DVD Reviews

The last decade of the 20th Century in movies saw the pinnacle of star-powered excess-driven extravaganzas peak with Kevin Costner’s Waterworld. One of the biggest stars in the world, at the time, he could write his own ticket, dictate all terms, and will anything he wanted into existence. That ...

Where have you been, Guy Ritchie? We’ve missed your language, your punch, your sleight of hand, and that self-referential swagger that defined your early days as a filmmaker. We got hardly any of that as you set out for more commercial ventures like Swept Away, The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,  ...

Who wasn't frightened as a child by the horrifically grim childhood fairy tale about an evil witch who bakes pastries to lure children into her home so she can cook and eat the youngsters for dinner? It’s a wonder any of us made it out of childhood without totally losing all of our marbles ...

I’ll start this review with a question. 4K has been out for a few years now, and although this reviewer has only recently dipped into this new resolution, I wonder why companies like Arrow are still going to the effort of releasing restored definitive and feature-laden movies from days gone by, at scanned  ...

Though more than eighty years have passed since Claude Rains donned the dark sunglasses, smoking jacket, and yards of ACE bandages in 1933’s The Invisible Man, the character still holds a firm place in the pantheon of Universal’s classic movie monsters. That’s not only a testament to the legacy of the studio’s monster ...

What's the first question everyone asks whenever you’ve just watched a new Pixar film? “Where does it rank?” Of course, they’re asking where it fits within the hierarchy of Pixar films. And let’s face it, even a bad Pixar film tops most cinema fare these days, so when we say that Onward ranks ...

What if they made a movie and nobody came? That was the fear when the horror satire The Hunt was scheduled for release last fall before being delayed by a series of unfortunate events. First, it was the El Paso and Dayton mass shootings. Then a tweet about the film from our ...

The latest iteration of Bob Clark’s ultra-gory yule tide slasher, Black Christmas, promises a modern take on the cult horror classic that stoked the fears of every sorority girl back in 1974  ...

There’s a shocking, telling moment late in the movie Harriet (2019). Referring to a group of escaped slaves, the villain Gideon (Joe Elwyn) calls them “three bucks and a female with foal.” Of course, he does much worse throughout the movie. But that ...

Star Wars’ new caretakers, Disney, have gone to painstaking work to be able to release this series of films for the first time in 4K. After purchasing the franchise from George Lucas, acquiring 20th Century Fox, and continuing the Star Wars saga with (so far) 5 new ...

The greatest sequel ever made… There. Done… Oh, you want more? All right then. Star Wars changed cinema forever. Some say to its detriment. Its penetration into the world’s lexicon was all encompassing. It was in everyone’s vernacular after 1977, and made the left of field auteur George Lucas the ...

This film would be the culmination for a generation of Star Wars fans, and we couldn’t have been better primed for it. We would wait three years to learn the answers to the most tantalizing cliffhangers ever conceived. Was Han Solo gone forever? Was Darth Vader lying to Luke? I can  ...

Episode 2 made a couple of firsts in Star Wars history. Firstly, it would be the first of them shot entirely digital. Secondly, and unfortunately, it would be the first of the episodes to debut with a now tarnished perception. The Phantom Menace had not gone down well with the critics and a great ...

 Twice now, in different decades, Star Wars has resurrected itself and rewarded Lucas handsomely. With the recent sequel trilogy now behind us, the parallels between their reception and the era of the prequel trilogy are difficult to ignore. Both critics and the Star Wars fan base have major issues with ...

2005 saw the end of the prequel trilogy, and what a job it had before it to finally deliver what we’d been promised since the trilogy was announced: the descent of Anakin Skywalker to the dark side and the rise of Darth Vader ...

When Harley Quinn has a bad day, it’s a good day for the rest of us. And Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn is the proof. The very bad, rotten day had by Harley (Margot Robbie, I, Tonya), is told in side-splitting detail in the 24-hour comical frenzy ...

The new comedy starring Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson called The Hustle is an almost identical remake of the 1988 classic comedy Dirty Rotten Scoundrels which starred Michael Caine and Steve Martin - itself a remake of Marlon Brando’s Bedtime Story. I say “almost” because  ...

Films of the ilk of last year’s Ad Astra are always a quandary for me to write about. With the output of most of Hollywood’s efforts being what some might sarcastically call formulaic and digestible, it is both a blessing and a curse when something is offered to buck the trend. James Gray’s science  ...

While browsing through your favorite streaming service last week, you probably flipped past the title card for the little-known Canadian thriller called Becky. Big mistake. Need convincing? It stars Kevin James as a swastika-tattooed neo-Nazi murderer. Yes, that Kevin James ...

With streaming now taking the lion’s share of the average household’s attention, it is getting harder and harder for the studios to entice us for yet another dip at their titles; especially when a great many of them are but a single click away on our smart TVs. It is wildly believed that physical home media ...

Knives Out (2019) is a clever murder mystery from writer and director Rian Johnson, the best quality of which is its awesome ensemble cast: Christopher Plummer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Chris Evans, Michael Shannon and more. Everyone seems to enjoy their juicy  ...

There’s something about a Judd Apatow film that identifies itself almost immediately. Whether it’s gut-busting humor simply for the sake of making us laugh, or foul language and raunchiness with the sole intention of allowing us to be happy wallowing in our own consenting adulthood, his ...

If you’ve not yet become totally comfortable with the whole AirBnB home-sharing thing yet, then stay away from The Rental. It’s the new film from first-time director Dave Franco (yes, that Dave Franco) and it plays off the distrust many have about staying in the home of a complete stranger. Think about ...

Monster movies aren’t what they used to be. With the fear of nuclear war mostly behind us and the terror of invading aliens having run its course, filmmakers have had to come up with a new kind of monster to scare the pants off movie goers. And what is more menacing, unpredictable, and  ...

Gather ‘round all you puzzle lovers. Have I got a challenge for you! With twisty logic, time-altering physics, and an alternate existence that defies reality, the highly anticipated new thriller called Tenet is the mental challenge puzzle masters trained their entire lives for. For all ...

Iranian-American filmmaker Cyrus Nowrasteh has made quite a name for himself around Hollywood with unflinching films that pull back the curtains on governmental corruption and institutionalized abuse. His target is never limited to the American government, however, and those  ...

When asked how the training of his replacement is coming along, Stanley (Richard Jenkins, The Visitor) mumbles to his manager, “I just don’t think he’s a good fit here.” Stanley would know. After all, we’s worked the late night drive-thru shift at Oscar’s Chicken and Fish, a run-down fast food spot in  ...

I’ll say this about The Assistant: it’ll probably make you appreciate your own boss. That person is almost guaranteed to be better than the nameless tyrant dominating The Assistant. The movie depicts one long and ordinary day in the life of Jane (Julia Garner), a twenty something wannabe film ...

The product of two A-list protégés (at the time) floundering in their careers; a script deemed too dirty by Disney, and not dirty enough by other studios (this was era of sex comedies). Back to the Future, despite being one of the tightest screenplays ever written (then and now) just could not ...

Well, this one had a pained and storied journey to the big screen. Filmed in 2017 after three years of developed, and falling prey to 20th Century Fox indecision, this Josh Boone directed X-Men spin-off production went through several re-workings before, during and after (in fact LONG after)  ...