Kent Conrad

Their Finest Hour: 5 British WWII Classics Blu-ray Review: That British Stiff Upper Lip

Five British films about WWII, from home invasion to Dunkirk to the African campaign.

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The Bolshevik Trilogy: Three Films by Vsevolod Pudovkin Blu-ray Review: Silent Soviet Masterpieces

Three classics of silent Russian cinema exhibit the Soviet approach to editing as storytelling, with disparate tales of Bolshevik revolution.

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Come to Daddy Blu-ray Review: Twisty, Twisted Story of Family

Elijah Wood stars in this story of a man reconnecting with his father, and learning terrible secrets about them both.

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My Bloody Valentine (1981) Blu-ray Review: Superb Slasher Restored

One of the best ’80s slasher films, My Bloody Valentine returns to Blu-ray with newly restored video and audio.

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FLCL Progressive/Alternative Blu-ray Review: A Classic Badly Revived

A U.S. anime hit returns with a pair of mediocre sequel series that totally misunderstand the original’s appeal.

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Trapped (1949) Blu-ray Review: Great Restoration of a B-movie

Previously only available in murky, ugly prints, pretty good crime thriller Trapped has been beautifully restored in HD.

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Book Review: Making Moon by Simon Ward

The behind-the-scenes story of the conception and filming of one of the 21st century’s best sci-fi movies.

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Millennium Actress Blu-ray Review: Animated Japanese Film Fantasia

Satoshi Kon’s second anime feature film about an actress’ pursuit of a lost love intertwines fiction and reality.

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The Fan (1981) Blu-ray Review: Bloody ’80s Stalking Thriller

Michael Biehn is a creepy but underdeveloped stalker obsessed Lauren Bacall in ’80s New York.

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Stephen King’s Storm of the Century (1999) DVD Review: Intriguing Premise at Snail’s Pace

Perhaps the best of the run of Stephen King TV movies, Storm is atmospheric, creepy, and slow, slow, slow.

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Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping Blu-ray Review: Musical Parody Mostly Amusing

Lonely Island’s first feature film is an often amusing, if toothless satire of the modern era of pop music.

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The Dead Center Blu-ray Review: Mostly Effective Psychological Horror

Primer’s Shane Carruth stars in psychological and supernatural horror tale, where a suicide returns from the dead… but not alone.

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Ringu Collection Blu-ray Review: Ghostly Revenge, Again and Again

Four weird, gripping and often terrifying films of spectral revenge that began the J-horror boom are now on Blu-ray.

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Genius Party & Genius Party Beyond Blu-ray Review: Dozen Odd Egg Japanese Animations

Twelve short films from veterans of the anime industry explore the limits of storytelling, animation, and sometimes the audience’s patience.

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Morituri (1965) Blu-ray Review: Hidden Naval WWII Classic

Starring Marlon Brando and Yul Brenner, Morituri is a great spy thriller beautifully shot aboard a real German frigate.

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The Big Fix (1978) Blu-ray Review: A Hippy Neo-noir Lament

Richard Dreyfuss is Moses Wine, a former-hippy detective whose latest case takes him back to his radical roots.

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Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988) Blu-ray Review: Same Gore, Less Story

Follow up to Hellraiser has the same aesthetic, same cast, much the same crew, but not enough story or ideas.

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Hellraiser (1987) Blu-ray Review: Clive Barker’s Semi-professional Debut

An erotic and grotesque twist on a haunted house story, with an unsettling horrific vision that supersedes some film-making fumbles.

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True Believer (1989) Blu-ray Review: Blisteringly Performed Courtroom Drama

Briskly paced, excellent acted late ’80s drama stars a disillusioned James Woods and a young, idealistic Robert Downey Jr.

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The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Gentle Ozu Comedy

Grandmaster filmmaker Ozu’s minor, observant comedy about the growing differences between a middle-aged married couple.

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Akio Jissoji: The Buddhist Trilogy Blu-ray Review: New Wave Filmmaking, Naked Ladies

Challenging, evocative films from the Japanese New Wave that contemplate aspects of the Buddhist religion, with lots of sex.

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The Leopard Man (1943) Blu-ray Review: Subtle, Underrated ’40s Chiller

A disappointment to its creators on release, The Leopard Man is one of Val Lewton and Jacques Tourneur’s hidden gems.

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Yakuza Law Blu-ray Review: Gory Fun Yakuza Anthology

Three fun but gory short stories of the Yakuza taking the law into their own hands, filled with bloody torture.

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Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Blu-ray Review: Fun, If Over-packed, Crossover Event

The mutant turtles join the Caped Crusader as Foot ninjas descend on Gotham city.

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John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars Blu-ray Review: Sad Retread from a Master

This rote sci-fi horror thriller from a former master has some good ideas that it does nothing with.

