Uncategorized

Conflict (1945) Blu-ray Review: A Disappointing Classic

Humphrey Bogart. Sydney Greenstreet. Warner Brothers circa 1945. Car crashes. Romance. The perfect murder. The psychology of guilt. Everything about ...
Read More

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 4K UHD Review: An Absolute Horror Classic

Fifty years ago this week, Tobe Hooper unleashed The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, one of the all-time greatest horror movies ...
Read More

Rainbow: Live in Munich 1977 Review: A Heavy-Hitting, Hard Rock Performance

Frustrated working with the Deep Purple Mark III line-up, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore began recording with members of the band of ...
Read More

Touch (2024) Blu-ray Review: The Search for Past Love

Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur has recently been toying with several projects involving people against nature. Whether it’s The Deep, Everest, ...
Read More

Watchmen Chapter 1 Blu-ray Review: Checking the Time on the Doomsday Clock

Watchmen Chapter 1 is a very faithful adaptation of the first six comics in the twelve-issue Watchmen (1986 - 1987) ...
Read More

Tattooed Life Blu-ray Review: Suzuki’s Never Conventional Yakuza Tales

In the first act, there's a murder, a betrayal, and two brothers go on the run. The last act features ...
Read More

Lee (2024) Movie Review: Woefully Misguided

A biopic on Lee Miller has been in the works for eight years, with Kate Winslet attached as the lead. ...
Read More

Surf Nazis Must Die Blu-ray Review: As Silly As It Sounds

What happens when you take Mad Max and A Clockwork Orange and throw them into one of those large 1980s ...
Read More

Torso 4K UHD Review: ‘The Bodies Bear Traces of Carnal Violence’

Torso (1973; dir. Sergio Martino) is pure, unfiltered giallo—a movie drenched in blood, nudity, and unapologetic sleaze. It’s rough around ...
Read More

The Strangers (2008) 4K UHD Review: Remarkably Taut Suspense Thriller

The basic outline of The Strangers is absolutely nothing new: bad guys attack people in a house. Doesn't go well. ...
Read More

A Man on His Knees Blu-ray Review: You’ll Stand Up and Applaud

Running a small business is hard. The cost of materials constantly goes up while the demand that you keep your ...
Read More

Friday the 13th (2009) 4K UHD Review: Remake Exceeds Low Expectations

The most famous visual of Friday the 13th is Jason Voorhees in a hockey mask. But Jason wasn't the villain ...
Read More

The Chronicles of Riddick 4K UHD Review: An Unexpected Expanded Treasure

Pitch Black did not seem like a movie that deserved a sequel. It was a serviceable action-horror sci-fi picture that ...
Read More

Clockwatchers Blu-ray Review: An Unsettlingly Honest Film

I've never held a job in my entire life, but I'm kind of glad I've never had a job in ...
Read More

England Is Mine Blu-ray Review: The Story of a Young Man With a Shyness That Is Criminal and Vulgar

England Is Mine (2017), directed and co-written by Mark Gill, is the story of one Steven Patrick Morrissey, who would ...
Read More

Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XX Blu-ray Review: A Couple of Terrific Alan Ladd Vehicles (and a Not-So-Great Film Without Him)

Alan Ladd will probably always be remembered for his award-winning performance in Shane, one of the greatest westerns ever made. ...
Read More

Totem Blu-ray Review: A Lyrical Celebration of Life Amidst Impending Tragedy

We've all gone through death, guilt, grief, and acceptance, the things that life unfortunately brings to us all. There have ...
Read More

A World Without Thieves Blu-ray Review: Larceny on the Chinese Express

Andy Lau is the main attraction in this 2004 Chinese action drama, but its well-crafted plot is the true champion. ...
Read More

Boulevard Nights Blu-ray Review: Let’s Take a Trip Down Whittier Blvd.

Danny De La Paz and Richrd Yniguez star as the brothers Avila, young men on two different paths in Boulevard ...
Read More

Viva La Muerte! Blu-ray Review: A Hypnotically Demented Ride

Once in a while, a film comes along and completely leaves me flabbergasted. In the case of Spanish filmmaker Fernando ...
Read More

My Love Affair with Marriage Blu-ray Review: Animation, Songs, and Science

Writer/director Signe Baumane spent over seven years creating this whimsical animated feature film about a young woman’s struggles with romantic ...
Read More
Cinema Sentries

Fail Safe Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: It’s the End of the World as They Know It (and No One Feels Fine)

In January 1964, filmgoers could see a Cold War story about the frantic negotiations between the United States and the ...
Read More

Dark Night of the Scarecrows 1 & 2 Blu-ray Review: A Decent Set for Diehard Fans

Ever since I first saw Frank DeFelitta's 1981 made-for-TV horror/suspense cult classic Dark Night of a Scarecrow, I never forgot ...
Read More

The Boy and the Heron Blu-ray Review: The Return of the King (of Animation)

Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, his first feature film in 10 years since announcing his retirement after The Wind ...
Read More

Hard Miles Movie Review: 762 Miles to Freedom

The uplifting sports biopic genre has a lot of murky waters to wade through to win the hearts of the ...
Read More

The Watchers (2024) Blu-ray Review: Weak Plot but Strong Direction from Ishana Night Shyamalan

