The Beast Must Die Blu-ray/DVD Review: A Somber Film Noir
By Davy |
Film noir is definitely an influential genre of cinema, one steeped with seedy characters, grim atmosphere (with often incredible cinematography), ...
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Some Came Running Blu-ray Review: ’50s Melodrama Feels Familiar
By Kent Conrad |
Prestige dramas in each decade in American cinema each tend to have their own flavor, and in the '50s, it ...
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Freud Blu-ray Review: Montgomery Clift Exorcises His Demons
By Steve Geise |
This mid-career effort by legendary director John Houston is overlong, clinical, and ponderous, and yet Montgomery Clift’s tortured lead performance ...
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Planes, Trains and Automobiles Limited-Edition Blu-ray SteelBook Review: This Ain’t No Turkey Trot
By Jack Cormack |
Its premise is simple. And yet, Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987; dir. John Hughes) is cast to perfection, balancing moments ...
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Giallo Essentials [Red Edition] Blu-ray Review: Underrated but Important Films
By Davy |
Despite their basic plots and sometimes slow pacing (deliberate or otherwise), I do enjoy the giallo films of Italian cinema. ...
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Lullaby of Broadway Blu-ray Review: Don’t Sleep on This Joyous Delight
By Steve Geise |
Doris Day leads an engaging cast in this fairly conventional but highly entertaining musical. She stars as a young dancer ...
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Counterpoint Blu-ray Review: Battle of the Cellos
By Mat Brewster |
Towards the end of World War II, soldiers gather in a bombed-out church to listen to a symphony orchestra as ...
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Night Has a Thousand Eyes Blu-ray Review: Psychic Thriller a Near Miss
By Kent Conrad |
What a great title. Night Has a Thousand Eyes. It evokes a sense of mystery, even of terror. The opening ...
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ParaNorman (LAIKA Studios Edition) Blu-ray Review: A Strange and Unique Film
By Todd Karella |
Norman Babcock (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is your average 11-year-old growing up in Blithe Hollow, Massachusetts. Well, as average as any boy ...
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The Beast Must Die (1952) Blu-ray Review: Argentinian Revenge Noir
By Kent Conrad |
The structure of The Beast Must Die is the first thing to notice about it. It has a now standard, ...
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Coraline (LAIKA Studios Edition) Blu-ray Review: A Fantastic Fairy Tale
By Gordon S. Miller |
Based on Neil Gaiman's award-winning children's novella, writer/director Henry Selick's Coraline is a fantastic fairy tale about a young girl ...
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The Original Christmas Specials Collection Steelbook Blu-ray Review: Three Gifts, One Stocking Stuffer, One Lump of Coal
By David Wangberg |
For many years, Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass dominated the small screens with their holiday specials. Even after the ...
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The Bitter Stems Blu-ray Review: Argentine Noir
By Steve Geise |
Alfredo Gasper is a hard-working newspaper reporter in Argentina who has become disillusioned about the trajectory of his stalled career. ...
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The Accused (1949) Blu-ray Review: Works Something Like a Film Noir in Reverse
By Mat Brewster |
The classic film noir plot goes something like this: a man, usually a not too bright one, meets a woman ...
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Mad Love (1935) Blu-ray Review: Grotesque ’30 Body Horror
By Kent Conrad |
Mad Love would be a long lost Universal horror film had it not been made by MGM. It has a ...
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DC’s Legends of Tomorrow: The Complete Sixth Season Blu-ray Review: Not Quite Legendary
By Mat Brewster |
In my reviews of previous seasons of Legends of Tomorrow, I've discussed my love for how this series understands how ...
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Breakheart Pass Blu-ray Review: Like an Agatha Christie Western
By Mat Brewster |
Take a moment and look at the cover art for this Blu-ray which is the recreation of the original poster. ...
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The Suicide Squad Blu-ray Review: Suicide Isn’t Painless with James Gunn at the Helm
By Gordon S. Miller |
As mentioned in my review of the movie, the main reason for its success is because James “Gunn is a ...
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In the Shadow of Hollywood: Highlights from Poverty Row Blu-ray Review: Independent ’30s B-Movies
By Kent Conrad |
Entertainment is often called a recession-proof (or even depression-proof) industry. The theory being that even when people are at their ...
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Audrey Hepburn 7-Movie Collection Blu-ray Review: More Loverly Than Ever
By Steve Geise |
This collection of Audrey Hepburn’s most memorable starring roles has been available on DVD since early 2019, but has only ...
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The Sheik (1921) Blu-ray Review: A Silent and Problematic Classic
By Mat Brewster |
In December of 1912 a beautiful young man with the unlikely name of Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Pierre Filiberto Guglielmi di ...
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The Naked Spur Blu-ray Review: A Classic ’50s Western
By Gordon S. Miller |
The Naked Spur (1953) was the third of five westerns between actor James Stewart and director Anthony Mann. Stewart plays ...
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Throw Down Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Brawl Room Blitz
By David Wangberg |
Johnnie To’s Throw Down is a titular double entendre. Not only is it a film about martial arts (kind of); ...
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The Incredible Shrinking Man Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Giant-Sized Fun
By Mat Brewster |
I wonder what it is about stories of humans being shrunk down to tiny size or living in a land ...
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Injustice (2021) Blu-ray Review: An Intriguing Story in An Alternate DC Universe
By Gordon S. Miller |
Based on the Injustice: Gods Among Us video game and the Injustice: Gods Among Us: Year One comic book series, ...
