant (Max Matini of “Pacific Rim,” TV’s “The Unit”), who has prepared for a massive Purge heist with his long-time crew; Esme Carmona (Paola Nunez of TV’s “Resident Evil”), a New Founding Fathers of America surveillance employee; and Ben Gardner (Joel Allen of TV’s “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty”), a college student out for his first Purge Night.

Extras include deleted scenes; conversations with cast and crew; a table read; an anatomy of a scene; and a look at costumes and props. Grade: series 3.25 stars; extras 2.5 stars

Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938, Warner Archive Collection, Blu Ray, NR, 91 Min.). Switching from horror to Christmas, there is this warm fourth film in the Andy Hardy series, with the same main recurring cast. It starts off with Judge James Hardy (Lewis Stone of “The Mask of Fu Manchu”) resolving two court cases, while his son Andy (Mickey Rooney of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”) puts $12 down to buy a car so he can drive his girlfriend Polly Benedict (Ann Rutherford of “Gone with the Wind”) to the Christmas Eve dance at the country club. Andy owes $8 on the car by Dec. 23.

Things start to unravel when Andy learns Polly is going out of town for three weeks at Christmas and thus, he needs a date. His friend Breezy (George Breakston of “No Greater Glory”) wants Andy to date his girlfriend Cynthia (Lana Turner of “Peyton Place”) to prevent other boys from dating her while he is gone for the holidays, and agrees to pay Andy $8, plus 50 cents per week expenses.

Meanwhile, there is a young visitor next door to the Hardys in Betsy Booth (Judy Garland of “A Star Is Born,” “The Wizard of Oz”), who has fallen for Andy through her grandmother’s stories. Trying to earn the $8, Andy discovers to his delight that Cynthia loves kissing a lot more than Polly. When Polly decides to return home early, Andy has two dates for the dance; then the $8 disappears when Breezy falls for another girl and lets Andy have Cynthia.

Garland gets to sing three songs, of which “In-Between” is quite nice lyrically.

Extras include a short featuring Judge Hardy and Andy visiting charities as a means to boost donations (18:31; also directed by George B. Seitz); four audio songs by Garland; the Hardy Family Thanksgiving audio segment of “Good News of 1938” (24:42); and the ability to go directly to the film’s three songs and the opening and closing credits’ music. Grade: film 3.5 stars; extras 2 stars

Love Crazy (1941, Warner Archive Collection, Blu-ray, NR, 99 min.). This screwball comedy marked the 11th screen pairing of William Powell and Myrna Loy, who starred together in the “Thin Man” films. Here, they are married couple Steve and Susan Ireland, about to celebrate their fourth wedding anniversary until fate starts playing games with them. The couple usually do the same somewhat extreme activities to mark the day, but Steve suggests doing it backwards this year, starting with a backwards dinner.

The evening begins with some mishaps, including a misbehaving elevator – it stops midway once, leading to Steve’s head being stuck between the doors as it begins to move again – and Steve encountering his former girlfriend Isobel Grayson (Gail Patrick of “My Man Godfrey,” “Stage Door”) in the elevator and she wants to go drinking with him. Susan’s mother (Florence Bates of “Rebecca”) shows up, complete with a small circular rug that she promptly falls on, forcing Susan to pick up a relative at the train station instead.

Also getting involved in the evening are Isobel’s husband, painter “Pinky” Grayson (Donald MacBride of “The Seven Year Itch”) and Isobel’s neighbor, bow-and-arrow champion Ward Willoughby (Jack Carson of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” “Mildred Pierce”), who falls for Susan when she enters his apartment, thinking he is “Pinky” and planning to kiss him as she believes Steve is in Isobel’s clutches.

One misunderstanding leads to another and the result is Susan files for a divorce. To save his marriage, Steve pretends to be insane to delay the divorce and clear up the misunderstanding. This leads to all kinds of fun, as when Steve sets free all the men’s hats at a party by launching them in the swimming pool. Steve eventually ends up in a mental institute, but he manages to swap Ward for himself – it is pretty funny, and complicated – but then is chased by the police. To escape detection at his apartment, Steve dresses up as a woman and pretends to be his sister as Susan’s mother is visiting again.

