There Was a Crooked Man… Blu-ray Review: Revisionist Western Could Have Used a Few More Revisions
By Mat Brewster |
The western is, perhaps, the most malleable and everlasting American film genre. Though it has certainly been in decline for ...
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Just a Gigolo Blu-ray Review: Bowie and Dietrich Make the Best of a Misfire
By Steve Geise |
This Berlin-set film arrived at an opportune time in David Bowie’s career, since he was living in the city for ...
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Grizzly Blu-ray Review: Jaws with Claws Has Flaws
By Gordon S. Miller |
Producer David Sheldon gleefully announces in an extra that Grizzly was the first to follow in the footsteps of Jaws. ...
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Mission: Impossible (25th Anniversary Limited Edition) Blu-ray Review: MacGuffin Royale
By Rocky London |
In the summer of 1996, Paramount Pictures brought three TV shows that originated in the 1960s to the big screen: ...
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Escape from Fort Bravo Blu-ray Review: A Serviceable B-western Undercut by Its Love Story
By Gordon S. Miller |
John Sturges' Escape from Fort Bravo sets a love triangle within a Civil War-era western, but the limited development of ...
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King Kong (1976) Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Review: A Special Effects Marvel
By Gordon S. Miller |
After appearing in two Toho Studios-produced films during the 1960s, the character of King Kong returned to the silver screen ...
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Drunken Master II Blu-ray Review: Pinnacle Chan Martial Arts
By Kent Conrad |
The fun of any of Jackie Chan's early Chinese movies is in the thrill of seeing someone doing something potentially ...
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Snoopy Collection Blu-ray Review: You’d Be a Blockhead Not to Own It
By Gordon S. Miller |
Charles Schulz's iconic comic strip Peanuts ran in newspapers for nearly 50 years. It became a multimedia sensation because Schulz ...
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The Tender Trap Blu-ray Review: Trapped in Dated Attitudes But Still Tender Fun
By Steve Geise |
Frank Sinatra plays a wealthy Broadway talent agent named Charlie whose chief talent seems to be adding girlfriends to his ...
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12 Monkeys Blu-ray Steelbook Review: No Monkeying Around Here
By David Wangberg |
The first time I had come across Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys was in middle school, finding a novelized adaptation at ...
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Day of the Animals Blu-ray Review: A Standout of the Nature-Gone-Awry Genre
By Davy |
When The Birds and Jaws were released in their respective years, 1963 and 1975, they immediately became critical and commercial ...
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They Won’t Believe Me Blu-ray Review: Melodrama Noir
By Kent Conrad |
There are two elements normally present in a classic film noir. One is a main character, usually male, with decent ...
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Flowers of Shanghai Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Mise-ry en Scene
By Steve Geise |
This Taiwanese movie was based on a novel about “flower houses” of 19th century Shanghai, high class establishments where courtesans ...
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Fast Times at Ridgemont High Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Standout Comedy
By Gordon S. Miller |
Amy Heckerling's Fast Times at Ridgemont High was written by Cameron Crowe, who went undercover at a San Diego high ...
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Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House Blu-ray Review: Solid Comedy Construction
By Steve Geise |
If I hadn’t watched this new Blu-ray, I never would have realized that the old Tom Hanks comedy The Money ...
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The Prince’s Voyage Blu-ray Review: A Film Only the French Could Make
By Mat Brewster |
My wife and often operate on different wavelengths when it comes to cinema. We share a lot of common ground, ...
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Merrily We Go to Hell Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Prime Example of Dorothy Arzner’s Legacy
By Davy |
Legendary filmmaker Dorothy Arzner was a trailblazer. She was the only female working and directing during 1930s and '40s Hollywood. ...
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Justice Society: World War II Blu-ray Review: A Superb Superhero Movie
By Gordon S. Miller |
Justice Society: World War II is a superb superhero movie thanks to the screenplay by Meghan Fitzmartin and Jeremy Adams. ...
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The Legend of Hei Blu-ray Review: A Must-See For Animation Fans
By Mat Brewster |
As I was watching The Legend of Hei (on Shout! Factory's new Blu-ray release, coming this Tuesday) I kept thinking ...
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Isle of the Dead (1945) Blu-ray Review: Atmospheric Chiller from Val Lewton
By Kent Conrad |
The key to the enduring appeal of the horror movies that Val Lewton produced for RKO in the '40s lies ...
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Switchblade Sisters Blu-ray Review: The Big Bad Girl Rumble
By Rocky London |
Re-watching one of 1975’s best grindhouse titles, Switchblade Sisters, I’m impressed: Though it sunk like a stone when it first ...
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Masculin Feminin Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Tres Chic
By Steve Geise |
Jean-Luc Godard’s study of young love in Paris pulses with style but doesn’t have much of a story. The film ...
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Irma Vep Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Great Milestone in Olivier Assayas’s Body of Work
By Davy |
There have been so many films about the often chaotic circumstances and behind-the-scenes drama about the making of a film. ...
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The Furies (1950) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Fascinating Film of Familial Conflict
By Gordon S. Miller |
Based on Niven Busch's 1948 novel of the same name, which Criterion has included in paperback, Anthony Mann's The Furies ...
