DVD Reviews

“Because I use my right hand, should I never use my left?  This is the question Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde asks viewers and then, with nihilistic precision, explores with dusky shadows and fantastic effects.  What we have in this silent film from 1920 is a mystical look ...

“Give me your money or I’ll bust you up.”  It is this line that forever alters the decision-making of an architect driven to murder. Morbidity goes mad in director Michael Winner’s Death Wish, a revenge flick from 1974 that made Charles Bronson a household name of  ...

There’s a joke somewhere here about the 1980’s, effective entertainment, and Canada, I just can’t seem to put it together just yet.  And even if someone else does it for me, Kevin Tenney’s fear-inducing Witchboard, both written and directed by him, wouldn’t be a part   ...

For fans of ‘50s retro sci-fi silliness, there is no better Blu-ray/DVD combo release to own right now than Shout! Factory’s double feature re-release of the black-and-white 1953 opus The Neanderthal Man paired with long-out-of-print 1956 extravaganza The Beast of ...

Grateful Dead.  Janis Joplin.  The Band.  Buddy Guy.  What do they all have in common?  Well, other than being fantastic rock bands, artists, and live performers, they once upon a time in 1970 shared the same train as it traveled through Canada and played a series of  ...

For the past decade or so, Kevin S. Tenney’s Night of the Demons has been gaining momentum in the respect department. It launched 2 sequels and worthless reboot starring Edward Furlong but never seemed to get its due respect when it comes ...

Demonic Toys, written by David S. Goyer, is interesting in that your standard police procedural gets gutted by the horrors of children’s toys coming to life. Produced by Charles Band, the man responsible for Puppet Master, Demonic Toys is as hilarious as it is grizzly  ...

Sam Raimi. Do I need to say anything more? This little film has it all: horror, sci-fi, comedy, romance, drama, and superheroes. With Raimi’s knack for detail and energy behind the camera, Darkman is a total blast from my teenage past that hints at things to come from  ...

Exploding with the energy and styling of a 1930’s film noir flick, Russell Mulcahy’s The Shadow is an adaptation that should have been a lot bigger than it actually was upon its release in 1994. Critics killed it. Audiences ignored it. Maybe the marketing was off. Maybe it  ...

When it comes to documentaries, it is my belief that a non-fiction film must have a living and breathing environment that it adheres to. Muscle Shoals, a film by Greg 'Freddy' Camalier, is all about setting and the sound that comes seeping up from   ...

Inspired by the post-apocalyptic weirdness of A Boy and His Dog, Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time: The Complete Third Season arrives on shelves just in time for Spring Break. This 26-episode release – housed inside a die-cut slipcase that mimics one of my  ...

There are plenty of examples in film history of now revered classics not finding their audience upon first release. With so many ‘top’ lists having Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo in them, and the reverence it has received for at least the last 30 years, it’s difficult to believe ...

As a lifelong DC comic reader, it was merely an ancillary knowledge of Marvel characters I was aware of. But Thor I was familiar with, and in a cinematic world damn curious as to how to make a blonde-haired ancient Norseman fit into their big screen canon. I was wrong a ...

It’s hilarious to me to hear about people and critics turning their backs on a film they once heralded as a post-modern Bush-era classic. That’s exactly what is happening to Zach Braff’s Garden State. Upon its release in 2004, the film was nominated for the Grand Jury   ...

God bless the Japanese. Already ahead of the HD game in 1992, the Japanese film crew responsible for recording Bob Dylan’s 30^th Anniversary Concert Celebration used an early form of High-Definition tape cameras while HBO and other Pay-Per-View engineers used  ...

Safe at home in the totalitarian future is where we resume with Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) but – as the uprising is already gaining momentum – safe is exactly what we aren’t in Catching Fire. The Powers that be in Katniss’s world aren’t very happy with her. Grim through and  ...

Inspired in part by Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen, Walt Disney’s impressive reign over everything considered princess-worthy and cute continues with the magnificent Frozen. It continues to melt hearts and now, with today’s Blu-ray debut, it does so in high  ...

Think you know westerns?  If you haven’t seen High Noon, then you are two boots short of a genuine cowboy outfit.  In 1952, this “little” film defied the genre and saved all its bullet-slinging action for the final few moments.  And what of the rest of the film?  It’s all  ...

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for brief strong language and thematic elements.
Director: Oliver Stone
Writer: Allan Loeb
Cast: Michael Douglas; Shia LeBeouf; Carri Mulligan
Genre: Drama
Memorable Movie Quote: "If it weren't for people who took risks, where would we be in this world?"
Release Date: September 24, 2010
Blu-ray Release Date: December 21, 2010.

