DVD/Blu-ray Reviews

The anti-hero, the McGuffin, the duplicitous femme fatale, film noir, German expressionism seeping its way into film—these things have influenced movies for longer than this reviewer’s father has been alive, and they’re things that we take for granted because ...

The man behind those Wu-Tang slash and burn head-bobbing beats, the RZA, makes his directorial debut and revitalizes the martial arts genre with a film saturated with ridiculous amounts of blood and high-flying kicks. You will believe a man can fly thanks to ...

Derek Cianfrance, who brought us 2010’s beautifully tragic Blue Valentine, again explores the seamy edges of family dysfunction with his The Place Beyond the Pines that premiered at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Only this time, he shifts the ...

Bad hairdos, really large insects, and gore, gore, gore is what you’ll find inside this skin-crawling nest.  Yes, it’s the six-legged bug who gets toasted and then roasted in this creature feature produced by Julie Corman. It’s a ow budget disaster and Scream ...

That’s right, fellow freaks, TerrorVision is back in print!  Finally freed from its VHS prison by the kind folks over a Shout!/Scream Factory, TerrorVision gets coupled with another gory gem from the late 1980’s, Video Dead, for a nasty little double feature that will definitely ...

Poor Renny Harlin. What went down as arguably his best (and certainly most atmospheric) film and intended American debut, Prison, never saw the light of day in what was supposed to be its big theatrical release. Yes, Dead Heat got its slot. Tiny theatres ...

Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront won 8 academy awards in 1955 and could still win those awards if released, as is, today.  This is more than just a movie.  Kazan’s ability to capture reality is more than just magical; it’s his talent.  On the Waterfront’s verisimilitude is ...

Ladies and gentlemen, in my time as a film reviewer I have journeyed to many a far off foreign place to bring you the news – good or bad – about new, domestic releases.  I have combed the bottom of the barrel; raided your father’s closet; even traversed your ...

What’s big and tall and heading to theaters across the nation?  Jack the Giant Slayer and, yes, it’s every bit as fee-fi-fo-FUN as it should be.  It’s sure to anger the cynical moviegoer with its Princess Bride-esque Fairy Tale vibes.  While the dangerously wrong-headed ...

Yul Brynner’s iconic silver-eyed gunslinger makes his debut on blu-ray this month and, as if no time has passed, Westworld reclaims its throne as the unstoppable thriller that it is.  This lean and mean thriller was an afternoon staple of my youth but, seeing it now as an...

Imagine Steven Spielberg's film career without direction.  What would that look like?  Well, as a survivor of his output in the mid-to-late 80's, I can tell you it isn't very pretty.  The adult fantasy material he churns out is Always paper-thin and fails to Hook you with ...

In just over an hour, silent comedian Buster Keaton achieves more laughs in College than most comedians do in their entire career.  His mastery of physical comedy is in its peak form and the short, made immediately following his now certified classic The General ...

When it comes to teenage terror, one cannot get any better than the menacing red gelatin threat of director Irvin S. Yeaworth’s The Blob.  It’s an efficient horror house scare and, as far as entertainment goes, it’s perfectly structured to still get a response from modern ...

The atmospheric residue of Chan-wook Park’s Stoker is not easily scrubbed off.  Not that you’ll want to get clean so soon after its credits roll, though.  No, the normal reaction for the type of on-screen psychosis is to bask in its glow and thank your lucky stars that ...

“It is a time of dread…” and so begins Willow and the partnership between actor-turned-director Ron Howard and creator/executive producer George Lucas. It wasn’t their first partnership. That was American Graffiti way back in 1973, of course. But it was ...