Extras include “You Can’t Fool a Camera” (10:14; includes a bit on “Love Crazy”); the cartoon “The Rookie Bear” (8:01); the Lux Radio Theater broadcast version with Powell and Hedy Lamarr (59:44); and The Screen Director’s Playhouse radio broadcast with Powell (29:50). Grade: film 3.75 stars; extras 2.75 stars

Marked Woman (1937, Warner Archive Collection, Blu-ray, NR, 96 min.). A crusading district attorney (Humphrey Bogart of “Casablanca,” “The African Queen”) persuades a clip joint hostess (Bette Davis of “All About Eve,” “Dark Victory”) to testify against her mob boss (Eduardo Ciannelli of “Foreign Correspondent”) after her innocent sister (Jane Bryan of “Kid Galahad”) is accidentally murdered during one of his unsavory parties.

Davis is Mary, who lives in an apartment with four other working girls at the nightclub taken over by mob boss Johnny Vanning. Mary is somewhat of a tough character, being the only one to ask Vanning questions after he takes over the club. Her sister Betty does not know what her job really is, but she visits from college and one of the others roommates takes her to a couple of Vanning’s parties and she dies.

While the film opens with the claim that everything is fictious, it obviously is based on the real-life saga of prostitutes whose testimony put Lucky Luciano behind bars in 1936. The film marked Davis return to Warner Bros. after her legal fight for better projects. Directed by Lloyd Bacon (“42nd Street,” “Knute Rockne – All American”), the Depression Era gangster film is unusual in that it focuses on the women victimized by the mob, rather than the gangster or the district attorney. It also was an early good-guy role for Bogart.

Extras include a look at Warner Bros. use of tabloid headline stories for movie projects (12:34); and the cartoons “Porky’s Hero Agency” (7:35) and “She Was an Acrobat’s Daughter” (8:38). Grade: film 3.5 stars; extras 2 stars

Maverick: The Complete Series (1957-1962, Warner Archive Collection, 32 Blu-rays, NR, 6,192 min.). This series was one of my favorites growing up, with very satisfying episodes. Bret and Bart Maverick (and in later seasons, their English cousin, Beauregarde) are well dressed gamblers who migrate from town to town, always looking for a good game. Poker (5 card draw) is their favorite, but they also play such odd card games as Three-toed Sloth on occasion. The show occasionally featured both or all three Mavericks, but usually would rotate the central character each week. This box set includes all five seasons with 125 remastered episodes.

James Garner, in the role that largely defined his career, played wisecracking ladies’ man Bret in 64 episodes, while Jack Kelly played no-nonsense Bart in 83 episodes. Roger Moore (the James Bond films) started playing Beau in 1959 and made 16 episodes. Created by TV legendary producer Roy Huggins, the show remains as loose, fresh and smart-assed as it was when it first aired. The show would go from funny one week to serious or action-packed the next. It had complex writing and could be ironic or cynical.

Guest stars included Clint Eastwood, Martin Landau, Adam West and Robert Redford (one of his earliest roles).

By season five, the only original episodes featured Kelly as Bart. Those 13 episodes alternated with reruns featuring Garner, who did not return as Bret for the final season. That season, Bart had to confront crooked senators, sleazy bankers, glamorous grifters, a wish-granting leprechaun and even "Bonanza"-spoofing ranchers. Guest stars included Sig Ruman, Marie Windsor, Reginald Owen, Kathleen Crowley and Jim Backus.

Garner eventually did return to his classic role, playing Bret in "The New Maverick" TV movie (1978) and the "Bret Maverick" series (1981-82), both of which guest-starred Kelly as Bart.

Five of the episodes are presented with their original vintage commercials as seen during their initial broadcast on Sunday nights on ABC. Grade: series 4 stars

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: The Complete Series (2006-2007, Warner Archive Collection, 6 Blu-rays, NR, 931 min.). This well-written, single-season series is centered on behind-the-scenes action with the producers, writers and actors of a live, late-night comedy sketch show. It was created by Aaron Sorkin (“The West Wing”). The dialogue is great and there is lots of insider buzz.

Matthew Perry (TV’s “Friends”) is Matt Albie and Bradley Whitford (TV’s “The West Wing”) is Danny Tripp, two hotshots brought in to revive NBS-TV’s sagging flagship comedy series. Amanda Peet (“2012”) plays Jordan McDeere, their savvy boss. The show presents the lives and loves of the staff and their creative pressures.

The show also stars Steven Weber (TV’s “The Shining”) as Jack Rudolph, D.L. Hughley (“Scary Movie 3”) as Simon Stiles, Sarah Paulson (TV’s “American Horror Story”) as Harriet Hayes, Nate Corddry (“St. Vincent”) as Tom Jeter, Timothy Busfield (TV’s “The West Wing”) as Cal Shanley, and Nate Torrence (“Get Smart”) as Dylan Killington.