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Memories of Murder Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: The South Korean Zodiac
By Mat Brewster |
A woman has been brutally raped and murdered. Her body was shoved into a drain ditch. Detective Park Doo-man (Song ...
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History Is Made at Night (1937) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Love Crosses the Atlantic
By Kent Conrad |
Director Frank Borzage, who grew up with Hollywood, making (and acting in) silents from 1916 and remaining active up to ...
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Annie Get Your Gun Blu-ray Review: Shoots a Few Blanks but Hits the Overall Target
By Steve Geise |
Prior to its release this week, this classic MGM movie adaptation of an American musical theatre staple has never been ...
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Death Has Blue Eyes Blu-ray Review: It’s a Mastorakis Mess
By Mat Brewster |
Greek writer, producer, director Nico Mastorakis has had a long, strange career. He started out as a reporter, becoming the ...
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Broadway Melody of 1940 Blu-ray Review: De-Lovely
By Steve Geise |
The obvious draws for this classic MGM musical are the star turn by Fred Astaire and the songs written by ...
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Legion of Super Heroes: The Complete Series Blu-ray Review: Back to the Future
By Gordon S. Miller |
Based on the comic of the same name, Legion of Super Heroes ran for two seasons (26 episodes) from 2006 ...
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The Invisible Man Appears Blu-ray Review: It Can Finally Be Seen
By Mat Brewster |
Why is it that in seemingly every depiction of an invisible man in the movies, the ability to turn invisible ...
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The Greatest Show on Earth Blu-ray Review: The Show Must Go On… and On… and On
By Rocky London |
Epic corn was director Cecil B. DeMille’s metier, and The Greatest Show on Earth (1952; 152 minutes), his circus opus ...
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Earwig and the Witch Blu-ray Review: A Lesser Effort from Studio Ghibli
By Mat Brewster |
Famed Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki announced his retirement in August of 2014. As he was the co-founder and main creative ...
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Secrets & Lies Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Cinema at Its Best
By Davy |
Legendary British director Mike Leigh is one of cinema's greatest and most profound humanists. He crafts beautifully painful portraits of ...
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Céline and Julie Go Boating Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Long, Strange, Riveting Film
By Mat Brewster |
Julie (Dominique Labourier), a young woman with big, curly red hair, sits on a park bench distractedly reading a book ...
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Damn Yankees Blu-ray Review: Lola Wants (and Gets) 4K
By Elizabeth Periale |
How much do you love your favorite baseball team? Or, more accurately, how much do you hate the New York ...
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Baby Doll Blu-ray Review: Let’s Play House, Baby
By Rocky London |
Scripted by playwright Tennessee Williams, who got sole credit for this adaptation of two of his shorter plays, “Twenty-Seven Wagons ...
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Southland Tales Blu-ray Review: Strange but Strangely Compelling
By Kent Conrad |
Stepping in through the door right when the millennium was opening up and carrying with it a sense of doom ...
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Touki bouki Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Deserves to be Seen and Discovered
By Davy |
I must admit that African cinema usually goes way over my head. I mostly gloss over it in favor of ...
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Crossfire (1947) Blu-ray Review: Film Noir with a Message
By Mat Brewster |
Crossfire, Edward Dmytryk's 1947 film which crosses classic noir tropes with an anti-racist message, is now getting a nice-looking Blu-ray ...
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The Parallax View Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: The Second Entry in Pakula’s Political Paranoia Trilogy
By Gordon S. Miller |
Based on Loren Singer's 1970 novel of the same name, Alan J. Pakula's The Parallax View is the second entry ...
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On-Gaku: Our Sound Movie Review: A Lo-fi Delight
By Mat Brewster |
On-Gaku: Our Sound is a lo-fi animated treat from director Kenji Iwaisawa about a trio of high school delinquents who ...
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Laurel or Hardy: Early Solo Films of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy Blu-ray Review
By Gordon S. Miller |
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are a legendary comedy duo that had international success with both their silent and sound ...
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Lady Sings the Blues Blu-ray Review: Good Morning Heartache
By Rocky London |
Allow me to state this upfront: In Lady Sings the Blues (1972; dir. Sidney J. Furie), Diana Ross gives a ...
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JSA: Joint Security Area Blu-ray Review: Death on the DMZ
By Kent Conrad |
There's only one place along the Korean DMZ that soldiers from the North and South stand across from one another, ...
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Lovecraft Country: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Review: We Are Not Monsters
By Rocky London |
The first five minutes of HBO’s adventure horror series, Lovecraft Country (Season One), tells you everything you need to know ...
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Mandabi Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Unexpected Money Leads to Lots of Problems
By David Wangberg |
One of the things that Ousmane Sembène’s second feature film does that so few films do is, take lesser-known actors ...
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San Francisco Blu-ray Review: The King of the Barbary Coast Finds His Queen
By Rocky London |
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 is the backdrop for this handsomely mounted 1936 MGM production, which spends far too ...
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The Last Starfighter Blu-ray Review: Tailor Made for 1980s Gamers
By Mat Brewster |
As a kid growing up in the 1980s, I loved video games. In the summer, my cousins and I would ...
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Jack and the Beanstalk (1952) Blu-ray Review: Abbott and Costello Meet the Giant
By Mat Brewster |
When I was a kid, my uncle and cousins were all huge Three Stooges fans. I much preferred Abbott and ...
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