Mississippi Masala is the Pick of the Week
Interracial and intercontinental romance isn't as explored in film as often as it should. Acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair's gorgeous 1992 ...
Read More Mississippi Masala Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Mira Nair’s Beguiling Sophomore Film
Films about star-crossed lovers has been old as time itself, but we arguably don't get those about interracial or intercontinental ...
Read More Girls Nite Out Blu-ray Review: Another Slasher Movie Where Kids Will Be Kids
I've seen many slasher flicks, especially those from '80s. I was really impressed by some of them, while others totally ...
Read More The Alfred Hitchcock Classics Collection Volume 2 is the Pick of the Week
As everyone knows and has always said, Hitchcock is the ultimate "Master of Suspense". When it comes to their own ...
Read More V/H/S 94 Blu-ray Review: A Rather Mixed Bag
As much as I'm into horror, I have to admit that found footage isn't usually my go-to in the genre. ...
Read More ‘Round Midnight Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Perhaps the Greatest and Most Compelling Jazz Film Ever Made
The late, great Bertrand Tavernier wasn't just a highly influential film critic/writer, he was also an incredible filmmaker with vast ...
Read More From the Journals of Jean Seberg is the Pick of the Week
Iconic actress Jean Seberg was ahead of her time. She was also a woman of her time, having a few ...
Read More Screams of a Winter Night Blu-ray Review: Has a Certain Charm
I may be in the majority here, but I liked James L. Wilson's 1979 anthology film (and sole directorial effort) ...
Read More Book Review: Girls on Film: Lessons from a Life of Watching Women in Movies by Alicia Malone
The lovely Alicia Malone has proven herself to be a great film reporter, writer, and fellow movie geek. One of ...
Read More Parallel Mothers Blu-ray Review: Penelope Cruz Delivers Another Luminous Performance
Spanish filmmaker and living film legend Pedro Almodovar continues to be an immaculate cinematic storyteller and fantastic director of women. ...
Read More Jockey Blu-ray Review: Clifton Collins Jr. Is Simply Marvelous
Clifton Collins Jr. has long been an often overlooked and understated character actor working since the early '90s, but his ...
Read More Jockey is the Pick of the Week
This week may not have the most notable releases, but there are a few that I will highlight, including a ...
Read More Ordinary People Blu-ray Review: The Puzzle of Life Isn’t Always Complete
Whether Ordinary People deserved to win the Oscar for Best Picture over Raging Bull or whether you think it's better ...
Read More The Godfather Trilogy 4K UHD is the Pick of the Week
What else can one say about The Godfather saga? The whole trilogy (at least parts 1 & 2) set the ...
Read More SXSW 2022 Review: The Kids in the Hall: Comedy Punks Review
If you're a huge fan of the classic sketch comedy show The Kids of the Hall, you instantly recognize the ...
Read More SXSW 2022 Review: Master
Let's face it, Jordan Peele's Get Out (2018) continues to be the horror gold standard of films about racism and ...
Read More SXSW 2022 Review: Hypochondriac
As we're young, we fear that we might turn into our parents. When we are older, we deny when we ...
Read More SXSW 2022 Review: Soft & Quiet
Karen-a-phobia, the fear of Karens could be an accurate tagline for Beth de Araujo's deeply disturbing Soft & Quiet, a ...
Read More SXSW 2022 Review: I Love My Dad: Deeply Uncomfortable but Strangely Sweet
I'm not a parent, but I have seen how complicated relationships between parent and their children can actually be. There ...
Read More SXSW 2022 Review: Sissy
Blood, gore, and social commentary are on full display in Hannah Barlow & Kane Senes' Sissy, a wicked horror-thriller that ...
Read More SXSW 2022 Review: Your Friend, Memphis
People with disabilities are too often ignored in documentaries, and that's a shame. You can learn a lot from them, ...
Read More SXSW 2022 Review: Radical Honesty
I can't say much about dating. I've never been on a date, so I have no experience. However, watching movies ...