The Watchers marks the directorial debut of Ishana Night Shyamalan, the daughter of M. Night Shyamalan, who produced. The movie ...
Read More

Prison Walls: Abashiri Prison I-III Blu-ray Review: Yakuza Behind Bars

Like courtroom dramas and police procedurals, prison stories have the convenience of ready-made conflict. Prisoners versus guards. Gangs versus gangs. ...
Read More

A Queen’s Ransom Blu-ray Review: James Bond and The One-Armed Swordsman Can’t Save This Stinker

In May of 1975, Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Phillip became the first reigning English monarchs to visit ...
Read More

Black Mask Blu-ray Review: Ridiculous Fun

Black Mask begins with Jet Li being surrounded by a couple of dozen soldiers with heavy firepower. He's asked to ...
Read More

A Man Called Tiger Blu-ray Review: The Action Is Well Made and Worth Watching

Bruce Lee and director Lo Wei worked together on two films, The Big Boss (1971) and Fist of Fury (1972). ...
Read More

Empire of the Ants Special Edition Blu-ray Review: Beware of Them Man-made Monsters!

From producer Samuel Z Arkoff and director Bert I. Gordon, who brought you the cult classic The Food of the ...
Read More

Doubt (2008) Blu-ray Review: A Masterclass of Acting

Sometimes in life there are things that make you question everything you thought you knew, and that will cause serious ...
Read More

Tokijiro: The Lonely Yakuza Blu-ray Review: Romance and Bloodshed in 18th Century Japan

My expectations going into Tokijiro: The Lonely Yakuza were that it was going to be a fairly typical lone warrior-type ...
Read More

Game Night 4K UHD Review: Game of Life Offers Monopoly of Laughs

Co-directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, Game Night is a comedy-kidnap-caper film starring Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams ...
Read More

Assignment in Brittany DVD Review: Vive La Resistance!

Assignment in Brittany, directed by Jack Conway (Viva Villa, 1932), is a 1943 World War II espionage thriller that's got ...
Read More

High Crime (1973) 4K UHD Review: The Italian Connection

Made during the infamous Italian Years of Lead (a decades-long period of political turmoil and heavy street violence), High Crime ...
Read More

Door-to-Door Maniac Blu-ray Review: Come for Johnny Cash, Stay for the Devil

"Hello, I'm Johnny Cash, and I'm here to kill you". That is not the way the famed country and western ...
Read More

Black Mass (2015) 4K UHD Review: Government-Approved Gangsterism

Gangster movies tend to hang on loyalty. Gangs tend to hang on loyalty. The lower thugs not giving up their ...
Read More

The Food of the Gods (Special Edition) Blu-ray Review: A Goofy Cult Classic with a Message

Bert I. Gordon (1922-2023) was kind of a wunderkind, creating sci-fi and B-horror movies with often low-budgets. He was also ...
Read More

Man on the Moon Blu-ray Review: Jim Carrey Brings Andy Kaufman to Life

After working together on The People vs Larry Flynt, director Milos Forman reteamed with screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski ...
Read More

The Apartment (1996) Blu-ray Review: No, Not the Billy Wilder One

Despite sharing a title with an all-time Hollywood classic, this 1996 French production has no other similarities to the Jack ...
Read More

IF 4K UHD Review: The Opposite of a Magical Adventure

John Krasinski directed, co-wrote, and co-starred in 2018’s dark thriller A Quiet Place. In 2020, Krasinski wrote and directed A ...
Read More

My Penguin Friend Movie Review: Homeward Bound in the Southern Hemisphere

Joao is a humble old fisherman eking out a living with his wife on the rural coast of Brazil, both ...
Read More

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Blu-ray Review: Captures the Film’s Visual and Auditory Thrills

As stated in my review of the movie, “Director George Miller makes an epic return to the Wasteland for Furiosa: ...
Read More

Observe and Report Blu-ray Review: Two Jokes and Ray Liotta

Written and directed by Jody Hill, Observe and Report concerns itself with the security detail at the Forest Ridge Mall ...
Read More

Navajo Joe (Special Edition) Blu-ray Review: Burt Reynolds Works with the Other Sergio on This Unique Spaghetti Western 

Sergio (no, the other one) Corbucci directs and Burt Reynolds stars in Navajo Joe (1966), a violent Spaghetti Western that ...
Read More

The Lady from Shanghai 4K UHD Review: Twisty, Twisted Noir Classic

Except maybe Citizen Kane, everything Orson Welles directed has a kind of asterisk by its name. However good the movie ...
Read More

Squirm (Special Edition) Blu-ray Review: The Best Southern Gothic, Killer-Worm Flick Ever Made

The 1970s just might be the greatest decade for horror movies. There were so many types of horror back then: ...
Read More

Bless Their Little Hearts Blu-ray Review: A Testament to the Importance of Socially Conscious Filmmaking

As an incredibly loyal film lover, I'm always looking for that great cinematic discovery; something that represents a crucial step ...
Read More

Swan Song (2023) DVD Review: Revelatory All-Access Pass to the Creation of a Ballet

Nope, this isn’t the Mahershala Ali Apple TV+ movie. It’s also not the indie starring Udo Kier in drag. Instead, ...
Read More

Search & Filter

Categories

Subscribe!