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Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki Blu-ray Review: Master Filmmaker’s New Challenge

An intimate look at Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki’s return from retirement to make a short CGI film.

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The Brain (1988) Blu-ray Review: Giant Brain Eats Man

A ridiculous, fun ’80s horror sci-fi flick about a man-eating alien brain with hypnotic powers.

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A Silent Voice Blu-ray Review: Bully Redemption in a Subdued Tone

An animated drama about a school bully picking on a deaf girl tells a story quiet about redemption and consequences.

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The Body Snatcher (1945) Blu-ray Review: Boris Karloff’s Finest Hour

One of RKO’s famous Val Lewton produced horror pictures and an atmospheric, tense horror thriller.

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Perfect Blue (1997) Blu-ray Review: Anime Psychothriller Lives Again

Satoshi Kon’s animated psychological thriller is a mind-bending story of violence and personality crisis in the Japanese pop world.

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Cinema Sentries

The Magnificent Ambersons Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Flawed Masterpiece, but Still a Worthwhile Film

The Criterion Collection has stacked this beautiful release of Welles’s troubled second production with a plethora of extras.

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Lu Over the Wall Blu-ray Review: Vampire Mermaids Warm the Heart

A boy befriends a mermaid, and director Masaaki Yuasa reigns in his anarchic animation style…for a little while.

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Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms Blu-ray Review: Emotional, Poignant Fantasy Epic

This visually arresting fantasy story of a mother and son that pulls at the heartstrings (and the tear ducts).

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Suspiria (2018) Blu-ray Review: Wildly Reinvented, Massively Flawed

This remake of the 1977 horror classic completely reinvents the story, rarely for the better, and is very, very long.

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Melies: Fairy Tales in Color Blu-ray Review: When Special Effects Were Magic

A collection of 13 short films by the early effects genius of Silent Cinema.

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Little Annie Rooney Blu-ray Review: Charming Silent Comedy and Melodrama

One of Mary Pickford’s most successful films pulls on the heartstrings with admittedly shameless melodrama.

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Fanchon the Cricket (1915) Blu-ray Review: Lost Pickford Film Charms

Mary Pickford’s waif character is charming in a rural comedy about a wild child and the townsman she loves.

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Orgies of Edo Blu-ray Review: Torture, Surrealism, and Topless Women

Teruo Ishii’s strange anthology of period stories of sex and torture is more bizarre than erotic, though entertaining.

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Metropolis (2001) Blu-ray Review: Visually Opulent, Narratively Dormant Adaptation

Inspired by Osamu Tezuka’s manga and Fritz Lang’s movie, this anime has style in excess…but lacks a cohesive story.

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Torso (1973) Blu-ray Review: Sleazy Suspenseful Giallo Goodness

Director Sergio Martino crafts a precursor to modern slasher movies that combines sexploitation with stabbings. And gougings.

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Book Review: The Teenage Slasher Movie Book by J.A. Kerswell

A comprehensive, lavishly illustrated overview of the reviled, but ever popular, slasher-movie genre.

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Horrors of Malformed Men Blu-ray Review: Complete Malformed Japanese Madness

Teruo Ishii’s strangest film of murder, doppelgangers, and the titular malformed men finally makes it to Blu-ray.

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Tideland Blu-ray Review: Childhood, Love, and Necrophilia

Terry Gilliam’s controversial tale of an innocent in a grotesque world is four parts beautiful, six parts repulsive.

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Mind Game (2004) Blu-ray Review: Endlessly Confusing, Endlessly Fascinating

Masaaki Yuasa’s debut animated feature is a kaleidoscope of images and scenes that, miraculously, make a coherent (if confusing) film.

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Street Mobster Blu-ray Review: Gritty, Nasty Yakuza Drama

Kinji Fukasaku’s brings docu-drama realism and brutal ugliness to the Yakuza genre in this gritty film.

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The Third Murder Movie Review: All Justice, No Truth

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s keen observation of human interaction is brought to a courtroom drama, winner of six Japanese Academy awards.

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Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards! Blu-ray Review: Undercover Yakuza Hijinks

Released in 1963, director Seijun Suzuki was on the brink of his artistic breakthrough with this comic gangland picture.

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The Bloodthirsty Trilogy Blu-ray Review: Dracula Goes East

Three Japanese movies directed by Michio Yamamoto that involve Western-style vampires, with style, atmosphere, and some decent sprays of blood.

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Seijun Suzuki: The Early Years Vol. 2 Border Crossings: The Crime and Action Movies Blu-ray Review: Nikkatsu Noir

Five early films by Seijun Suzuki spotlight Nikkatsu’s early 60s trends and the director’s growing ambition.

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Basket Case (1982) Blu-ray Review: Enthusiastically Silly and Sleazy

Frank Henenlotter’s feature debut comes on a ridiculously stuffed Blu-ray, a must for any fan.

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