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 Joe Keaton |
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 Joe Keaton |
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 Joe Keaton |
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 Joe Keaton |
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 Joe Keaton |
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 Joe Keaton |
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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Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone Blu-ray Review
By Gordon S. Miller |
Timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the The Godfather Part III , director/producer/co-writer Francis Ford Coppola recut the ...
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The Court Jester Blu-ray Review: Danny Kaye Stars in a Comic Masterpiece
By Gordon S. Miller |
Paramount Pictures' The Court Jester, a grand musical comedy that showcases the talents of its star Danny Kaye, is a ...
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Tesla (2020) Blu-ray Review: Electrifying
By David Wangberg |
To call Michael Almereyda’s Tesla an unconventional biopic would be an understatement. It’s an oddball and brazen approach to the ...
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Survivor Ballads: Three Films by Shohei Imamura Blu-ray Review: Stories of Hardship and Endurance
By Kent Conrad |
Shohei Imamura was one of the grandmasters of Japanese cinema in the second half of the 20th century. His first ...
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The Pajama Game Blu-ray Review: Fosse Rising
By Joe Keaton |
The Pajama Game (1957) is very much of its time. That’s part of its charm. Adapted from a hit Broadway ...
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Batman: Soul of the Dragon Blu-ray Review: Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting
By Gordon S. Miller |
Batman: Soul of the Dragon is the 41st film in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line. Under their Elseworlds ...
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Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review
By Gordon S. Miller |
Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue tour was in support of his album Desire, released January 5, 1976 between the two ...
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The Ascent Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Larisa Shepitko’s Masterpiece
By Davy |
The Ukranian-born Larisa Shepitko (one of the greatest female filmmakers of all-time) had only made a few features and short ...
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By Kent Conrad |
Anime in the popular imagination is...I was about to say Dragonball, but that shows my age. Sailor Moon? One Piece? Inuyasha? Once or twice ...
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By Kent Conrad |
Japanese cinema at the beginning of the 21st century was fun. There was an explosion of cinematic talent coming from ...
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Tourist Trap (VHS Retro Big Box Collection) Review: A Solid, Offbeat Flick
By Davy |
When it comes to the horror genre, there’s always going to be the usual movies steeped in typical cliches, such ...
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Cinema Paradiso Blu-ray Review: Heaven-Sent
By David Wangberg |
The winner for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1989 Golden Globes and Academy Awards ceremonies, and deservedly so, Cinema ...
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Three Films by Luis Buñuel Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: The Don’s Swan Songs
By Steve Geise |
As Luis Buñuel neared the end of his life, he swore each time he made a film that it would ...
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Lupin III: The First Blu-ray Review: Lots of Fun
By Mat Brewster |
Arsène Lupin the great master of disguise and gentleman thief was created by Maurice Leblanc in 1905. The character originally ...
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Honest Thief Blu-ray Review: Comfort Food for Crime Fans
By Gordon S. Miller |
Honest Thief is a simple crime drama with a plot that resolves unsurprisingly as one who has viewed any of ...
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The Curse of Frankenstein (Two-Disc Special Edition) Blu-ray Review: A Landmark in Horror Is Reborn
By Gordon S. Miller |
As mentioned in the extras and as horror-film fans may be aware, the dominance of the Universal Monsters on the ...
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Crash (1996) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: An Anti-Erotic Film
By Kent Conrad |
"Prophecy is dirty and ragged", says Vaughan, while complaining about the cleanliness of the tattoo he gets on his chest. ...
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Beau Geste (1939) Blu-ray Review: A Tale of Brotherly Love
By Gordon S. Miller |
Directed by William Wellman, this second film adaptation of P.C. Wren's 1924 adventure novel of the same name stars Gary ...
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