Repeat Performance Blu-ray Review: A Curiosity More Than Anything
By Davy |
All film noirs are not created equal. This means that a lot of them completely miss the boat. For every ...
Read More The Flag of Iron & Legendary Weapons of China Blu-ray Review: Two Classics from Shaw Brothers Studios
By Mat Brewster |
Last month in my review of Disciples of Shaolin, I noted how much I loved old kung fu movies as ...
Read More Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy Blu-ray Review: A Wonderful and Highly Gorgeous Work of Art
By Davy |
Life can be merciless, full of unpredictable twist and turns, as well as tragedy and sudden events that can turn ...
Read More La Dolce Vita Blu-ray Review: The High Cost of Fancy Living
By David Wangberg |
Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita clocks in at nearly three hours, the usual length of some big-budgeted epics that would ...
Read More Gold Diggers of 1933 Blu-ray Review: It’s Perfect
By Davy |
The Depression was and still remains one of the most devastating events in American history. So many people were unemployed, ...
Read More The Capture (1950) Blu-ray Review: Complex Modern Western Crime Narrative
By Kent Conrad |
Lin Vanner (Lew Ayres), the protagonist of The Capture (1950), accidentally shoots an unarmed man. He believes the man is ...
Read More Journey to Shiloh Blu-ray Review: Too Many Questions and Questionable Motivations
By Rons Reviews |
Clearly trying to ride on the success of The Magnificent Seven and The Return of the Seven, Journey to Shiloh, ...
Read More 12 Angry Men (1997) Blu-ray Review: One Terrific Movie
By David Wangberg |
While Sidney Lumet’s adaptation of Reginald Rose’s 12 Angry Men is a film that is 100 percent perfect and doesn’t ...
Read More Rich and Strange Blu-ray Review: Marriage in Crisis
By Kent Conrad |
Alfred Hitchcock is known as primarily a director of thrillers, and after he came to the U.S. in 1939 it ...
Read More Fritz the Cat / The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat Blu-rays Review: Sex, Drugs, and Counterculture
By Gordon S. Miller |
Scorpion Releasing by way of Kino Lorber Studio Classics has released the cinematic adventures of Robert Crumb's Fritz the Cat. ...
Read More Red Angel (1966) Blu-ray Review: Disturbing War Hospital Drama
By Kent Conrad |
Red Angel is about a war-time nurse, and it lives up to themes implicit in the name. Nurse Sakura Nishi ...
Read More Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) Blu-ray Review: An Instant Sci-Fi Classic
By David Wangberg |
At one point, Hollywood gave Jack Finney’s The Body Snatchers the same treatment it did to other popular literature such ...
Read More Gambit (1966) Blu-ray Review: A Larcenous Lark
By Rocky London |
In director Ronald Neame’s caper flick, Gambit (1966; 109 mins.), a British cat burglar, Harry Dean (Michael Caine), teams with ...
Read More Stage Fright (1950) Blu-ray Review: Second-Tier Hitchcock Is Still Good Cinema
By Mat Brewster |
Stage Fright, Alfred Hitchcock's thriller from 1950 begins with a great curtain that opens to reveal a shot of, not ...
Read More The Piano Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Jane Campion’s Sublime Masterpiece
By Davy |
Despite all the accolades and acclaim, director Jane Campion still seems to be continuously undervalued and taken for granted. That's ...
Read More Prince of the City Blu-ray Review: The NYPD Blues
By Rocky London |
In Prince of the City (1981; dir. Sidney Lumet), everything about drug enforcement is crooked—and that’s the way it’s supposed ...
Read More Shock (1977) Blu-ray Review: Bava’s Final Film
By Kent Conrad |
Shock is the final film that Mario Bava directed and is commonly regarded as an underwhelming swan song. He was ...
Read More Dune (2021) Blu-ray Review: Although Half the Story, Denis Villeneuve Delivers an Entertaining Science Fiction Spectacle
By Gordon S. Miller |
Director/co-writer Denis Villeneuve wisely chose to only adapt the first half of Frank Herbert's landmark novel Dune, even though the ...
Read More Ragtime (1981) Blu-ray Review: The Movie Needed to be Shorter or Longer to Succeed
By Gordon S. Miller |
Based on E.L. Doctorow's 1975 novel of the same name, Milos Forman's Ragtime (1981) is set in the turn of ...
