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Invaders from Mars (1953) Blu-ray Review: A Standout in the ’50s Sci-fi Genre

William Cameron Menzies's penultimate movie as director, Invaders from Mars (1953), tells the story of an alien invasion seen through ...
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Black Adam Blu-ray Review: Legend, Vengeance, and the Kahndaqian Way

Black Adam is the 11th film in the DC Extended Universe franchise.The character first appeared in rival Fawcett Comics' Marvel ...
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El Vampiro Negro (1953) Blu-ray Review: An Argentinian “M”

Film noir as a genre is rather over-subscribed. It existed for a relatively brief period in the ‘40s and ‘50s ...
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Cinema’s First Nasty Women Blu-ray Set Review: Thoughtfully Highlights Unknown Performers from Different Walks of Life

When Donald Trump called opponent Hilary Clinton a "nasty woman" at a 2016 televised debate, the term came back to ...
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Twilight (1998) Blu-ray Review: Mystery and Noir Fans Should Enjoy It

After adapting Richard Russo's Nobody's Fool (1994), starring Paul Newman, its screenwriter/director Robert Benton teamed with Russo to write the ...
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Halloween Ends Blu-ray Review: Rights Many of the Wrongs Committed by Halloween Kills

2018's Halloween was basic but effective because it erased the bad taste left by many of the original franchise's questionable ...
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Nobody’s Fool Blu-ray Review: At the Center of the Film’s Charm Is Paul Newman’s Performance

It takes a lot of confidence to make a movie in which nothing really happens. It does help to have ...
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The Girl on a Motorcycle Blu-ray Review: Spins Its Stylish Wheels

This 1968 UK/France co-production boasts star turns from Alain Delon and Marianne Faithfull in their prime, automatically making it an ...
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Maigret (1960): Season 1 Blu-ray Review: Scores Big for Solid Entertainment Value

Maigret, the French detective created by Belgian writer Georges Simenon, is one of my all-time fictional detectives. Second only, perhaps, ...
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Cooley High Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Coming-of-Age Gem Authentically Told from a Black Perspective

Usually, when you think of Black-oriented films from the 1970s, you mind automatically gears toward the Blaxploitation genre, which usually ...
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South Park: Post Covid Blu-ray Review: An Entertaining Mix of Goofy and Serious

The South Park: Post Covid Blu-ray presents two extended episodes that debuted on Paramount+ in the Fall of 2021: “Post ...
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The Woman King Blu-ray Review: Delivers a Mighty Roar

When the majority of PG-13-rated action films being released today have a Marvel or DC label attached to them, one ...
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Walk Proud Blu-ray Review: A Gang Epic, It’s Not. Cult Classic? Maybe…

From its tagline “He was tough enough for the streets…was he tough enough to leave them?” Walk Proud (1979) starring ...
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5-25-77 Blu-ray Review: A Long Time Ago in a Town Far, Far Away

For sci-fi starved ‘70s youth, the arrival of Star Wars was a watershed moment forever etched in our collective memories. ...
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Blood & Diamonds Blu-ray Review: Dull & Boring

Our man Guido (Claudio Cassinelli) can't catch a break. Someone snitches on him and his partner Marco (Carmelo Reale) during ...
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The Night of the Iguana Blu-ray Review: A Long Night’s Journey into the Soul

They say Tennessee Williams was none too pleased with John Huston's adaptation of his play The Night of the Iguana. ...
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Alma’s Rainbow Blu-ray Review: A Reason Why Diverse Storytelling Is Essential

I have seen so many films about the coming-of age experience and the complications of being young in an increasingly ...
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Attack of the 50 Foot Woman Blu-ray Review: Maybe If She Were a Little Taller This Would Be Good

The 1950s were an incredibly fertile period for science fiction at the cinema. The invention of the atomic bomb and ...
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Entre Nous Blu-ray Review: Sisters Are Doing It for Themselves

Writer/director Diane Kurys borrowed from her own family history to craft this story about two women finding their way in ...
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Hold Me Tight Blu-ray Review: An Engrossing Multi-character Piece

When I first saw Vicky Krieps in Paul Thomas Anderson's Phantom Thread, really holding her own against the likes of ...
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Contraband (1980) Blu-ray Review: Explosively Violent Crime Action

Contraband comes in like a cool stylish Italian crime thriller and goes out like a Lucio Fulci gore fest. Being ...
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Three Thousand Years of Longing Blu-ray Review: George Miller’s Genie

Writer/director George Miller enables his whimsical side in between Mad Max movies in this modern riff on the Aladdin myth. ...
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The Nun and the Devil Blu-ray Review: Which Mother Will Prove Superior?