Read More Nightmare (1964) Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Review: A Hidden Gem
When you think of Hammer Films, their versions of Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy, and even Van Helsing automatically come to ...
Read More Hester Street is the Pick of the Week
As I mentioned in my recent review, I think that Hester Street, the late Joan Micklin Silver's fantastic 1975 film, ...
Read More Hester Street Blu-ray Review: Joan Micklin Silver’s Beguiling 1975 Masterpiece
There have been so many films about immigrants trying to make a new life in America. Some of them immediately ...
Read More 2022 Oscar-Nominated Live-Action Short Films Review
ShortsTV presents the 17th annual Oscar Nominated Short Films theatrical releases. Spanning the categories of Live Action, Animation, and Documentary, ...
Read More Alligator 4K Ultra HD is the Pick of the Week
Some ideas sound really absurd on paper, but when they're put on the screen, they sometimes manage to sneak up ...
Read More Repeat Performance Blu-ray Review: A Curiosity More Than Anything
All film noirs are not created equal. This means that a lot of them completely miss the boat. For every ...
Read More Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy Blu-ray Review: A Wonderful and Highly Gorgeous Work of Art
Life can be merciless, full of unpredictable twist and turns, as well as tragedy and sudden events that can turn ...
Read More Gold Diggers of 1933 Blu-ray Review: It’s Perfect
The Depression was and still remains one of the most devastating events in American history. So many people were unemployed, ...
Read More Miller’s Crossing is the Pick of the Week
The Coen Brothers are a dynamic directing duo for the film history books. They don't make films within one particular ...
Read More The Piano is the Pick of the Week
As I mentioned before, acclaimed director Jane Campion still seems to be undervalued and understated in most film circles (which ...
Read More The Piano Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Jane Campion’s Sublime Masterpiece
Despite all the accolades and acclaim, director Jane Campion still seems to be continuously undervalued and taken for granted. That's ...
Read More The Celebration is the Pick of the Week
Although I have only seen one film from the Dogme 95 movement, which was Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves ...
Read More The Learning Tree Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Semi-Autobiographical Story from Gordon Parks
There have been so many films about growing up where characters (mostly youth) deal with first love, family issues, peer ...
Read More Giallo Essentials [Yellow Edition] Blu-ray Review: Trilogy of Sleaze
As I mentioned in my review for the Red Edition of Arrow's Giallo Essentials, Giallo is a subdivision of Italian ...
Read More Angels with Dirty Faces Blu-ray Review: A Seminal Gangster Classic
James Cagney was one of the great actors of his time, and for all-time. He had a scowl that would ...
Read More Krampus: The Naughty Cut is the Pick of the Week
As a person who has somewhat gotten over the holidays, I prefer my Christmas movies to be bleak, mean-spirited, and ...
Read More The Beast Must Die Blu-ray/DVD Review: A Somber Film Noir
Film noir is definitely an influential genre of cinema, one steeped with seedy characters, grim atmosphere (with often incredible cinematography), ...
Read More Giallo Essentials [Red Edition] Blu-ray Review: Underrated but Important Films
Despite their basic plots and sometimes slow pacing (deliberate or otherwise), I do enjoy the giallo films of Italian cinema. ...
Read More Mulholland Dr. 4K is the Pick of the Week
Singular filmmaker David Lynch is one of the most original directors in the history of film. His stylish, and at ...
Read More La strada is the Pick of the Week
Italian neorealism was an influential but rather short new wave of cinema. The movement held a mirror up to portray ...
Read More Deep Red is the Pick of the Week
The legendary Dario Argento is arguably the Italian master of horror. Despite their fairly standard plots, his films seem to ...
Read More Ratcatcher Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Definite Punch to the Gut
Despite only having four feature-length films and a handful of shorts, filmmaker Lynne Ramsay has crafted a compelling body of ...
Read More Book Review: Otto Preminger: The Man Who Be King by Foster Hirsch
The legendary (for better and worse) Otto Preminger was one of the most influential and progressive people in Hollywood history. ...
