DVD/Blu-ray Reviews

Spaghetti Westerns don’t tend to dip into the surreal.  Usually violent, the genre is soaked with cold-blooded killers, heathens, and thieves.  Django Kill (…If You Live, Shoot) adds a bit of psychedelic spice to its spaghetti sauce and, as a result, is a memorable feast for ...

What’s it going to take, America? What’s it going to take for us to act a little more kind to each other? That’s the question director Robert "Bobcat" Goldthwait puts forward in God Bless America, a biting satire of our American pop culture. Without batting an eye ...

High Noon in outer space?  Starring James Bond?  Yes, please.  Written and directed by Peter Hyams (The Presidio, Timecop, 2010), Outland – upon its initial release in 1981 – failed to win over most critics.  With a stunning high definition transfer, it can be suggested that ...

Ah, the psychedelic journey.  It’s a twisted and tortured trip and in Ken Russell’s Altered States, it’s a very primitive one.  Russell (director of The Devils, Gothic, and Lair of the White Worm) was hired on after the original director, Arthur Penn, balked at Warner Bros constant ...

The success and timeless longevity of Buster Keaton’s career probably owes much to his use of physical slapstick and his own intricate direction (Wes Anderson owes his career to the techniques Keaton established, by the way).  Many film scholars suggest that the ...

Releasing Casa de mi Padre in theatres was a gamble.  Take Will Ferrell and place him in the middle of a supremely melodramatic telenovela.  His nonsensical brand of humor subtitled.  Indeed, a very interesting gamble.  Perhaps even the biggest ...

The film that effectively put out the fire in Val Kilmer's Hollywood hot streak has arrived on blu-ray. If there’s anything else to be said about John Frankenheimer’s The Island of Dr. Moreau it’s that the source material, written by H.G. Wells, is so strong that ...

For those of you who feel that only Johnny Depp and Walt Disney can effectively promote the rabid pirate craze, the British have a fairly long-winded rebuttal.  Aw, screw it.  Ahoy, mates!  The folks over at BSkyB offer you the chance to ride alongside Jim Hawkns ...

Erase any memory you might have of Paul Verhoeven’s Total Recall with Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Yes, even the three-breasted midget lady.  As fun as that one was, it’s time to get serious.  The memories of that blood-soaked campy action movie aren't needed ...

The Western genre meets up with daytime family drama in Kevin Reynold’s historically-detailed Hatfields & McCoys.  Originally broadcast on the History channel this past spring but strong enough production values for HBO or Showtime, this three-part miniseries ...

Never before have a weaponized can of pumpkin pie filling and a sexualized leg of KFC dark meat been used to such hilariously cringe-worthy NC-17 effect as in Killer Joe, the latest collaboration between Academy Award-winning director William Friedkin and...

Since when did Total Recall become as well-regarded as Predator? That’s right.  Never. Let’s clear the air once and for all.  Paul Verhoeven’s Total Recall is NOT a classic of the genre. With the release and subsequent criticism of Len Wiseman’s remake alongside this ...

It will be interesting in a decade or two from now to see just how this era of film will be viewed, especially when it comes to originality. Nothing really is sacred, so it’s anyone’s guess what remake will come down the pipeline, but what saddens is the fact that anything...

In this frustrating election year, The Campaign has a chance to score big.  We all need a laugh…especially at politicians.  Politically incorrect satire?  Not quite.  No doubt Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis bring the politically incorrect to the table.  Moments of comedic ...

Aaron Cross is not the hero we need right now; he’s the hero we deserve.  Blame our insatiable appetites for never ending sagas.  We, myself included, wanted more Jason Bourne and when Matt Damon and his go-to director Paul Greengrass couldn’t crack ...