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Ratcatcher Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Definite Punch to the Gut
By Davy |
Despite only having four feature-length films and a handful of shorts, filmmaker Lynne Ramsay has crafted a compelling body of ...
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Change of Habit Blu-ray Review: Easy Habit to Break
By Steve Geise |
This offbeat film bears the distinction of being Elvis Presley’s final acting role, which is about the only remarkable thing ...
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Tex Avery Screwball Classics Volume 3 Blu-ray Review: Another Must-own for Fans of Avery and Animation
By Gordon S. Miller |
The Warner Archive Collection has released the third volume of their Tex Avery Screwball Classics line, bringing the total number ...
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Demons I & II Blu-ray Review: Italian Gore Shlock Romp
By Kent Conrad |
One of the keys to great schlock is integrity, and sincerity. Schlock that works cannot ever let the audience know ...
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Come September Blu-ray Review: Hudson Rocks the Riviera
By Steve Geise |
Rock Hudson is in prime leading man form in this beautifully photographed 1961 romp through the Italian Riviera. Hudson plays ...
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The Cheat (1931) Blu-ray Review: Third Time Isn’t the Charm
By Mat Brewster |
I'm about two steps away from completely being a classic movie snob. I've loved classic movies pretty much my entire ...
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Vera Cruz (1954) Blu-ray Review: Twisty Western Caper
By Kent Conrad |
Vera Cruz (1954) is an interesting western: it's a buddy movie where the buddies never really like each other. It's ...
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Torch Singer (1933) Blu-ray Review: A Very Modern Pre-Code
By Mat Brewster |
One of the interesting things about reviewing very old films is the tension between my modern standards and my understanding ...
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The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978) Blu-ray Review: Bedraggled
By Jack Cormack |
Woe to the viewer who tries to sit through director Paul Morrissey’s take on The Hound of the Baskervilles, starring ...
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The Flash (2014): The Complete Seventh Season Blu-ray Review: The Stories Feel Undercooked and Underwhelming
By Mat Brewster |
Disclaimer: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided Cinema Sentries with a free copy of the Blu-ray reviewed in this post. The ...
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A Night at the Opera Blu-ray Review: A Comedy Classic
By Gordon S. Miller |
The Warner Archive Collection has released A Night at the Opera on Blu-ray. It is the first Marx Brothers movie ...
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Hot Saturday Blu-ray Review: Fascinating Pre-Code Shenanigans
By Mat Brewster |
Had Hot Saturday (1932) been made just a few years later, it would have been a completely different film. It ...
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Cold War Creatures: Four Films from Sam Katzman Blu-ray Review: This Set Is a Must-buy
By Mat Brewster |
Sam Katzman got his start in the movies working as a stage laborer in the early 1920s. He moved up ...
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Blithe Spirit (2020) Blu-ray Review: Bland and Unspirited, But Mann and Fisher Shine
By Steve Geise |
Noel Coward’s play has been adapted for the screen multiple times dating back to 1945, but it’s been long enough ...
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Love & Basketball Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Love Story That Feels Fresh
By Davy |
There are so many cinematic tales of young love that spans time that are riddled with clichés. They usually have ...
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The Fourth Victim Blu-ray Review: Stay Till the End
By Mat Brewster |
A pretty blonde woman lounges languidly in the swimming pool of a large estate. When her cigarette pops a hole ...
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Mona Lisa Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Neo-noir with a Mystic Smile
By Mat Brewster |
The first time I remember seeing Bob Hoskins was as Eddie Valiant the hard-boiled, yet ultimately soft-hearted detective working for ...
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The Damned Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Demonstrative Descent into Family Destruction
By Davy |
In almost every family, there is, arguably, a hidden sense of evil. When the soul gets twisted and corrupted, so ...
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The Awakening (2011) Blu-ray Review: Half a Great Ghost Story
By Mat Brewster |
I love a good ghost story. Unlike any other genre, they seem to be able to create a mood within ...
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Songs My Brothers Taught Me Blu-ray Review: A Compelling Cinematic Experience
By Davy |
Being an only child, I don't have the experience of the relationships between brothers and sisters. However, seeing those depicted ...
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Death Screams (1982) Blu-ray Review: Regional ’80s Slasher Artifact
By Kent Conrad |
There used to be a thing called regional cinema in the U.S. Hell, there used to be a thing called ...
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48 Hrs. / Another 48 Hrs. Blu-ray Reviews: The Boys Are Back on Blu-ray
By Gordon S. Miller |
Expanding their roster of Eddie Murphy titles, the Paramount Presents line has added the two films that comprise the 48 ...
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Straight Time Blu-ray Review: The Jailbird Blues
By Jack Cormack |
Catch me on the right day and I’ll proclaim Straight Time (dir. Ulu Grosbard) the best film of 1978. Based ...
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Apocalypse ’45 Blu-ray Review: A Brutal Look at the Harsh Realities of the War with Japan During World War II
By generaljabbo |
Over the years, there have been numerous documentaries and movies about World War II, but none of them quite like ...
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The Sergio Martino Collection Blu-ray Review: A Giallo Giant Gets His Due
By Jack Cormack |
So, you’ve seen the Dario Argento gialli (highlights include The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Deep Red, Suspiria, and Tenebrae), ...
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