Read More Misery 4K is the Pick of the Week
What else can one say about director Rob Reiner's still iconic 1990 adaptation of Stephen King's 1987 novel that hasn't ...
Read More Love & Basketball Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Love Story That Feels Fresh
There are so many cinematic tales of young love that spans time that are riddled with clichés. They usually have ...
Read More Book Review: Hitchcock and the Censors by John Billheimer
Censorship is a long and deranged form of limitation toward the freedoms and boundless expression in all forms of media, ...
Read More The Damned Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Demonstrative Descent into Family Destruction
In almost every family, there is, arguably, a hidden sense of evil. When the soul gets twisted and corrupted, so ...
Read More Songs My Brothers Taught Me Blu-ray Review: A Compelling Cinematic Experience
Being an only child, I don't have the experience of the relationships between brothers and sisters. However, seeing those depicted ...
Read More Melvin Van Peebles: Essential Films is the Pick of the Week
When legendary filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles passed away last week, it understandably caused a ripple in film history, especially in ...
Read More Alone in the Dark (1982) Blu-ray Review: A Fun and Superior ’80s Cult Thriller
I may have mentioned this in previous reviews, but the 1980s was a major decade for slasher films. Most of ...
Read More Mona Lisa is the Pick of the Week
Neo noirs are contemporary films from 1970s and '80s that do take themes and elements from classic noirs, but they ...
Read More Beasts of No Nation Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Not Soon Forgotten
I may have used the phrase "War is Hell" in one my previous reviews, but you can't describe war as ...
Read More The Last Man on Earth Blu-ray Review: A Classic Adaptation of Richard Matheson’s Celebrated Novel
As we know, George A. Romero's 1968 masterpiece Night of the Living Dead, created the modern zombie genre that's still ...
Read More Ashes and Diamonds is the Pick of the Week
When it comes to war, there is the always the complicated struggle between fulfilling a sense of duty, or rebelling ...
Read More Nashville is the Pick of the Week
The late, great filmmaker Robert Altman remains one of the most beloved directors in the history of cinema. His use ...
Read More The Dead Zone (Collector’s Edition) is the Pick of the Week
As many of us know, Stephen King is the modern master of literary horror. Most of his works delve deep ...
Read More Baise Moi Blu-ray Review: This Movie Didn’t Win Me Over
When it comes to seeking out new films to watch, I sometimes let my curiosity get the better of me. ...
Read More Working Girls is the Pick of the Week
Prostitution continues to be a stigmatized profession. Most people look down upon it, meaning that they think that it is ...
Read More Visions of Eight Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: An Octathlon of Olympic Shorts
I'm not what you'd call an enthusiast of sports. Honestly, I don't like, watch, or play sports. I've never been ...
Read More Pariah is the Pick of the Week
There are always films in the LGBTQ genre that center on white gay society and their issues of growing up, ...
Read More Hunter Hunter Blu-ray Review: A Unique and Bold Entry in Modern Horror
Like I've stated in previous reviews, the horror genre continues to be a misunderstood one in film. Most people don't ...
Read More Book Review: Summer Movies: 30 Sun-Drenched Classics by John Malahy
Normally, I have never been into Summer, especially due to the hot, stifling weather; mosquitoes, screaming children at play, overcrowded ...
Read More Streetwise/Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell is the Pick of the Week
Documentaries are not always front-and-center in the film spectrum, and that rattles me. Documentaries have the powerful ability to showcase ...
Read More The Stylist Blu-ray Review: Director Jill Gevargizian Is out to Change the Horror Genre
Unfortunately, the film industry still continues to overlook the cinematic accomplishments of females, and that also includes horror movies. In ...
Read More Mommie Dearest Is the Pick of the Week
When it comes to cautionary tales of celebrities and their children, I think 1981's Mommie Dearest is the mother of ...
