Drunken Master II Blu-ray Review: Pinnacle Chan Martial Arts
By Kent Conrad |
A solid (if bare bones) release of some of Jackie Chan’s most impressive martial arts antics.
The Final Countdown (1980) 4K Ultra HD Limited Edition Review: Great Planes, Great Set-up, No Story?
By Kent Conrad |
Beautiful release of a film with a great set-up, incredible aviation, and a frustrating story that doesn’t pay off.
Django (1966) 4K Ultra HD Review: A Spaghetti Western Icon
By Kent Conrad |
The 4K release of the iconic, ultra-violent and ultra-stylish western directed by Sergio Carbucci that launched dozens of imitators.
They Won’t Believe Me Blu-ray Review: Melodrama Noir
By Kent Conrad |
There are two elements normally present in a classic film noir. One is a main character, usually male, with decent instincts but a fatal flaw that drives him to do something terrible. That terrible thing is the other element, usually a crime, that sends the unfortunate into a tailspin that, whatever his intentions, is destructive,…
Isle of the Dead (1945) Blu-ray Review: Atmospheric Chiller from Val Lewton
By Kent Conrad |
The second of Boris Karloff’s three movies with producer Val Lewton is an atmospheric chiller about disease, vampirism, and madness.
History Is Made at Night (1937) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Love Crosses the Atlantic
By Kent Conrad |
Unabashed romance about a would-be divorcee and a Parisian who defends her against her husband, who is basically a supervillain.
Perdita Durango 4K Ultra HD Review: An Evil, Evil Love Story
By Kent Conrad |
Alex de la Iglesia’s English language debut is released in the U.S. with 10 minutes of violence and sex restored.
The Day of the Beast (1995) 4K Ultra HD Review: Surrealist Spanish Horror Comedy
By Kent Conrad |
Frequently hilarious, occasionally confusing but always entertaining, it’s a story about a priest defeating the anti-Christ… or going completely mad.
Southland Tales Blu-ray Review: Strange but Strangely Compelling
By Kent Conrad |
Was the theatrical cut a film-breaking disaster that gutted a potential masterpiece, or was it a salvage job on a derelict film that was always destined for the junk heap?
JSA: Joint Security Area Blu-ray Review: Death on the DMZ
By Kent Conrad |
Chan-wook Park’s early film about a murder on the Korean border is one of the filmmaker’s most mainstream thrillers.
Tremors (1990) 4K Ultra HD Review: Monster Movie in Perfection
By Kent Conrad |
An extras-packed new release of the early ’90s monster movie that, in its very small way, is kind of perfect.
Survivor Ballads: Three Films by Shohei Imamura Blu-ray Review: Stories of Hardship and Endurance
By Kent Conrad |
Imamura’s ’80s era films demonstrate the famed director’s realist and humanist outlook with a trenchant mix of tragedy and satire.
Bartender (2006) Blu-ray Review: A Calming Aperitif of a Show
By Kent Conrad |
The 15th anniversary release of a slice of life anime all about the wondrous healing qualities of cocktails.
Versus (2000) Blu-ray Review: Samurai Zombie Yakuza Action
By Kent Conrad |
More than 20 years after its initial release, this wildly energetic Japanese action-horror film gets an extra packed release.
Crash (1996) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: An Anti-Erotic Film
By Kent Conrad |
Perhaps David Cronenberg’s most controversial film, it details the progressively more dangerous world of car-crash fetishists.
Vigilante (1982) 4K Ultra HD Review: Gritty Death Wish Redux
By Kent Conrad |
A gritty early ’80s vigilante film with plenty of action and some ideas that doesn’t completely work in the end.
Weathering with You (Limited Collector’s Edition) 4K Ultra HD Review: Prettier Colors, More Insight
By Kent Conrad |
This 4K limited edition of the anime film includes the film’s soundtrack and a fascinating feature-length making-of documentary.
Chernobyl (2019) 4K Ultra HD Review: Harrowing, Horrifying Disaster Story
By Kent Conrad |
This five-part miniseries depicts the 1986 nuclear disaster, and the cover ups and lies that made it worse.
Daughters of Darkness (1971) 4K Ultra HD Review: Mysterious, Sensuous Vampire Story
By Kent Conrad |
A mysterious and sumptuously produced film about a newlywed woman finding monsters on her honeymoon, supernatural and otherwise.
Cold Light of Day (1989) Blu-ray Review: Portrait of a British Serial Killer
By Kent Conrad |
Obscure British serial killer film details the grubby life of a real life (if slightly fictionalized) murderer.
Graveyards of Honor Blu-ray Review: Grim Yakuza Renegade Dramas
By Kent Conrad |
Two adaptations of the same novel, made decades apart, about a yakuza too violent and self-destructive even for gang-life.
Warning from Space Blu-ray Review: Starmen Waiting in the Sky
By Kent Conrad |
The first Japanese science fiction film shot in color is as surprisingly stylishly made as it is old-fashioned.
Split Second (1992) Blu-ray Review: Blade Runner and Alien’s Stupid Baby
By Kent Conrad |
Combines two great sci-fi movies to make a not great horror film, taking place in the distant future of 2008.
Flash Gordon (1980) 4K Ultra HD Review: Garish and Spirited Comic Action
By Kent Conrad |
Whether it’s too camp or in the proper comic spirit, Flash Gordon’s elaborately colorful production bursts onto 4K.
