DVD Reviews

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 ...

Monster movies often get a bad reputation – especially cheaply made knock-offs – but, like this multi-cultural production of cheese and carnivores, what works about them is often overlooked.    It’s a shame.  It’s also to be expected from a genre not ...

Badlands and its harrowing killing spree is pretty much still, for lack of a better word, badass.  Based on the true story of one Charles Starkweather and Caril Fugate, writer/director Terence Malick’s debut is a poignant bloodbath; a film that doesn't ...

The lack of respect The Hudsucker Proxy gets is criminal.  Anyone who proudly proclaims to be a Coen brothers fan should give this release a serious chance.  For me, it’s an easy favorite of theirs in that it’s a straight up ballbuster of a comedy.  Full of dark visual gags ...

Serialized science fiction rarely gets as good as Canada’s Continuum.  Created by Simon Barry, Continuum centers on the dramatic conflict between a group of socially aware rebels from the year 2077 who time-travel to Vancouver, BC in the year 2012 and the ...

Universal’s monster catalogue had long been dormant, come the 1950s, and a smaller British production house called Hammer were savvy enough to recognise the potential of plundering those long beloved characters. They had already made a successful foray ...

You’ve got my attention, Mr. Wong. Opening with a riddle involving an ax, a slug, and a reanimated neo-nazi who has had his head stitched back on with weed trimmer line, John Dies at The Endproudly announces the return of writer/director Don Coscarelli (Bubba ...

Roaring onto Blu-ray and VOD everywhere, are the notoriously funny Baytown Outlaws.  This gang of dirtball sleazoids – much like the film with its mesh-up spaghetti western meets 1970s drive-in vibe – aren’t aiming to be taken seriously but they sure are having ...

Sometimes stark naked ambition alone can create a lasting legacy.  Morris Engel’s Little Fugitive is all the proof you need. It’s not much to look at but its visual poetry has an unmatched beauty.  It’s the tiny cub that roars. Scrappily shot in black-and-white with ...

Imagine if Freddy Krueger took the night off from his familiar Elm Street haunts and called in a favor to his good friend Stitches the Clown to get some revenge killing done.  Stitches is that movie. Comedic and imaginative with its scares and death scenes, Stitches is ...

Moody, stylish, and brimming with edgy atmosphere, Danny Boyle’s genre-bending psychological thriller Trance is the Trainspotting director doing what he does best. Only this time he does his thing in the world of fine art, applying his hard-edged style to an elaborate ...

Tom Cruise has been a busy boy of late: first Jack Reacher and now a big budget science fiction adaption from the unpublished graphic novel Oblivion. The writer of that graphic novel happens to be the writer/director of the film, who vowed a couple of years ...

Texas writer/director/actor Larry Wade Carrell comes bucking out of the gate with a modest but forgettable full-length horror debut.  While murky with a convoluted storyline that includes strange townspeople, warring brothers and a slightly haunted house ...

Writer/director Alex Cox (Sid and Nancy, Straight to Hell) gets the deluxe treatment with Criterion’s release of the now-classic Repo Man.  The film – as absurd as it is – has its own cult legacy that will have its followers (and newcomers, I imagine) knocking over ...

I’ll be blunt. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, both as a film and a Star Trek entry, is not very good.  It isn’t completely without joy (it’s the few chuckles that save this from being a complete downer) but the older the film gets the harder it becomes to defend its ...

Writer/director Jeff Nichols’ love of Mark Twain shines brightly through every frame of his latest film called Mud, the story of a young boy’s coming of age in Southeastern Arkansas’ sultry delta region. While the film’s river setting, its teenage protagonists, and ...

So concludes the four picture deal that began so spectacularly in 2008 with Marvel’s major cinematic gamble: Iron Man. Now three stand-alones/and a crossover film later, has that film gotten a worthy third entry? Phase Two of Marvel’s cinematic universe kicks off with ...

Romantic comedies don’t get more manipulative than writer/director David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook.  They typically can’t get any more damaged either.  Centered rather seriously upon mental illness, Russell constructs a fragile film built upon instability ...

Writer/director Shane Carruth is one bold son of a bitch.  Upstream Color is proof of that.  He is also the thinking man’s filmmaker and delivers, four years after Primer - his stunning debut - a follow-up that is equally disturbing.  His visuals are poem-like ...

Produced by Guillermo Del Toro, Andy Muschietti’s Mama is not unlike an atmospheric fairy tale.  It’s focused on a pair of orphaned siblings left to fend for themselves for five years.  They aren’t alone, though.  The spindly figure in the billowing in the deep shadows is ...

Saying goodbye is a hard thing to do.  Given that most television dramas overstay their welcome and most science fiction shows never get the chance to say hello, the fifth and final season of Fringe is one lucky dog.  Fox essentially allowed this show - with a cut ...

Created, produced, and written by Bob & Harvey Weinstein, The Burning is a slasher picture about summer camp, horny teenagers, and a prank gone seriously awry.  Released in 1981, The Burning – directed by Tony Maylam – offers nothing new to the genre ...

Disturbing is a word that comes to mind after finally seeing this horror anthology.  Interesting also comes to mind.  Unfortunately, this doesn’t all add up to be a winning combination.  While largely uneven – and sometimes just simply too bizarre for its own good ...

Pop-pops everywhere, celebrate! Olive Films continues their archival campaign to bring long-forgotten into the HD realm with Cary Grant’s Father Goose.   It is a true classic of the romantic comedy genre and, released in December of 1964, went on to earn two ...

Oh my glob!  The very first season of Adventure Time has finally crash-landed onto Blu-Ray!  Run to the stores, grab it along with some sugary snacks, and settle in with 26-magical themed episodes of F-U-N. Created by Pen Ward, Adventure Time is just about as ...