Read More Disciples of Shaolin Blu-ray Review: Socially Conscious Kung Fu
By Mat Brewster |
When I was a kid one of the local television stations used to run what they called Kung Fu Theater ...
Read More Shadow of the Thin Man Blu-ray Review: Bask in the Laughs and Intrigue
By Gordon S. Miller |
Shadow of the Thin Man is the fourth title in the six-film series featuring the detective team of Nick (William ...
Read More High Sierra Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Raoul Walsh Tells a Story Twice
By Gordon S. Miller |
Based on W. R. Burnett's second novel, director Roaul Walsh's High Sierra (1941) is a captivating crime drama notable for ...
Read More Giallo Essentials [Yellow Edition] Blu-ray Review: Masked Killers, Disrobed Victims
By Steve Geise |
Arrow Video’s second box set collection of giallo classics is now available, arriving less than a month after the first ...
Read More The Old Fashioned Way / It’s a Gift / The Bank Dick Blu-rays Review: A Trio of W. C. Fields Comedies from KL Studio Classics
By Gordon S. Miller |
W. C. Fields got his start in vaudeville as a juggler. He went on to create an iconic comic persona, ...
Read More The Learning Tree Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Semi-Autobiographical Story from Gordon Parks
By Davy |
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
By Davy |
As I mentioned in my review for the Red Edition of Arrow's Giallo Essentials, Giallo is a subdivision of Italian ...
Read More Cry Macho Blu-ray Review: Back in the Saddle Again
By David Wangberg |
It’s been some time since Clint Eastwood made a movie that is simply just enjoyable and doesn’t become something weighed ...
Read More The Last of Sheila Blu-ray Review: A Stylish Whodunnit
By Elizabeth Periale |
Fans of games, puzzles, and mysteries will enjoy the 1973 film The Last of Sheila. Written by the dynamic duo ...
Read More Harold and Maude Blu-ray Review: Funeral Freak Flag
By Rocky London |
A cult comedy, Harold and Maude (1971; 91 minutes; dir. Hal Ashby) tries a mite too hard to be unusual. ...
Read More Angels with Dirty Faces Blu-ray Review: A Seminal Gangster Classic
By Davy |
James Cagney was one of the great actors of his time, and for all-time. He had a scowl that would ...
Read More It’s a Wonderful Life Blu-ray Review: A Wonderful Film with an Interesting 75th Anniversary Release
By Rons Reviews |
It's a Wonderful Life endures as a Christmas classic after 75 years, though it has taken a backseat to more ...
Read More Giallo Essentials [Red Edition] Blu-ray Box Set Review: Mixed Bag, Solid Box
By Steve Geise |
Just in time for the holiday gift giving season, Arrow Video has repackaged three individual Blu-ray releases from 2018/19 into ...
Read More Wife of a Spy Blu-ray Review: Understated Japanese Spy Thriller
By Kent Conrad |
Wife of a Spy is the latest film by Japanese craftsman Kiyoshi Kurosawa. He was one of several filmmakers, along ...
Read More Night Gallery Season One Blu-ray Review: Rod Serling’s Other Series Gets a Fresh Coat of Paint
By Steve Geise |
Rod Serling will always be most closely identified with The Twilight Zone, but his follow-up series is finally getting Blu-ray ...
Read More Party Girl (1958) Blu-ray Review: Neon Underworld
By Rocky London |
Fans of director Nicholas Ray (best known for the James Dean vehicle, Rebel Without a Cause) should enjoy Party Girl ...
Read More The Ghost Ship/Bedlam Double Feature Blu-ray Review: Two Val Lewton Suspense Thrillers
By Kent Conrad |
Val Lewton ran the horror film unit at RKO Picture from 1942 to 1946. The massive success of Cat People, ...
Read More 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), ...
Read More 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 ...
Read More 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 ...
Read More Planes, Trains and Automobiles Limited-Edition Blu-ray SteelBook Review: This Ain’t No Turkey Trot
By Rocky London |
Its premise is simple. And yet, Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987; dir. John Hughes) is cast to perfection, balancing moments ...
Read More 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. ...
Read More 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 ...
Read More 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 ...
Read More 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 ...
Read More 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 ...
Read More 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, ...
Read More 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 ...
Read More 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 ...
Read More 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. ...
Read More 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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