DVD Reviews

Ever since playing the Albert Nobbs character in Simone Benmussa’s off-Broadway stage short back in 1982, the idea of bringing the story of a woman passing as a man in order to work and survive in 19^th century Ireland to the big screen has been a passion project ...

The Grey is a survivalist’s Holy Bible.  It looks unassuming and, chances are, you’ll roll in to it not expecting much, but – lo and behold – hell hath no fury like humans and their will to live.  It’s a tight story without an inch of flab and, with strong ...

Really good horror is hard to pull off.  It takes restraint, attention to story, and a deft director to handle the many, many mechanics of strong atmosphere.  Director Lucky McKee, behind the camera for The Woman, does exactly that and produces one of the ...

When it was first announced that Piranha, the 1978 original spoof of Jaws, which was directed by Joe Dante, written by John Sayles, and produced by Roger Corman was going to be remade, an audible groan was heard from the masses. This would never work so...

With the release of The Woman in Black, director James Watkins addresses three particularly hot topics that have been searing the brainpans of we movie fans of late. First, will the film aid the re-launch of Hammer Film Productions, which had its heyday ...

Released in 1955, Disney’s Lady and the Tramp was the first ever animated feature to be geared for the true CinemaScope experience.  It was also the first to be told specifically from a canine’s point of view.  It’s all legs and feet all of the time; a dog’s eye view ...

As a ravenous consumer of all things horror, I have seen the frightening, I have seen the exhilarating, I have seen the okay, the passable, and even the so bad its good; and every now and then I have seen the crap, the detestable, the waste of time and money ...

Take an ‘it’ director, hot off the heels of a major franchise success, and high concept idea with a punchy title (Cowboys Versus Aliens! Magic!) that promises a new hybrid of a film, an epic cast with a respected leading man, a Hollywood legend, and a supporting ...

Twenty years after the days of Captain Kirk, Bones, and Mr Spock, Gene Roddenberry was invited by Paramount to create a new Star Trek show; something to which he had little interest in doing. His original cast were finding success on the big screen; he had been ousted from creative control ...

Ripped from the headlines of the Los Angeles Police Department’s late-1990’s corruption investigation known as the Rampart Scandal, brilliant noir writer James Ellroy’s story of Rampart narrows its focus down to Dave Brown (Woody Harrelson), a crooked L.A. street cop who takes the ...

Safe House, directed by Daniel Espinosa, is exactly the formula you expect it to be.  Action meets Thriller meets Spy vs. Spy.  Unfortunately, Safe House plays it a bit too safe and, in spite of its engaging cast, is completely forgettable.  If you’ve seen one spy-type thriller, then ...

B-movie enthusiasts and cult film fanatics can rest easy now.  The darling no-budget creature feature from 1983 finally has found a welcomed home in dazzling high definition.  Released by Elite Entertainment, The Deadly Spawn finally completes many a freak’s quest ...

While better than its predecessor in antics, acting and special effects, the dynamic directing duo of Neveldine/Taylor doesn’t exactly crank the mayhem up to the levels one might expect. It’s largely a performance piece directed by ...

Hard-hitting and full of nightmarish promise, The Ford Brothers absolutely deliver a visually stunning Zombie flick in The Dead.  It’s brutal in its gore and situationally nasty in all the write (get it?) places.  Released by Anchor Bay Entertainment, The Ford Brothers ...

Act of Valor, the gung-ho rah-rah military recruitment piece, features real Navy SEALs filmed in live-fire scenarios. That’s the film’s hook. And while the gimmick will appeal to a certain crowd of action junkies, video game enthusiasts, military veterans, and those on board with ...

Offering nothing really new or wholly fresh to the crime-saga genre, Ben Affleck, in his directorial follow-up to the grossly involving Gone Baby Gone, presents a traditional tale of Irish-American woe amongst the streets of Boston with The Town. It’s an innocent enough ...

When this reviewer was a small boy, another young boy said something nasty after only just meeting him, and it stuck in his memory for the rest of his life. Why this boy stuck in my memory is because for the first (and thankfully last) time in my life, he elicited ...

Project X, while full of promise as hinted at by its intriguing title, is a teenage Hangover syphoned through a rambling role-reversed version of Sixteen Candles and that’s about it.  Solid for a minute-long buzz, the “documentary” isn’t fueled for the long trip ...

With a little more zing to its art and a lot more zap than the laser brain shenanigans that the Shrek series has become, Puss in Boots manages to be an artful and fun spin-off.  It tickles the funny bone and hits the snooze button on all the standard sentimentalities ...

John Carter is a pulp-soaked spectacle of science fiction sound and vision.  With eye-popping 3D effects that “whiz-bang” and “golly-gee” the senses down to their sockets, John Carter is a planet-hopping celebration of pulpy matters and pulse-rattling pomp ...

John le Carré has one of the most critically lauded spy writers in the world for many decades, and, now in his eighties, continues a regular and popular output of novels for the world to devour. The real life former SIS operative has carved himself out ...

From the so-bad-it’s-good camp comes this little slice of 1970’s low-budget cheese and PG-rated sleaze.  The year was 1971 and, from the colorful lab sets and hilarious man-in-a-monster-suit attacks, America was obviously afraid of two-legged fish attacks ...

Fresh off the rousing success of last year’s Bridesmaids, four members of that cast rejoin for Jennifer Westfeldt’s indie comedy Friends With Kids, an anemic little film that hits in stops and spurts but ultimately feels like nothing more than a feature-length sitcom ...

Played for laughs and not for scares, famed producer/director Roger Corman’s cult classic from 1960 arrives on blu-ray with little fanfare, but what a celebration it is for its fans.  The Little Shop of Horrors is a comedy masterwork that still resonates ...

While truly never a fan of director Tarsem Singh’s work (movies such as The Cell and The Fall), there’s no denying his visual style makes for a convincing foundation with which to build a movie upon.  Enter Immortals.  Every single frame of this film looks like the gold-encrusted ...

Filmmaking brothers Jay and Mark Duplass have carved out a nice little niche for themselves as a pair of brilliantly creative artists who continue to turn life’s seemingly innocuous little circumstances into finely crafted works of art: a mother trying to cope with ...

The Hunger Games, based on the first book in a trilogy by Suzanne Collins about a state-run TV talent show where 24 teenagers fight against each other for food, will capture everyone’s attention this weekend.  It’s a movie where its lead character - a headstrong female ...

Released from Kino International this month, a company set to conclude its run of Keaton high definition transfers soon, is a glimpse at the rarely seen and hardly heard version of the silent comedian.  The Lost Keaton: Sixteen Comedy Shorts presents Buster Keaton’s ...

Time was when the mention of a double act with Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller would have had this reviewer racing for the nearest cinema. They are two of the most indelible and successful comedians the world has ever seen. In recent years, however, their output has ...

Rule breaker.  Savvy business man.  Trend setter.  Lover of the bare female form.  Forget Don Draper, legendary director/producer Roger Corman is the original Mad Man.  No other man could get actor Jack Nicholson to absolutely weep (albeit from behind a sharp pair ...