Read More She Done Him Wrong Blu-ray Review: But This Film Will Do You Right
What can one say about the legendary Mae West that hasn't already been said? She was a daring, tough, and ...
Read More Day of the Animals Blu-ray Review: A Standout of the Nature-Gone-Awry Genre
When The Birds and Jaws were released in their respective years, 1963 and 1975, they immediately became critical and commercial ...
Read More National Lampoon’s Animal House 4K is the Pick of the Week
There have been many comedies about college life, such as Revenge of the Nerds, Old School, and Neighbors. As fun ...
Read More Merrily We Go to Hell Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Prime Example of Dorothy Arzner’s Legacy
Legendary filmmaker Dorothy Arzner was a trailblazer. She was the only female working and directing during 1930s and '40s Hollywood. ...
Read More Speed 4K is the Pick of the Week
Say what you will about the '90s, and I'll most likely agree with you. Just like the 1980s, it was ...
Read More Irma Vep Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Great Milestone in Olivier Assayas’s Body of Work
There have been so many films about the often chaotic circumstances and behind-the-scenes drama about the making of a film. ...
Read More Memories of Murder is the Pick of the Week
Seeing Bong Joon Ho's Parasite awhile back, I realized that I've missed out on a lot of great, and unique ...
Read More Clapboard Jungle Movie Review: A Brutally Involving Document
I don't have personal experience, but I've seen and heard enough to know that the film business can be a ...
Read More Secrets & Lies Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Cinema at Its Best
Legendary British director Mike Leigh is one of cinema's greatest and most profound humanists. He crafts beautifully painful portraits of ...
Read More World of Wong Kar Wai is the Pick of the Week
The great Wong Kar Wai, now-iconic filmmaker, has become one of the masters of modern contemporary cinema. He's one of ...
Read More Touki bouki Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Deserves to be Seen and Discovered
I must admit that African cinema usually goes way over my head. I mostly gloss over it in favor of ...
Read More Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is the Pick of the Week
As many film buffs know, legendary filmmaker Sam Peckinpah remains one of the greatest and most unpredictable directors in the ...
Read More Smooth Talk is the Pick of the Week
There have been so many tales of adolescence and teenage portraits of sexual and social mores than most people can ...
Read More Chop Shop Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Miracle of Independent Cinema
With his wonderful 2005 Man Push Cart, filmmaker Ramin Bahrani beautifully captured the grim circumstances of being an immigrant in ...
Read More Man Push Cart Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Essential Cinema
Foreigners in a foreign land express the often grim, depressing, but sometimes hopeful studies of immigrants desperate to survive a ...
Read More The Ascent Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Larisa Shepitko’s Masterpiece
The Ukranian-born Larisa Shepitko (one of the greatest female filmmakers of all-time) had only made a few features and short ...
Read More Tourist Trap (VHS Retro Big Box Collection) Review: A Solid, Offbeat Flick
When it comes to the horror genre, there’s always going to be the usual movies steeped in typical cliches, such ...
Read More Amores Perros Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Greatest Masterpiece
The most celebrated and well-known filmmakers of the Mexican New Wave are Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuaron, and Alejandro Gonzalez ...
Read More Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Two Takes Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review
As a passionately dedicated lover of film, I really enjoy that not every film has to be a cliche, meaning ...
Read More The Shop Around the Corner Blu-ray Review: An Example of Ernst Lubitsch’s Genius
I don't have to tell you that legendary director Ernst Lubitsch remains one of the pioneers of the romantic-comedy genre ...
Read More I Spit on Your Grave Collector’s Edition Review: Mainly for Hardcore Fans of Cult Horror Film
If you discuss some of the most controversial films ever made, Meir Zarchi's 1978 still-divisive, cult-classic I Spit on Your Grave ...
Read More The Hit Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Gem of Film by Stephen Frears
The action film always comes with cliches, meaning that they usually contain car chases, explosions, and non-stop action. Sometimes these ...
Read More Claudine Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Ahead of Its Time
In the 1970s, the blaxploitation genre of film exploded, and it was usually centered on stories of masculine black men, ...
