DVD Reviews

It seems that Russel Crowe is leaning into the whole satanic menace subgenre of horror films of late.  Last year, the actor was hamming it up with a fake italian accent in the ridiculous (but fun!!!) The Pope’s Exorcism and now, while it’s much more of a sober affair (until it isn’t), he stars  ...

When Bad Boys, the first installment of the Bad Boys franchise first hit theaters back in 1995, the popularity of the buddy-cop genre was raging with such hits as Die Hard With a Vengeance, Point Break, and The Last Boy Scout tearing up the box office. Even so, Will Smith and  ...

Oh, there is nothing that can bring a smile to my face quicker than a Stephen King story sent for review. Whether his books or film/TV adaptations, more often that not it means I’m going to enjoy myself. I am one of his ‘constant readers’ and have devoured most of his adaptations, whether assigned  ...

“It doesn’t even feel like they’re trying to make a good movie.” —Gene Siskel 1996 The name Chris Farley always brings a smile to my face and sting in my heart. He was a bright, shining star, the life of the party, the consummate buffoon. I loved what he did. Graduating from SNL to movie star with fellow alum  ...

The 90s was the decade where filmmakers embraced the burgeoning new tool of CGI, after films like Jurassic Park and Independence Day showed the scope of what was now possible to get on screen. It seems an everyday thing now, much like a toaster; one can achieve some damn realistic  ...

Sequelitus has been an affliction that Hollywood has been marred with since the 80s, only now outshone by remake-itus. There are very few hit films since the 80s that haven’t been given, or forced, a follow-up. Sometimes this has born some tasty fruit indeed, even franchises of enjoyable new  ...

Long before zombies were running in 24 Days Later, there was Demons, a cheesy, neon-lit spectacle of Video Nasty delight as coke-fueled punks find themselves outnumbered by a whole lot of quick-moving lime green spewing demons who are just aching for a damn good time as Billy Idol plays  ...

It goes without saying that Kevin Costner knows his way around a western - both in front of, and behind the camera. In fact, it’s difficult to propose any other living actor as closely connected to the genre. Dances With Wolves, Wyatt Earp, Open Range, and TV’s “Yellowstone,” just to  ...

1990’s Misery is one of the finest book to screen King adaptations of all time, in my humble opinion. While this new dearth of King adaptions continues unabated with varying degrees of success or abject failure (*cough: The Stand), no one has (as yet) touched it, or even broached remaking it ...

Whether it’s Shelley Winters literally sponge-bathing her sons with motherly attention in Roger Corman’s Bloody Mama, or Jackie Weaver’s “Smurf” gleefully reminding her sons of all the bad things they’ve done in 2010’s Animal Kingdom, there’s just something ghoulishly alluring about ...

It is a dark night.  The sky is pregnant with distant stars.  A lone fire lights the desert canyon wall.  Two Native Americans sit next to it.  There is chanting.  Soon, spirits are inhaled.  If the opening to Poltergeist II: The Other Side throws you for a loop, know that you aren’t alone.  It's trying something  ...

Back in the eighties, DC Comics were facing a bit of a sales slump. In a move to reinvigorate their roster of well-trodden characters and titles, they engaged the services of writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Perez to create a paradigm shifting story that reset a lot of convoluted ...

“I have no tolerance for the unexplained.” — Detective Ralph Anderson Stephen King went down a detective-well several years go, releasing what has become known as the Bill Hodges Trilogy. And what a spectacularly entertaining well it proved to be! From the novel Mr. Mercedes onward ...

“Whoa.  Free toy inside!  Free toy inside!” Do I have your attention Cult of UHF?  Because the blu-ray you want and need has just been released. "Weird Al" Yankovic, the reigning king of pop song parody, once took on Hollywood ...

“Can you still do the things with your eyes?  You’re not crazy if you can still do the thing with your eyes.” I will NEVER forget the first time I saw Philip Kaufman’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers.  I wouldn’t go outside in the rain for weeks afterwards thanks to the opening  ...

Dude.  Talk about a blast from the past.  Duuuuude. Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure is already a comedy classic from the latter part of the 1980s.  Had it failed to connect with audiences, there would be no Beavis & Butthead.  There would be no Wayne’s World.  While we might be in an arguably better ...

In a world where the search for identity is as paramount as it is elusive, The Bikeriders emerges as a profound and timely exploration of this quest. Written and directed by Jeff Nichols (Mud, Take Shelter), the film provides an intimate and uncompromising look at the rise and fall of  ...

Sasquatch Sunset is probably going to divide a lot of audiences.  Myself?  Well, I honestly don’t know what to make of it.  This is a movie about sasquatches . . . which don’t exist.  Or do they?  That’s hardly the point as one Bigfoot family gets their story of survival told ...

Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino burst onto the scene in 2017 with his controversial, yet transcendent tale of first love, Call Me By Your Name, before following it up with his audacious remake of Dario Argento’s Suspiria and another story of forbidden love, Bones and All. Love  ...

Round one!  Operating like a mad take on a game of Mortal Kombat (and just as kinetic), Boy Kills World is a violent thrill ride as a man named “Boy” gets his revenge on the woman who murdered his family.  Be warned as this action flick is not for the weak of heart.  Nor is it for ...

The Ghostbusters are back!  This time, though, they are being directed by Monster House’s Gil Kenan in a script he co-wrote with Jason Reitman, who directed the previous film in the franchise.  The new Ghostbusters film feels like it belongs in the canon without being overly nostalgic  ...

In a thrilling nod to the daredevils and nameless faces behind the scenes of moviemaking, The Fall Guy, directed by former stuntman himself David Leitch, is a totally ridiculous, yet always fun, action/comedy force that showcases the often overlooked world of stunt people. And it appropriately  ...

Raise your hand if you had Dev Patel on your bingo card as the next action movie star. Didn’t think so. Now, raise your hand if you also had him directing an action movie starring himself as an action hero. I didn't either ...

Say what you will about Liam Neeson’s late-career role choices, but there’s no question the guy knows his way around an action thriller. What felt like a desperate last gasp at career revival back in 2008 after taking the lead in Pierre Morel’s Taken, has actually set him up to be  ...

Alex Proyas’s supernatural action thriller is a masterful example of triumph over tragedy, both as a narrative, and (sadly) as a monument to its late star, Brandon Lee. Lee, in the final week of shooting the film, was accidently shot on set, filming one of his final scenes. With Lee’s family’s permission ...

A notoriously difficult film to make, the first to show off James Cameron’s obsession with the depths of the ocean. Lead actor Ed Harris still refuses to talk about it to this day. It’s one of three Cameron films that hasn’t seen a home media release in decades. The Abyss, like most of his flicks ...

If you dug the psychosocial dysfunction of HBO’s “White Lotus” or the theocratic dystopia of Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” then Immaculate, the new film from director Michael Mohan (The Voyeurs) should also find a comfy place within the twisted recesses of your sick soul ...

Representing Ethan Coen’s directorial feature debut without his filmmaking brother Joel, Drive-Away Dolls aims to take viewers on a wild, comic road trip, yet ends up stranding us in the cinematic equivalent of a scenic overlook without the scenery ...

Freddy Fazbear's Pizza has an opening for a security guard.  You interested?  Well, it turns out that this kid’s entertainment location ALWAYS has an opening for a security guard.  Why?  The poor suckers keep getting killed in violent and nasty ways.  Enter at your own risk because something  ...

Can you believe we have been waiting almost twenty-five friggen years for an upgrade on home media for this movie? Released in 1994, True Lies saw its last home media release in 1999 on DVD. Now, generations later, we get a new 4K scan of the flick from the camera negatives ...