Book Review: Jessica Farm by Josh Simmons: Let’s Weird Jessica to Death
By Jack Cormack |
Jessica Farm is less like a conventional story and more of a deranged diary.
Torso 4K UHD Review: ‘The Bodies Bear Traces of Carnal Violence’
By Jack Cormack |
For all its contradictions—sleazy yet stylish, exploitative but suspenseful—Torso deserves its place in the gialli pantheon.
Book Review: The De Palma Decade by Laurent Bouzereau: A Breezy Tribute to a Master Provocateur
By Jack Cormack |
The De Palma Decade is an entertaining celebration of a thrilling era in De Palma’s career.
Book Review: Kommix by Charles Burns: A Black Box of Strange
By Jack Cormack |
If you’re a devotee of Burns and crave darker, experimental comics, this collection is essential reading.
Querelle Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Man in Every Port
By Jack Cormack |
If you’re a Fassbinder completist, Querelle might be worth a look.
Chinatown 4K UHD Review: Noir Gold; or “The point is, the girl dies”
By Jack Cormack |
It’s a miracle this movie exists.
Once Upon a Time in the West 4K UHD Review: Weird West
By Jack Cormack |
It’s Leone’s warped, epic dream of the ultimate Western movie.
Rolling Thunder 4K UHD Review: Dead Inside
By Jack Cormack |
As it stands, Rolling Thunder is great trash—the definitive vetspoitation film.
Nostalghia 4K UHD Review: Out, Out, Brief Candle
By Jack Cormack |
Few filmmakers capture an extended dream state (or dream-space) on celluloid quite like Tarkovsky does.
Death Rides a Horse Blu-ray Review: Revenge Riders of the Dust Storm
By Jack Cormack |
On its own terms, Death Rides a Horse satisfies.
The Emerald Forest Blu-ray Review: The Jungle Trip
By Jack Cormack |
Am I glad to have the Kino Lorber Blu-ray of the movie? You bet I am.
Point Break (1991) 4K UHD Review: “27 banks in three years – anything to catch the perfect wave!”
By Jack Cormack |
Point Break is a slick, fast-paced action film that aims to entertain us.
The Train 4K UHD Review: “You talk about the war. I talk about what it costs!”
By Jack Cormack |
The Train is an exciting, thoughtful action film.
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot 4K UHD Review: Cimino Rising
By Jack Cormack |
It’s a small movie with solemnity on the margins—with an epic, bittersweet vision on the brain.
The Sorrow and the Pity Blu-ray Review: A Multi-perspective Essay on the German Occupation of France
By Jack Cormack |
The Sorrow and the Pity is an incredible document.
Clue 4K UHD Review: Who Farted?
By Jack Cormack |
The ensemble prevents Clue from being a total mess.
Days of Heaven Criterion Collection 4K UHD Review: Blue Harvest
By Jack Cormack |
The new Criterion 4K release has deepened my appreciation for it.
The Color Purple (1985) 4K UHD Review: Ms. Celie’s Blues
By Jack Cormack |
The heightened nature of the production helps dramatize the lyrical, deeply emotional impulse to live and be free that churns behind Celie’s initial passivity.
Black Sabbath Blu-ray Review: A Touch of Bava in the Night
By Jack Cormack |
Having a piece of Bava on a lustrous Blu-ray is always a gift.
Book Review: Monica by Daniel Clowes: Trip the Trauma Fantastic
By Jack Cormack |
Monica is a modern classic.
Carlito’s Way 4K UHD Review: Sad Streets
By Jack Cormack |
Carlito’s Way is a sad, albeit semi-exciting, street opera.
Three Days of the Condor Blu-ray Review: The Book Reader Who Stayed Out in the Cold
By Jack Cormack |
Three Days of the Condor is a solid conspiracy thriller.
Enter the Dragon 4K UHD Review: Are You Not… Entered?
By Jack Cormack |
The movie would suck a nunchuck through a garden hose were it not for Lee’s incredible, graceful athleticism.