Read More Pierrot le Fou Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Still Feels Modern and Fresh
The legendary and unclassifiable filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard is reaching his 90th birthday this year (in just two months from now), and ...
Read More Momma’s Man Blu-ray Review: A True American Independent Original
We all have moments of reflections and uncertainty, whether we are so eager to grow up into adults, or when ...
Read More Variety (1983) Blu-ray Review: A Revealing Character Study of a Woman Rediscovering Herself
Usually, films about female sexual awakening and newfound sexuality are often told from the point-of-view of male directors. I'm not ...
Read More Shivers Blu-ray Review: My Favorite Horror Film Ever
David Cronenberg, the master of "Body Horror", has more than any other director in the history of cinema, expertly showcased, ...
Read More Beau Travail Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Mysterious, Haunting, and Transformative
The great and visionary director Claire Denis is one the greatest cinematic poets of our time. She's a provocative and ...
Read More Town Bloody Hall Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Verbal Battle of the Sexes
Documentaries, more than any other category of film, successfully (or sometimes unsuccessfully) captures reality at its most uncomfortable means. Whatever ...
Read More The King of Staten Island Blu-ray Review: Judd Apatow Has Made His Most Realized Work
There have been so many coming-of-age movies about young people growing up, dealing with the pressures of life, love, family ...
Read More The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Angela Winkler Is Sensational
In today's uncivilized world where humanity comes second (or dead last) to politics and where the police take the law ...
Read More Marriage Story Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Emotionally Brutal and Full of Life
I'm not an expert on marriage, but seeing many films about it, I guess I can at least say that ...
Read More Pretty in Pink Blu-ray Review: A Pretty Influential Portrait of Teenage Culture
Okay, let's just get this out in the open. The whole "boy falls in love with girl, girl falls in ...
Read More An Unmarried Woman Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Bold and Groundbreaking
As I mentioned in my Pick of the Week recently, the 1970s were a very pivotal time for women. There was the ...
Read More The Woman Blu-ray Review: Dares to Depict the Dark Side of the American Family
On one side, I see why most people don't hold kindly to "torture porn", the infamous phase of the horror ...
Read More Elvira: Mistress of the Dark Blu-ray Review: A Delightfully Silly Flick
With Elvira's Movie Macabre (which ran from 1981 to 1986), its icon and pop culture mainstay Elvira (a.k.a Cassandra Peterson) immediately became ...
Read More Spring Night Summer Night Blu-ray Review: An Honest Portrait of Small Town Woes and Broken Dreams
What I truly love about Independent film is the attention to people and places, and the issues that take place ...
Read More Billy Liar Blu-ray Review: Tom Courtenay’s Performance is Absolutely Spellbinding
The British New Wave was an innovative, but short-lived cinematic movement during the early '60s to the early '70s. It ...
Read More Teorema Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Pasolini’s Most Accessible Work
The late director Pier Paolo Pasolini was a very controversial filmmaker to begin with. His often taboo-breaking subject matter didn't ...
Read More Parasite Blu-ray Review: Remarkable and Timely
Director Bong Joon-ho has crafted a very impressive body of work. Whether it's urban squalor (Snowpiercer), monster chaos (The Host), ...
Read More Water and Sugar: Carlo Di Palma – The Colours of Life DVD Review
Next to the director, the cinematographer is one of the most essential components to making great art. Cinematography can capture ...
Read More A Raisin in the Sun Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Wonderfully Acted Film
While some movies about the African-American experience are embarrassing and downright stereotypical, there are others that realistically transcend the bad ...
Read More Cameraperson Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: No Better Film Experience Last Year
When it comes to human honesty, there is no better genre of film stronger than the documentary. In a time ...
Read More Macbeth (1948) Blu-ray Review: Something Welles This Way Comes
Orson Welles was always a man of very eclectic tastes and certain cinematic desires. He wasn't just a dominating, and ...
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