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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Out of the Blue Movie Review: Into the Black
By Jack Cormack |
As a director, Dennis Hopper used to strike me as a case study on how not to direct. His breakout ...
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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 ...
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Live at Mister Kelly’s DVD Review: A History of Chicago Told Through a Nightclub
By Gordon S. Miller |
Director Theodore Bogosian's Live at Mister Kelly's tells the story of Mister Kelly's, a famous Chicago nightclub, which existed on ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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, ...
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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 ...
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World Series 2021 Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Review: Almost All the Highlights and Footage a Fan Could Ask For
By Todd Karella |
Growing up in a small town in the middle of nowhere, we didn’t have a local MLB team, and it ...
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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 ...
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Bob Spit: We Do Not Like People Movie Review: Punk is NOT Dead
By Kent Conrad |
Angeli is an apparently extremely famous cartoonist in Brazil. He has created several iconic characters that are, and combined shock ...
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Spider-Man: No Way Home Review: An Amazing Movie from the MCU Spider-Verse
By Gordon S. Miller |
To paraphrase the Spider-Man comics, with great characters comes great responsibility and the Sony/Marvel partnership has met that challenge by ...
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To What Remains Movie Review: A Moving and Beautiful Story
By Darcy Staniforth |
My brother Robert is a combat veteran. He served as a tank gunner in the U.S. Army during the Gulf ...
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Krampus: The Naughty Cut 4K Ultra HD Review: Anti-Santa Extended Edition
By Kent Conrad |
A fan of folklore often feels a pang of loss when one of the creatures or legends you cherish suddenly ...
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Harold and Maude Blu-ray Review: Funeral Freak Flag
By Jack Cormack |
A cult comedy, Harold and Maude (1971; 91 minutes; dir. Hal Ashby) tries a mite too hard to be unusual. ...
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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 ...
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Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain DVD Review: Not the Biopic That Some Might Think
By Darcy Staniforth |
I have had to sit for a while figuring out how to write about and review Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony ...
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West Side Story (2021) Movie Review: Spielberg Keeps It Real
By Steve Geise |
In Steven Spielberg’s vision of 1950s New York City, the West Side resembles a bombed-out warzone. That’s largely due to ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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David Byrne’s American Utopia Movie Review: Beautifully Filmed but Imperfect Concert
By Kent Conrad |
David Byrne is one of those typical outsider becoming insider American stories. He set out to make oddball music, and ...
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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 ...
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Party Girl (1958) Blu-ray Review: Neon Underworld
By Jack Cormack |
Fans of director Nicholas Ray (best known for the James Dean vehicle, Rebel Without a Cause) should enjoy Party Girl ...
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Mad Max Anthology 4K Ultra HD Box Set Review: Work in Progress
By Steve Geise |
You know how all major video games launch with issues that have to be fixed after release? Well, sometimes it ...
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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, ...
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Black Friday Movie Review: Needed More Bruce Being Bruce
By Todd Karella |
It’s Thanksgiving night and the store associates at We Love Toys are getting ready for the annual Black Friday sale. ...
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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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Two from Sergei Eisenstein: October & Alexander Nevsky DVD Reviews
By Mat Brewster |
Sergei Eisenstein was one of the most important film theorists and directors of early cinema. If he didn't invent the ...
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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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Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road Movie Review: His Music, and His Life, Past and Present
By Rons Reviews |
The story of Brain Wilson and the Beach Boys has been told before in the form of documentaries and motion ...
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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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Middle Earth Ultimate Collector’s Edition 4K Ultra HD Review: Beautiful Box but Incomplete
By Kent Conrad |
The Lord of the Rings is a landmark of modern cinema. New Line's audacity of committing to a trilogy before ...
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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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Karen Dalton: In My Own Time DVD Review: Sad Songs, Sad Life
By Kent Conrad |
Karen Dalton, as described by one of the participants in this documentary, was one of the few folk singers in ...
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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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Batman: Year One Commemorative Edition 4K Ultra HD Review: Good Batman Story Unexceptionally Told
By Kent Conrad |
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns made a bigger splash, but of the two famous Frank Miller revisionist Batman stories of ...
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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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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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