The Rules of the Game Criterion Collection 4K UHD Review: The Shooting Party
By Jack Cormack |
In cinema, as in life, so much comes down to the details.
National Lampoon’s Vacation 4K UHD Review: This is No Longer a Vacation — It’s a Quest!
By Jack Cormack |
If anyone wins the movie, Chevy Chase does.
Creepshow Collector’s Edition 4K UHD + Blu-ray Review: The Best E.C. Screamer Ever Put on Film
By Jack Cormack |
Creepshow depicts five stories of scum getting their due.
Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis) Movie Review: Album Art Gods
By Jack Cormack |
It helps lift the veil on how Hipgnosis created some of their most lasting art.
The Great Train Robbery (1978) Blu-ray Review: A Wry Money-Train Caper
By Jack Cormack |
It’s better than the book.
Superman 5-Film Collection 4K UHD Review: Super-Reeve
By Jack Cormack |
Is it worth the bucks you’d pay for it?
The Seventh Seal Criterion Collection 4K UHD Review: Chess with Death
By Jack Cormack |
Heavy-handed, but very well made.
Black Sunday (1977) Special Edition Blu-ray Review: The Creep in the Blimp
By Jack Cormack |
If you’re in the mood for a smart, crackerjack thriller ripped from the headlines by a talented team of filmmakers, Black Sunday may be your cup of meat.
Cool Hand Luke 4K UHD Review: Grin Like a Baby, Bite Like a Gator
By Jack Cormack |
A great showcase for Paul Newman and cinematographer Conrad Hall.
Babylon 4K UHD Steelbook Review: That Old Hollywood Stomp
By Jack Cormack |
A brazen, poison love letter to Hollywood made by a guy who’s fascinated by film and film lore.
Book Review: T*ts & Cl*ts 1972-1987: An Underground, Women-made Comix Gets the Fantagraphics Touch
By Jack Cormack |
As a time capsule, it gives a valuable history lesson.
Rocky: The Knockout Collection 4K UHD Review: The Contender
By Jack Cormack |
All said, the five-disc MGM/Warner Bros. 4K UHD set brings value.
Training Day 4K UHD Review: King Kong Ain’t Got Sh*t on Him!
By Jack Cormack |
Training Day is more than just your average crime thriller.
The Magnificent Seven (1960) 4K UHD Review: McQueen Rising
By Jack Cormack |
The Magnificent Seven remains a fun, respectable western.
Dazed and Confused Criterion Collection 4K UHD Review: School’s Out
By Jack Cormack |
If you’re a fan of Linklater’s classic, you owe it to yourself to pick up the Criterion set.
Francois Truffaut Collection Blu-ray Review: L’Enfant Tendre
By Jack Cormack |
This set may please the Truffaut completist.
The Polar Express 4K UHD Review: Dead-eyed and Dreaming
By Jack Cormack |
It’s a curiosity that never quite gels.
A Christmas Story 4K UHD Review: You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out!
By Jack Cormack |
A Christmas Story is a crowd-pleaser that sidesteps cheap laughs and goopy nostalgia.
Blue Hawaii 4K UHD Limited Edition Review: Death by Half-baked Clambake
By Jack Cormack |
Blue Hawaii is, without a doubt, a travesty.
Universal Classic Monsters: Icons of Horror Vol. 2 4K UHD Review: They Don’t Make ’em Like They Used To
By Jack Cormack |
Any self-respecting horror connoisseur will dig it.
Dressed to Kill (1980) 4K UHD Review: Hitchcock Outdone
By Jack Cormack |
Dressed to Kill is a near-masterpiece.
The War of the Worlds (1953)/When Worlds Collide 4K UHD Review: They Came From the ’50s
By Jack Cormack |
Both movies are fun, if antiquated, sci-fi benchmarks.
Scream 2 4K UHD Review: You Scream, I Scream, We All Scream… For Less Scream
By Jack Cormack |
Scream 2 is the best of the follow-ups.