DVD Reviews

There was only one thing Roger Ebert loved more than movies: Life Itself. So says the tagline of Steve James’ (Hoop Dreams) documentary about the life and work of the world’s most famous movie critic. Best known as half of the bickering pair Siskel & Ebert & the Movies  ...

“For as long as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster.  To me that was better than being president of the United States.  To be a gangster was to own the world.” t seems rather daunting. Writing about a film that, released in 1990, has gone on to be one of the best  ...

There is a robust earnestness surrounding Richard Donner’s Ladyhawke that, to this day, remains praiseworthy.  While Warner Bros does the film a favor with this freshly minted blu-ray release, the film stands on its own as a testament to the enduring qualities of solid fantasy  ...

Old hat.  Battered suitcase.  Duffle coat.  Marmalade.  Paddington Bear has been a fixture in children’s literature since 1958.  The character hasn’t always been fashionable, mind you, but he has always been entertaining and, when it comes to children, fashion isn’t always the...

Ray Milland steps into the obsessive role Vincent Price normally played for American International Pictures in Roger Corman’s adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Premature Burial.  While that makes the events in the film a little less theatrical, it amps up the intensity  ...

Now, THIS is how you restart a stalled franchise. Violent, gritty, and powerful, Mad Max: Fury Road is one hell of an over-the-top thrill ride. Imagine the western attitude of Red Dead Revolver mashing with the vehicular carnage in Grand Theft Auto and Fury Road is the  ...

The collection coveted by many a sci-fi fan has finally arrived courtesy of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.  Originally inspired by spacey Mormon theology concerning a planet named Kolob and the council of twelve, the original, 24-episode run of Battlestar   ...

While never a cult classic, Satan’s Blade is the textbook definition of a cult film.  L. Scott Castillo Jr.’s movie reads, bleeds, and leads with its shoestring budget, amateur acting, and familiarity and, yet, there’s something very, very intriguing about it all.  Originally filmed in...

Holy Shit, Mr. Roger Corman.  Holee Shite.  You are a God among mere mortal men.  Seriously.  Bloody Mama, starring Shelly Winters, would have been your masterpiece if your filmography and genre-hopping wasn’t so vast and extreme, changing with almost every   ...

A classic black-and-white film from the deluge of science fiction movies produced during the late 1950s finally finds its way onto blu-ray.  Independently produced, It! The Terror From Beyond Space remains an effective rubber-suited monster movie, proving that practical  ...

Long before the Fast & Furious gang was granted freedom from their past criminal activity for assisting the feds, famed film producer/director Roger Corman introduced audiences to a group of war criminals tasked to defeat a Nazi invasion in Yugoslavia for their own   ...

When we talk about the films of Sergio Leone, I wonder how many people realize we are only talking, specifically, about six movies. Six. No more and no less. And they are all inarguable considered film classics…except for one. Filmed in 1971, Duck, You Sucker! (aka  ...

What’s a historical dramatic series to do when its lead actor hungers to star in some serious science fiction movies while its ratings grow? That’s the dilemma the talent behind the BBC’s Call the Midwife faced at the conclusion of its third season. Jessica Raine – who plays Jenny Lee   ...

Okay, okay, okay. We all can agree that the star-powered disaster movie is in serious need of a vitamin shot. Hell, it’s in need of a shot of Jack Daniels (or at least the audience is) if it’s to even be taken somewhat seriously anymore. Even classics in the genre – like The ...

Samuel L. Jackson is the President of the United States. Imagine how cool that would be. The actor who can speak-shout “motherfucker” like no one else on this planet as the Commander in Chief of this great nation. That alone is worth the price of admission to see  ...

Melissa McCarthy has had a bit of a rocky career since her breakthrough, Oscar-nominated performance in Bridesmaids back in 2011. While being riotously funny, the roles that showcase her natural talent have been of short supply. Even when paired with an equally  ...

A hair-raising premise turns into a dud of a film. As a B-movie and cult fanatic, it’s a tad disappointing to tell you that the WolfCop is well below what I was expecting after seeing such promising things in its trailer. It’s about a cop who turns into a wolf and continues   ...

Hold onto your butts. This is going to be a bumpy read. Initially, I speculated that the extended embargo on press reviews for Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World was an indicator that perhaps all is not well inside the reopened park. The long-gestating blockbuster – while  ...

When it comes to producing quality entertainment for children, there are few artists that can match the talents of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. The duo and their creation of Supermarionation within AP Films produced some rather exciting programs (Fireball XL5 and Stingray)   ...

And. I. Still. Have. Chills. That’s how insanely good Pixar’s Inside Out is. One could nitpick and point to faults in a frenzied middle but, with a concept as daring as the one presented here, there is simply no argument one could legitimately make to dissuade you from embracing  ...

Writer/director Neil Marshall doesn’t always get the respect he so admirably deserves. It seems that Hollywood has put all their eggs in Neill Blomkamp’s basket. Marshall, who has yet to fail my expectations, continues to deliver behind the scenes in Game of Thrones but to   ...

On the heels of the widespread attention received by Marine sniper Chris Kyle in 2014’s American Sniper, America’s military working dogs (MWD) get their turn at glory with a movie called Max, a family drama about a military dog stricken with PTSD who returns from active duty to   ...

By land AND by sea; that’s the territory of Peter Benchley’s Creature, a miniseries presented on blu-ray in two parts, which was originally broadcast in 1998 on The Hallmark Channel. Did you miss it? You aren’t alone. It certainly didn’t make a ratings killing for yet another undersea ...

Apparently Steven Soderbergh and filmmakers were so caught off guard (as were we) by the surprising success of 2012’s Magic Mike, that they failed to incorporate a natural segue that leads into a second chapter. But that’s never stopped Hollywood from plowing forth  ...

Arming itself with a new interpretation for the popular saying “crash and burn”, Robot Jox continues to garner new fans with each passing year. This post-apocalyptic science fiction film featuring gigantic battling robots for territorial claim is the crème de la crème when it comes to influence  ...

The scariest thing about The Gallows isn’t exactly because of what happens in it. It’s the realization (occurring afterwards) that, had a producer truly given two shits about the film and not just the money-grubbing hustle from the 23-and-under crowd this weekend, there once ...

Italian horror filmmakers have a long and fascinating history of taking a successful Hollywood idea and running with it until at least 10 films, all with different titles, have beaten its singular uniqueness into the ground. I can’t say that I blame them as boobs and gore will always   ...

Arnold Schwarzenegger. Zombies. I know what you are thinking and, trust me, I went there as well when I first heard about Maggie. Schwarzenegger, sans shirt, throwing zombies off his hulked out frame while screaming something about running to a tank or a chopper or an underground  ...

They say it’s not the size, it’s how you use it. Ant-Man, with its emphasis on all things microscopic, is proof of the truth in that saying. With its smallest hero, Marvel Studios has done the biggest thing. I’m just going to go ahead and make one thing clear: Ant-Man is   ...

Not yet on the Amy Schumer bandwagon? If the comedienne’s steady rise to cultural notoriety on such shows as Comedy Central’s Inside Amy Schumer and her numerous turns at the mic on awards programs and comedy clubs have yet to ping your entertainment radar, there’s still time to catch  ...