MPAA Rating: Not rated by the MPAA.
Runtime: 93 mins.
Director: Jeffrey Reiner
Writer: Jane Espenson; Ryan Mottesheard
Cast: Eric Stoltz; Esai Morales; Daniel Graystone ... complete cast
Tagline: The end of humanity has a beginning...
Genre: Action | Sci-Fi
DVD Release Date: April 21, 2009

MPAA Rating: Rated R for violence and language.
Runtime: 137 mins.
Director: Edward Zwick
Writer: Clayton Frohman and Edward Zwick
Cast: Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber ... complete cast
Tagline: Defiance.
Genre: Drama | War
Release Date: January 16, 2009
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: June 2, 2009

MPAA Rating: R for violence, disturbing images and some language.
Runtime: 90 mins.
Director: Toby Wilkins
Writer: Brad Keene
Cast: Shawnee Smith; Mike Straub; Aiko Horiuchi ... complete cast
Tagline: You can't escape the curse.
Genre: Horror
Release Date: No theatrical release.
DVD Release Date: May 12, 2009

MPAA Rating: R for sexual content, nudity, pervasive language and some drug material.
Runtime: 90 mins.
Director: Neal Brennan
Writer: Andy Stock & Rick Stempson
Cast: Jeremy Piven; Ving Rhames; James Brolin; Kathryn Hahn ... complete cast
Genre: Comedy
Release Date: Aug 14, 2009
DVD Release Date: April 20, 2010.

MPAA Rating: R for sexual content, nudity and language.
Runtime: 78 mins.
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writer: David Levien & Brian Koppelman
Cast: Sasha Grey, Chris Santos, Philip Eytan, David Levien, Mark Jacobson, Peter Zizzo ... complete cast
Tagline: See it with someone you ****
Genre: Drama | Indie
Release Date: May 22, 2009
DVD Release Date: September 29, 2009
Distributor: Magnolia Picture

MPAA Rating: This title not rated by the MPAA.
Runtime: 480 mins.
Director: Buzz Dixon.
Cast: Michael Bell; Chris Latta; Rob Paulsen ... complete cast
Tagline: G.I. Joe A Real American Hero: Season 1.2.
Genre: TV
Memorable Quote: "Hey, why didn't you just yell "Look out!"?"
Release Date: September 12, 1983
DVD Release Date: November 3, 2009
Distributor: WEA Corp.

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexual content throughout, some language and a drug reference.
Runtime: 100 mins.
Director: Mark Waters
Writer: Jon Lucas & Scott Moore
Cast: Matthew McConaughey; Jennifer Garner; Michael Douglas; Robert Forster ... complete cast
Tagline: You can't always run from your past
Genre: Comedy | Romance
Memorable Quote: "love is a magic comfort food for the weak and uneducated"
Release Date: June 8, 2007
DVD Release Date: September 22, 2009
Distributor: Sony Pictures Entertainment

MPAA Rating: R for frenetic sequences of strong brutal violence throughout, sexual content, nudity and language.
Runtime: 95 mins.
Director: Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor
Writer: Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor
Cast: Gerard Butler; Kyra Sedgwick; Ludicris; Alison Lohman ... complete cast
Tagline: In the near future, you don't live to play... you'll play to live.
Genre: Action | Sci-fi
Memorable Quote: "It's Simon... I'm playing you."
Release Date: September 4, 2009
DVD Release Date: January 19, 2010.
Distributor: Lionsgate

MPAA Rating: R for language and crude sexual humor throughout, and some sexuality.
Runtime: 146 mins.
Director: Judd Apatow
Writer: Judd Apatow
Cast: Adam Sandler; Seth Rogen; Leslie Mann ... complete cast
Tagline: Funny People.
Genre: Comedy
Memorable Quote: "I don't think I can hide that. My face is circumcised. " ... more quotes
Release Date: July 31, 2009
DVD Release Date: November 24, 2009.
Distributor: Universal Studios

MPAA Rating: R for strong bloody violence, some graphic sexual content, language and drug material.
Runtime: 97 mins.
Director: Marcus Nispel
Writer: Damian Shannon & Mark Swift
Cast: Jared Padalecki; Danielle Panabaker; Travis Van Winkle ... complete cast
Tagline: Welcome to Crystal Lake.
Genre: Horror
Memorable Quote: "His name was Jason and today is his birthday. "
Theatrical Release Date: February 13, 2009
Own it on Blu-ray, DVD, and On Demand: June 16, 2009
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for crude and sexual content throughout, partial nudity, language and some teen partying.
Runtime: 94 mins.
Director: Will Gluck
Writer: Freedom Jones
Cast: Nicholas D'Agosto; Eric Christian Olsen; Sarah Roemer
Tagline: Fired Up!.
Genre: Comedy
Memorable Quote: "Screw football... let's go cheer."
Release Date: February 20, 2009
DVD Release Date: June 9, 2009.
Distributor: Screen Gems