Hana-bi Blu-ray Review: Violence, Beauty, and Beautiful Violence
By Kent Conrad |
Takeshi Kitano’s first international success is unique, enigmatic and frequently beautiful.
Soul on a String DVD Review: Astonishing Vistas, Ambiguous Story
By Kent Conrad |
Zhang Yang’s Tibetan Buddhist western is long on beautiful landscapes, short on clear narrative.
Down Down the Deep River DVD Review: A Tribute to an ’80s Childhood
By Kent Conrad |
Okkervil River’s songwriter expands a song into an intriguing short film about nostalgia.
New Battles Without Honor and Humanity: The Complete Trilogy Blu-ray Review: More Frenzied Yakuza Madness
By Kent Conrad |
Returning to his Yakuza series a whole six months after the last, Fukasaku covers similar ground, but finds new angles.
After the Storm (2016) Blu-ray Review: Human Drama is Equally Sad, Sweet
By Kent Conrad |
Japanese director Kore-Eda continues career-long streak of touching, humorous and very human dramas.
In This Corner of the World Movie Review: Daily Life in Wartime
By Kent Conrad |
A personal perspective on war is shown in this anime about a daydreaming house-wife’s life in Japan in WWII.
Warlock Collection Blu-ray Review: Satan’s Son Starts Franchise
By Kent Conrad |
Collects the three loosely connected movies in the Warlock series: one good, one weird, one dreadful.
The Fencer Movie Review: Touching Soviet-Era Sports Drama
By Kent Conrad |
A rare movie about fencing and Soviet oppression, The Fencer infuses the sports movie formula with real-world stakes.
Zaza (1923) Blu-ray Review: Swanson’s Spitfire Star Turn
By Kent Conrad |
Gloria Swanson stars as a singing star who just wants her man in this silent comedy melodrama.
Doberman Cop (1977) Blu-ray Review: Sonny Chiba’s Hick Dirty Harry
By Kent Conrad |
Entertaining cop movie despite a wildly fluctuating tone, a departure from director Fukasaku’s harder-edged Yakuza material.
The Unholy (1988) Blu-ray Review: Damp Devil Movie Gets Superb Release
By Kent Conrad |
Another cult film where you had to be there, The Unholy’s Blu-ray extras show what went wrong.
Caltiki the Immortal Monster (1959) Blu-ray Review: Bava’s First Horror Bash
By Kent Conrad |
Fun, fast paced, and unexpectedly grisly for a late ’50s movie, cult favorite Caltiki gets a lavish Blu-ray treatment.
House: Two Stories Blu-ray Review: ’80s Horror Done Weird
By Kent Conrad |
The very ’80s horror/fantasy movie series gets a lavish box-set Blu-ray release.
Cops vs. Thugs (1975) Blu-ray Review: Corrupt Cops Combat Corporatization
By Kent Conrad |
A vintage Yakuza story by Fukasaku in his prime about the corrupt links between cops and gangs.
Brain Damage (1988) Blu-ray Review: Schlock That Loves Being Schlock
By Kent Conrad |
Cheerfully sleazy exploitation movie about a singing brain parasite is charmingly repellent.
Good Morning (1959) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Japanese Master’s Flatulent Comedy
By Kent Conrad |
One of the great filmmakers of the 20th century fills his domestic comedy with wistfulness, charm…and fart jokes.
Kiju Yoshida: Love + Anarchism Blu-ray Review: Radical Politics and Radical Filmmaking
By Kent Conrad |
Thematic trilogy from a Japanese master, these three films are designed to be as beautiful, and baffling, as possible.
Dead or Alive Trilogy Blu-ray Review: Literally Explosive Cinematic Madness
By Kent Conrad |
Yakuza blow up the world, and that’s just first film of this loose trilogy starring Show Aikawa and Riki Takeuchi.
Mifune: The Last Samurai DVD Review: Japan’s Greatest Actor Profiled
By Kent Conrad |
Informative, engaging overview of the actor’s life and work, both with Akira Kurosawa and beyond.
We Are X Blu-ray Review: Hair Metal and Heartache
By Kent Conrad |
This story of the enormously successful Japanese metal band is steeped in both triumph and (near constant) tragedy.
Ludwig (1973) Blu-ray Review: Lots of Castles, Little Story
By Kent Conrad |
Visconti’s biography of Ludwig II has access to amazing locations, some good acting, and no momentum.
Your Name Movie Review: Bodies Swapped, Heartstrings Tugged
By Kent Conrad |
The top Japanese box-office draw of 2016, Your Name is a modern anime of uncommon quality, both visually and in storytelling.
Book Review: LOAC Essentials Vol. 8: King Features Essentials 1: Krazy Kat 1934 by George Harriman: Rare Dailies of the Kraziest of Komics
By Kent Conrad |
Finally, a new, readily available collection of one of the best comic strips ever.
Psychomania Blu-ray Review: Inexplicable Zombie Biker Cult Movie
By Kent Conrad |
Bikers come back from the dead, and it’s pretty groovy in this early 70s cult obsession.
The Handmaiden DVD Review: Period Thriller, Twisty and Twisted
By Kent Conrad |
Chan-wook Park’s sumptuous period piece is masterfully mounted, compelling, erotic, but is more compelling than involving.
