DVD Reviews

This one flew under the radar for this reviewer, but by all accounts did good business at the box office. Looking at the cover it appeared the The Intern was a rehash of Anne Hathaway’s shtick from The Devil Wears Prada (movie posters these days really suck), but one look at the  ...

The third time is the charm for Shout Factory with their blu-ray release of the American teen comedy-drama television show (complete with its own built-in cult following), Freaks and Geeks! Created by Paul Feig with Judd Apatow as executive producer, Freaks and Geeks  ...

There was simply no way to predict it.  With Peter Capaldi returning to the controls of the TARDIS for his second run as the beloved Doctor Who, there was every hope that it could be but no one – NO ONE – expected the Ninth Series of the rebooted Doctor Who to be ...

Disney’s mostly-live-action reimagining of its 1967 classic The Jungle Book is a dazzling visual spectacle that tinkers very little with the original’s underlying story while providing an astonishingly new look and feel to the world of man-cub Mowgli (Neel Sethi), black panther ...

"I used to be someone," reads a cardboard sign held up by Hannah (Jennifer Connelly), a homeless woman on the streets of Manhattan in the movie Shelter. Hannah and another vagrant, Tahir (Anthony Mackie), meet and slowly fall in love. He's an illegal Nigerian immigrant  ...

The hugely popular Comedy Central skit team of Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele (aka Key & Peele) triumphantly make the transition from television sketch comedy to big screen success with Keanu, a film that will have you doubled over with laughter when you’re not ...

So begins Marvel’s continued domination in the costumed hero department, as their Phase 3 comes out swinging in high style. After the Russo brother’s proved their talent with Cap in The Winter Soldier, it seemed they replaced former Marvel golden boy Joss Whedon ...

Jeremy Saulnier returns.  The writer and director of the crowdfunded and critically acclaimed Blue Ruin strikes fear into moviegoers and color aficionados with Green Room, a tension-filled horror film about a punk band at the mercy of a bunch of neo-Nazis.  You read   ...

I have to ask you this.  Do you believe in God?  You’re going to need that faith in order to survive this one, brothers and sisters.  The Darkness is a dull ride through familiar roads with actors and actresses more talented than the trappings of this bland and forgettable  ...

It seems the go to reason to revisit classic characters, if one is to ask creative folk, is revisiting their stories with a new perspective. Setting aside the realities of modern cinema, it’s with that assertion that I sat down to this, the umpteenth go around, of Mary Shelley’s  ...

Shane Black's The Nice Guys hits on so many different levels, it certainly won't come as a surprise if we look back at this as the exact moment the buddy cop flick was awakened from its 30-year slumber.  Sure, the genre has seen many come and go since Black's Lethal ...

Time is a thief” utters Alice Through the Looking Glass’s star Mia Wasikowska. In some kind of weird self-aware pronouncement, she reminds us that somehow it’s been six years since Burton’s motley crew of Lewis Carroll-inspired characters convened for their epic  ...

Arriving for the first time on blu-ray, Alex Haley’s Roots is sure to capture the attention of those who originally watched the 8-episode narrative.  It’s hard for me to see that this release has much of a life outside of that circle.  It is quickly being replaced with The History  ...

Fascinating.  Truly fascinating.  The behind the scenes story of Tim Burton’s take on Superman is a thrilling and wondrous rollercoaster ride of emotional ups and downs.  It is as profound disappointment that all we have of the production are a handful of items, a couple  ...

I literally have tears in my eyes as I write this.  The new 4K scan with HDR grading of the director’s cut of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is a thing of beauty.  The space battle sequences inside the Mutara Nebula in this transfer are an absolute delight as the color grading ...

It was only a matter of time before Dory got her own picture. Granted, no one could have imagined it would take Pixar 13 years, but we’re finally going back to Nemo’s reef to pay another visit to the forgetful blue tang and her finned, scaled, feathered, and tentacled ...

Written and directed by Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter, Mud), Midnight Special is a richly dark treat that recalls some of the best moments from the slew of science fiction movies released during the 1980s.  It is ambitious and imaginative, refusing to provide answers while  ...

The Shallows just might be the sleeper hit of the summer.  Straightforward, intense, and with just a hint of symbolism, The Shallows gets the balance right for the summer season and delivers an engaging story of survival.  Of course, whether or not YOU like like the movie ...

Something strange happened on the evening of the 24th of January this year.  People were actually watching Fox again; a lot of people.  When all fast-tracked Nielsen figures were in, the network reported that 13.5 million people, on a Sunday night after extended NFC  ...

Director Steven Spielberg is no stranger to the fantastical realms that collide in his faithful adaptation of Roald Dahl’s 1982 children’s classic book.  For many people like myself, Spielberg’s films were the main courses of our cinematic outings growing up. His filmography  ...

There are few other visual effects artists that I know of who continually inspire filmmakers as significant to the medium than that of special effects guru Ray Harryhausen.  His name alone conjures up images of giants, sword-fighting skeletons, monsters, and, hell, Medusa  ...

Kate McKinnon. Kate McKinnon.  Kate McKinnon.  There’s no denying that her comedic chops are on full display throughout the much-ballyhooed all-female reboot of 1984’s Ghostbusters.  IF everything else about Pail Feig’s effects-driven spectacle failed, the absolute magic   ...

Watching Everybody Wants Some!! is like putting on a pair of your favorite shoes.  Everything fits.  Every inch is perfect; every stitch broke in.  And, damn it, these Chuck Taylors keep you moving AND grooving.  Written and directed by Richard Linklater, his spin on the  ...

Star Trek Beyond is a bold move.  It is also a risky one, too.  Thankfully, it gives fans EXACTLY what they want.  We are finally in deep space and, finally, free of Earth-based adventures. With its strongest female character yet being introduced here, Beyond is the  ...

My mother was wrong. There WAS something hellish that lived in the pitch-black corners and darkened recesses of my childhood bedroom. And I always knew that the crawl space under my bed was the shadowy central hub of all that evil activity. I knew it to be, but I was ...

In David Mackenzie’s new film, Hell or High Water, the sprawling West Texas setting – as beautiful as it is rugged – conceals the crushing desolation of its sun-bleached towns whose futures have long since shriveled in the Texas heat. Hard-pressed ranchers, abandoned ...

The Mind’s Eye is something special.  Look right below the title of this review.  You’ll notice the pints-of-beer rating, meaning that the film automatically falls into the B-movie category – even though it’s hitting theaters now.  I’m not going to pretend with you about the film and  ...

One need look no further than The Wolf of Wall Street or The Big Short to see that making raucous entertainment out of ludicrous, behind-the-scenes political goings-on is alive and well in Hollywood. That trend continues with Todd Phillips’ War Dogs, a much less insightful  ...

Arthur Bishop is back.  He’s also pretty irritated.  You should NEVER mess with him while he is trying to eat.  And, as showcased by the always-charismatic Jason Statham, the specialist of accidental deaths at the center this violent tale of revenge proves the old adage  ...

If director Fede Alvarez’s revisit of Sam Raimi’s spooky old cabin in the deep, dark, twisted woods of rural America did something for you in 2013’s Evil Dead, then you need to know that Alvarez is finally back. This time with a creepy little home invasion thriller  ...