Mat Brewster

Book Review: Comet Club by Yi Yang

Nerds in China.

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Little Shop of Horrors (1986) Is the Pick of the Week

It comes with a new transfer and lots of extras.

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Five Cool Things and Werewulf

This week we’re talking about an old, obscure film noir; a new horror film that throws back to the 1980s; a BBC TV movie that hearkens to Orson Welles on the radio; a classic silent film; and a celebration of Jim Thompson.

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Brit Noir Collection IV Blu-ray Review: The British Are Coming

Though I found one movie to be a complete dud, I still highly recommend this set.

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I Love Boosters Is the Pick of the Week

Boots Riley is a rapper, songwriter, and filmmaker. His first film, Sorry to Bother You, was a wild satire about an African American telemarketer who adopts a white person’s voice in order to make more sales. But that doesn’t begin to explain how crazy weird the film is. Buy I Love Boosters I Love Boosters…

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The Hot Spot Blu-ray Review: A Dark, Sweaty Film Noir

As a fan of film noir and neonoir, I really enjoyed watching this film.

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Italo-Crime Collection 4K UHD Review: Italian Action from Across the Globe

Two of them are really good, and the other, well, two out of three ain’t bad.

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Yakuza Graveyard Blu-ray Review: A Gritty, Grim Japanese Gangster Film

Fukasaku infuses it with a gritty, chaotic energy that is rather mesmerizing.

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Five Cool Things and Godzilla Minus Zero

This week we’re talking about an old Kurt Wallander novel, an American thriller where Alain Delon plays an Italian, another one where Roy Scheider is hunting down a French assassin, and yet another thriller where Lee Marvin is a badass, and we end with a clever twist on the zombie genre.

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The Inugami Family Blu-ray Review: A Japanese Agatha Christie Story

A wonderful introduction to one of Japan’s defining fictional detectives.

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Supergirl (2026) Is the Pick of the Week

Supergirl comes in a variety of packages, the most robust of which include loads of special features, including features on nearly every aspect of the filmmaking.

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Cinema Sentries

Five Cool Things and Dolly Parton

Greetings, and welcome to another edition of Five Cool Things, the bi-weekly article where I talk about all the fun, interesting, and cool things I’ve discovered since the last time. This week we’re talking about Jean-Luc Godard’s debut film, a new BBC thriller, a terrific British film noir, an early Oliver Stone film, and a…

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Disclosure Day 4K UHD Review: Spielberg Returns to the Alien Well

This film mostly gave me what I wanted.

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Disclosure Day Is the Pick of the Week

I’m thrilled it is finally coming out on home video.

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Jinsei Blu-ray Review: A Bold, Interesting Film

We need more films, more animation that isn’t afraid to take big swings and do something completely different.

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Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XXVII Blu-ray Review: Three From Republic Pictures

Despite my reservations over Unmasked, the other two films more than make this worth a purchase.

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Five Cool Things and Verity

This week I’m revisiting a movie I didn’t like the first time I saw it, a freaky manga, a creepy German television series, a thrilling French film, and an American film that visits the French New Wave.

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MacArthur 4K UHD Review: War is Boring

It didn’t make me understand MacArthur any more than I did at the beginning of the film.

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Project Hail Mary Is the Pick of the Week

Project Hail Mary is thrilling, funny, and heartwarming in all the best possible ways.

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The Boxer (1977) Blu-ray Review: The Fighter Still Remains

This is a very downbeat film, but a good one.

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The Island (1980) 4K UHD Review: At Least It’s Never Boring

It is such a mess I can’t really recommend it.

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Five Cool Things and Wicker

This week we’re talking about a couple of 1970s films, an autistic romantic comedy, Christopher Nolan’s latest epic, and a little-discussed Martin Scorsese masterpiece.

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The Double (1971) Blu-ray Review: A Dead Man’s Dream

More of an erotic drama than a true mystery.

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Book Review: Bimbo Agitprop by Raquelle Jac

It is a bold, potent book by an artist full of grit and anger, passion and courage.

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Soylent Green Is the Pick of the Week

I unabashedly love this film and am thrilled to see this coming out in UHD.

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Five Cool Things, Sam Neil, and Digger

Let’s get to it, shall we?

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A Man Named Rocca / La Scoumoune Blu-rays Review: Same Story, Same Actor, Very Different Films

Watching them back-to-back was a fascinating experience. I highly recommend it.

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Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore Is the Pick of the Week

I’m excited to get more Scorsese in the Criterion Collection.

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Five Cool Things and Small Prophets

I’ve been on a bit of a French crime thriller kick lately.

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Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo Blu-ray Review: Just Over Two Hours on Your Television Screen

The film is at its best when Lawson and his crew crash just off the Chinese coast.

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Pretty Maids All in a Row Blu-ray Review: Exploitation with a Social Conscience

It finds a strange balance between utterly inappropriate and actually quite entertaining.

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Book Review: Heaven by Katie Skelly

It might be Hell.

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Come Live with Me Blu-ray Review: A Very Relaxed Film

Stewart and Lamarr are so good together on screen, I was always interested in what was happening.

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Strange Cargo Blu-ray Review: Weird Movie

It is worth watching just to see Crawford and Gable together again.

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Jackie Chan’s Breakout Hits! Is the Pick of the Week

Arrow Video is now releasing a gorgeous-looking boxed set of Jackie Chan films that turned him into an American star.

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The Mastermind Blu-ray Review: That Title Might Be Sarcastic

I was just happy to live in this world for a little while.

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Five Cool Things and The Debut

I’ve been watching a lot of Lino Ventura this year.

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La Tête Contre les Murs Blu-ray Review: The First Film from a French Master

If you are a fan of George Franju then this is well worth seeking out.

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Brit Noir Collection II Blu-ray Review: A Jack Hawkins Triple Feature

The more British noirs I watch, the more I love the genre.

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Solo (1970) Blu-ray Review: A Character-driven Thriller

This is a great film, and Radiance Films has given us a great release.

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Waves of Lust Blu-ray Review: A Tsunami of Female Nudity

A nice release of Italian exploitation cinema.

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Day of the Dead Is the Pick of the Week

It is a great film, and Scream Factory is giving it a great release.

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Aesthetics of a Bullet Blu-ray Review: Character Study of a Loser

The whole movie has a punk attitude.

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Five Cool Things and Whalefall

Hello and welcome to another addition of Five Cool Things the bi-weekly article where I talk about all the fun, interesting, and yes, cool things I’ve enjoyed since the last time. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms I’ve not really paid attention to anything from George R.R. Martin since the Game of Thrones TV series…

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Vertigo for a Killer Blu-ray Review: A Dizzying Thriller

I enjoyed what the film was doing even if I knew where it was going.

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Birds of Prey (1968) Blu-ray Review: A Terrific (and Talkative) Thriller

For years and years now, I’ve been writing down all the movies I watch. I used to just do it with pen and paper, then I used my blog, and now sites like Letterboxd allow me to track everything. I like looking back and seeing how many movies I’ve seen in a given year, or…

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Charade Is the Pick of the Week

The best Hitchcock film Hitchcock never directed.

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Follow Me Quietly Blu-ray Review: Surprisingly Thrilling

It feel like an episode of some long-lost TV series rather than a fully fleshed-out movie.

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