Black Society Trilogy Blu-ray Review: Madman Miike’s (Relatively) Somber Saga
By Kent Conrad |
In these three films about criminal outsiders, Takashi Miike tones down his frenetic style demonstrating a commitment to craft.
Blair Witch Blu-ray Review: Murky Modern Updating Misses Mark
By Kent Conrad |
The 2016 sequel to the ’99 shock hit tries to update the original’s formula, but to much diminished effect.
Book Review: To Pixar and Beyond by Lawrence Levy: Surprisingly Accessible Financial Memoir
By Kent Conrad |
The engaging and detailed story about the business strategies surrounding Pixar’s IPO.
C.H.U.D. Blu-ray Review: Cheesy Happenings, Underwhelming Direction
By Kent Conrad |
C.H.U.D. strands a fun premise and surprisingly great cast in a meandering story with few thrills.
The Herschell Gordon Lewis Feast Blu-ray Review: Extensive, Exhausting Exploitation Experience
By Kent Conrad |
With 14 movies and hour of extras, this set is all a fan could want (and more than most need.)
Private Property Blu-ray Review: Sizzling Hot Forgotten Noir
By Kent Conrad |
This lost noir is a steamy mix of sex-crime, repression, voyeurism, and all other sorts of ugly things, beautifully done.
Dark Water Blu-ray Review: A More Intimate Ring of Terror
By Kent Conrad |
Original Ringu director’s best follow-up to his international hit, Dark Water is overwhelmingly atmospheric and surprisingly poignant.
Woman in the Dunes Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Digging out a Life in Sand
By Kent Conrad |
Hiroshi Teshigahara’s enigmatic, hypnotic tale of a man trapped is equal parts Twilight Zone and Kafka, and completely absorbing.
Female Prisoner Scorpion: The Complete Collection Blu-ray Review: She’d Have Killed Bill in the First Movie
By Kent Conrad |
Meiko Kaji and her incredible cheekbones star in four Japanese women’s prison movies with varying levels of insanity.
The Invitation (2016) Movie Review: Paranoia, Isolation, and a Good Wine Party
By Kent Conrad |
Karyn Kusama’s creepy little thriller finds it scares in strained manners and social tension rather than loud noises.
Person of Interest: The Fifth and Final Season DVD Review: Goodbye to the Machine
By Kent Conrad |
The prescient network TV action thriller comes to a satisfying, emotional conclusion.
Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan Blu-ray Review: Master of Monsters Revealed
By Kent Conrad |
This feature-length doc on the special effects master reveals the artistry behind his creature features.
Blood and Black Lace Blu-ray Review: Astonishingly Beautiful Depiction of Ugliness
By Kent Conrad |
Mario Bava’s seminal Giallo film couples a gleeful disregard for good taste with incredibly artful imagery.
Nikkatsu Diamond Guys Volume 2 Blu-ray Review: Some Things Don’t Translate
By Kent Conrad |
A second volume of movies from Nikkatsu’s ’60s heyday branches out from just crime movies, with occasionally baffling results.
The Assassin (2015) Blu-ray Review: Mesmerizingly Beautiful, Maddeningly Obtuse
By Kent Conrad |
Hsiao Hsien Hou won Best Director at Cannes for this gorgeous, but largely plotless and completely unsatisfying historical drama.
The Zero Boys Blu-ray Review: A Thrill-less Thriller
By Kent Conrad |
Nico Mastorakis’ cult horror-action movie does nothing with an interesting premise, gets great Blu-ray release anyway.
Barcelona Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Innocent Imperialists Abroad
By Kent Conrad |
Whit Stillman’s winning romantic comedy about politics set in late Cold War Spain.
Outlaw Gangster VIP: The Complete Collection Blu-ray Review: Gangster and Outlaw, All in One
By Kent Conrad |
Six Yakuza movies from the ’60s, replete with knife fights, anguish, and women falling in love with the wrong gangster.
Evangelion 3.33: You Can (Not) Redo DVD Review: Giant Robots with Daddy Issues
By Kent Conrad |
The third in the remake/reboot movies series, Evangelion 3.33 takes the story in completely new directions.
Let There Be Light: John Huston’s Wartime Documentaries Blu-ray Review: From Propaganda to Trauma
By Kent Conrad |
This collection of documentaries includes a sobering look at PTSD that was suppressed for 30 years after it was made.
Book Review: The Art and Making of Hannibal: The Television Series: A Gleefully Grisly Souvenir
By Kent Conrad |
An authorized look at the first two terrific seasons of TV’s handsomest (and most horrific) show.
Nikkatsu Diamond Guys Volume 1 Blu-ray Review: Action Heroes ’50s Japanese Style
By Kent Conrad |
Three action/crime films from Nikkatsu studios that showcase their popular leading me of the late 50s.
David Bowie, The Heart’s Filthy Lesson, Se7en, and Me
By Kent Conrad |
A creepy song on the end credits of a creepy movie created a lifetime fan.
Bone Tomahawk DVD Review: Rare Horror Western Hybrid
By Kent Conrad |
Matching a Western setting with a horror story, Bone Tomahawk is that rare genre hybrid that gets both parts right.
Wake Up and Kill Blu-ray Review: Gritty but Unengaging Criminal Bio-pic
By Kent Conrad |
This true crime story has a lot on its mind, but it doesn’t translate into arresting storytelling.