The season received five Emmy nominations, with John Goodman winning as Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. Extras include audio commentary by executive producers Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme; and a look at the evolution of the show. Grade: series 4 stars; extras 2.25 stars

Chicago Fire: Season Fourteen (2025-2026, Universal Studios, 5 DVDs, NR, 16 hours 8 min.). The 14th season of the show from executive producer Dick Wolf ("Law & Order") begins with an adjustment in Firehouse 51 as Lt. Mauch (Christian Stolte) has been promoted and Christoffer Herrmann (David Eigenberg) has been demoted. During the season, budget cuts stretch the staff thin; there is a suspicious fire at a high school; arson affects someone close to the station; Lyla Novak (Joycelyn Hudon) starts a new romance; a passenger jet at the airport goes silent; and a fire erupts at a surgery center.

There is one crossover event with "Chicago Med" and "Chicago P.D.," with the two crossover episodes from the other two shows as bonuses. Grade: season 3.5 stars

Chicago P.D.: Season Thirteen (2025-2026, Universal Studios, 5 DVDs, NR, 16 hours 4 min.). This is another Dick Wolf-produced series, centering on the Chicago Police Department’s elite Intelligence Unit, tasked with combating the city’s most heinous offenses – organized crime, drug trafficking and high-profile murders. They are led by Sgt. Hank Voight (Jason Beghe). Other long-running cast members are Patrick John Flueger as Adam Ruzek, Marina Squerciati as Kim Burgess, LaRoyce Hawkins as Kevin Atwater, Benjamin Levy Aguilar as Dante Torres, and Amy Morton as Desk Sgt, Trudy Platt.

Cases involve a string of violent robberies; a bombing downtown; a disturbing figure from a past investigation being linked to a violent break-in; Torres probing the Morgan case conspiracy; Atwater going undercover to investigate car jackings; a decades-old missing child case resurfacing; and a series of ATM robberies.

There is one crossover event with "Chicago Fire" and "Chicago Med," with the two crossover episodes from the other two shows as bonuses. Grade: season 3.75 stars

Chicago Med: Season Eleven (2025-2026, Universal Studios, 5 DVDs, NR, 16 hours 1 min.). Set in the city’s state-of-the-art trauma center, the episodes are inspired by actual news headlines. Dr. Daniel Charles (Oliver Platt) continues to bring psychiatric insight while coping with personal loss, and Emergency Room physician Dr. Mitch Ripley (Luke Mitchell) strives to channel his troubled past into compassionate care. Hospital head Sharon Goodwin (S. Epatha Merkerson) balances recovery with mounting financial pressures, while leadership tensions arise as Dr. Caitlin Lenox (Sarah Ramos) steps in to oversee the ED, challenging Dr. Dean Archer (Steven Weber). Dr. Hannah Asher (Jessy Schram) navigates unexpected personal changes, while pediatric resident Dr. John Frost (Darren Barnet) connects deeply with his young patients as his past resurfaces.

The season begins with a family of victims from a house fire being rushed to Gaffney; Lenox fighting to save two sisters injured in an all-night rave turned tragedy; and tensions mounting between Goodwin and Dr. Sam Abrams over difficult staffing changes. Later, there is a citywide blackout that leads to some choices.

There is one crossover event with "Chicago Fire" and "Chicago P.D.," with the two crossover episodes from the other two shows as bonuses. Grade: season 3.5 stars

Rookie Blue: The Complete Series (2010-2015, Lionsgate, 18 Blu-rays, NR, 49 hours 37 min.). The set contains all six seasons and 74 episodes of the series that follows five rookie cops in Toronto’s elite 15 Division. Andy McNally (Missy Peregrym) and her fellow rookies realize what they learned at the academy will be different from what they are learning in the streets as they begin patrolling. McNally is a second-generation cop. Also in the show are Dov Epstein (Gregory Smith), Traci Nash (Enuka Okuma), Gail Peck (Charlotte Sullivan) and Chris Diaz (Travis Milne).

The more experienced cops are led by Oliver Shaw (Matt Gordon) and Sam Swarek (Ben Bass). There is an emphasis on romantic drama and some implausible rookie behavior.

The series was shot in Toronto, so there is a nice visual flair with both the gleaming skyscrapers of the metropolis area and the grittier streets and alleyways of the inner city and some of the suburbs. Grade: 3.25 stars