Black Test Car + The Black Report Blu-ray Review: Japanese Businessman Noir
By Kent Conrad |
Two ’60s crime thrillers by director Yasuzo Masumura that explore the dark side of post-war industrialized Japan.
Pitch Black 4K Ultra HD Review: Riddick Starts Here
By Kent Conrad |
The first film in what became a sci-fi trilogy is a fun throwback action thriller, now in 4K UHD.
Weathering with You Blu-ray Review: Anime Girls Make the Rain Stop
By Kent Conrad |
The new blockbuster anime film by Your Name director Makoto Shinkai again pits teenage love against supernatural disaster.
The Alfred Hitchcock Classics Collection 4K UHD Review: Four Masterworks of Suspense
By Kent Conrad |
Four of the Master of Suspense’s most popular films make the leap onto 4K UHD.
The New York Ripper 4K Ultra HD Review: Sleazy Exploitation American Giallo
By Kent Conrad |
A beautiful, terrible slasher film is a document of early ’80s New York and its director’s grotesque, murderous obsessions.
The House by the Cemetery 4K Ultra HD Review: ‘Damn Tombstones!’
By Kent Conrad |
Lucio Fulci’s atmospheric, if baffling horror film arrives in a premium, beautiful 4k video release.
Tales from the Darkside: The Movie Blu-ray Review: Slick ’90s Horror Anthology
By Kent Conrad |
Thin storylines are buoyed by effective production and a surprisingly good cast in this movie version of the TV show.
She Dies Tomorrow Movie Review: Meditation on Impending Doom
By Kent Conrad |
Amy Seimetz’ second feature length film explores the various reactions to the certain knowledge that… tomorrow, you die.
Ride Your Wave Blu-ray Review: Touching Romance Becomes Ghost Story
By Kent Conrad |
Masaaki Yuasa’s latest feature about surfing, grief, and water controlling ghosts is touching and off-putting at once.
Dream Demon Blu-ray Review: Newly-Unearthed ’80s Horror Fantasy
By Kent Conrad |
Rarely scary, but visually gripping, an unsuccessful attempt to copy Nightmare on Elm Street scores as a fantasy film.
The Mad Fox Blu-ray Review: Kabuki-styled Cinematic Fantasia
By Kent Conrad |
Sometimes kabuki, sometimes animated, always fascinating, The Mad Fox is rife with political intrigue and forbidden romance.
Inferno of Torture Blu-ray Review: Torsos, Tattoos, and Torture
By Kent Conrad |
Another in Teruo Ishii’s series of films depicting sadistic practices in Japanese history, all of which involve disrobing women.
Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment (1966) Blu-ray Review: Love and Madness
By Kent Conrad |
’60s British comedy stars David Warner as a love-sick, gorilla-obsessed artist trying to win back his wife.
Sound! Euphonium: The Movie – Our Promise: A Brand New Day Blu-ray Review: One More Year of Music
By Kent Conrad |
A slice of life anime feature continuing the story of the Kitauji High School music club.
Promare Blu-ray Review: Hyper Kinetic Superhero Firefighters
By Kent Conrad |
Studio Trigger’s debut feature-length anime film is a high energy, colorful sci-fi confection.
Their Finest Hour: 5 British WWII Classics Blu-ray Review: That British Stiff Upper Lip
By Kent Conrad |
Five British films about WWII, from home invasion to Dunkirk to the African campaign.
The Bolshevik Trilogy: Three Films by Vsevolod Pudovkin Blu-ray Review: Silent Soviet Masterpieces
By Kent Conrad |
Three classics of silent Russian cinema exhibit the Soviet approach to editing as storytelling, with disparate tales of Bolshevik revolution.
Come to Daddy Blu-ray Review: Twisty, Twisted Story of Family
By Kent Conrad |
Elijah Wood stars in this story of a man reconnecting with his father, and learning terrible secrets about them both.
My Bloody Valentine (1981) Blu-ray Review: Superb Slasher Restored
By Kent Conrad |
One of the best ’80s slasher films, My Bloody Valentine returns to Blu-ray with newly restored video and audio.
FLCL Progressive/Alternative Blu-ray Review: A Classic Badly Revived
By Kent Conrad |
A U.S. anime hit returns with a pair of mediocre sequel series that totally misunderstand the original’s appeal.
Trapped (1949) Blu-ray Review: Great Restoration of a B-movie
By Kent Conrad |
Previously only available in murky, ugly prints, pretty good crime thriller Trapped has been beautifully restored in HD.
Book Review: Making Moon by Simon Ward
By Kent Conrad |
The behind-the-scenes story of the conception and filming of one of the 21st century’s best sci-fi movies.
Millennium Actress Blu-ray Review: Animated Japanese Film Fantasia
By Kent Conrad |
Satoshi Kon’s second anime feature film about an actress’ pursuit of a lost love intertwines fiction and reality.
The Fan (1981) Blu-ray Review: Bloody ’80s Stalking Thriller
By Kent Conrad |
Michael Biehn is a creepy but underdeveloped stalker obsessed Lauren Bacall in ’80s New York.
Stephen King’s Storm of the Century (1999) DVD Review: Intriguing Premise at Snail’s Pace
By Kent Conrad |
Perhaps the best of the run of Stephen King TV movies, Storm is atmospheric, creepy, and slow, slow, slow.
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping Blu-ray Review: Musical Parody Mostly Amusing
By Kent Conrad |
Lonely Island’s first feature film is an often amusing, if toothless satire of the modern era of pop music.