Despite the title, the Devil does not make a physical appearance in the Italian The Nun and The Devil (1973). ...
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Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman Collection Blu-ray Review: Essential Viewing

As I may have mentioned in previous reviews, documentaries (more than anything in film) have the power to move, enrage, ...
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Make Way for Tomorrow Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Children Just Don’t Understand

Existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre said, “Hell is other people.” That’s hard to disagree with, especially after seeing the way the ...
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The Kindred (1987) Blu-ray Review: Practical Effects, Impractical Storytelling

The difference between bad practical effects and bad CG is that bad practical still look like effort. Bad CG looks ...
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Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm Blu-ray Review: Reunited, and It Feels So Good

Fifteen years after Aqua Teen Hunger Force Forever, the 11th season of the series, concluded, Aqua Teen Hunger Force is ...
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Cinema Sentries

Stargirl: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Review: A Wonderful Continuation of the Series

The second season of Stargirl is subtitled “Summer School,” which Courtney (Brec Bassinger) has to enroll in because she is ...
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E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial 40th Anniversary Blu-ray Review: An All-time Classic

What else can one say about E.T., the unfortunately fictional but lovable alien, who whisked his way into our hearts ...
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Lost Highway Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Neo-noir with a Twist

The opening credits of Lost Highway are a POV from a car racing down a darkened highway, its headlights the ...
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E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial Blu-ray Review: ’80s Friendly Alien Invasion

E.T. is Jaws inverted. They both involve invasions of small communities by an alien entity. In one, the invasion disrupts ...
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Private Desert Blu-ray Review: Troubled Characters Seek Their Oasis

Daniel is in a rut. As a disgraced macho cop with anger management issues, he spends his days in Brazil ...
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Beast (2022) Blu-ray Review: A Fun, Albeit Familiar, Adventure

Baltasar Kormákur's Beast and his visual effects team present thrills in this conventional man-versus-animal story set among the South African ...
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Satan’s Little Helper Blu-ray Review: Ripe for Discovery

As a fan of horror flicks, I like many of them (even the lowest tier ones), and celebrated cult director ...
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The Bat Blu-ray Review: Has a Certain Campy Charm

I do like good murder mysteries, but only if they're done well. They have to have solid scripts, well-written characters ...
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The Count Yorga Collection Blu-ray Review: Vampire Wreaks Havoc in California! Read All About It!

From Arrow Video comes Count Yorga, Vampire (1970) and The Return of Count Yorga (1972), cult classics and drive-in delights, ...
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The Flash (2014): The Complete Eighth Season Blu-ray Review: Starting to Wear Thin

The Arrowverse is dead. Well, almost. What began with a single show, Arrow in 2012, quickly grew and grew until ...
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Blind Fury (1989) Blu-ray Review: ’80s Action Meets Japan Pulp

Eighties action was more fun. The special effects were often primitive. The martial arts was less fluid, the camera work ...
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Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons Blu-ray Review: The Super Odd Couple Unites for the First Time

Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons is a standalone film in the DC Animated Movie franchise. The titular ...
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Carmen (2022) Blu-ray Review: Welcome to Malta

When a lifelong servant of the church finds herself out on the street, she’s faced with an uncertain future that ...
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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) Blu-ray Review: Fredric March Is Quite Wonderful in the Dual Role

When I asked to review this film, Cinema Sentries publisher Gordon S. Miller, remembering that I had just reviewed the ...
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Tropic Thunder Director’s Cut (Special Edition) Blu-ray Review: A Comedy Pedigree That Guarantees Laughter

Starring co-writer and director Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., and Tom Cruise in a rare comedic role, Tropic ...
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Happy Birthday to Me (1981) Blu-ray Review: Canuxploitation Slasher Slog

Post Halloween, the slasher was the go-to low budget money maker. The formula is so simple (young people, bloody death, ...
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Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema X Blu-ray Review: In This Corner…Tony Curtis

Boxing. The sweet science. Gladiators of the ring. Raging war in a small square. Two men bashing their brains out ...
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Bullet Train Blu-ray Review: Snakes on a Train

Stuntman-turned-director David Leitch (Deadpool 2) helms this crime caper featuring a colorful collection of scheming assassins gathered on a bullet ...
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Cinema Sentries

Adventure Time: Distant Lands Blu-ray: The Saga Continues

Adventure Time ran on Cartoon Network from 2010 to 2018. It presented the adventures of a human boy named Finn ...
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Island of the Blue Dolphins Blu-ray Review: An Enjoyable Story to Watch Unfold

Most of us have movies that we watched repeatedly as children.  I recall my sister and I watching Island of ...
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I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing Blu-ray Review: A Prime Example of the Immediacy and Importance of Films by Women

As a constant daydreamer who also happens to be a member of the queer/LGBTQ community, I totally related to Patricia ...
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Eyes of Laura Mars (Special Edition) Blu-ray Review: Artful Trash

There has been a lot of Internet chatter over the last couple of years about the death of eroticism in ...
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Going Places Blu-ray Review: Traveling Nowhere, Reaching Enlightenment

The title of this 1974 French film is somewhat ironic, considering the rudderless path of its twenty-something drifter characters. Co-written ...
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