DVD/Blu-ray Reviews

Out of all of the films that director David Lean made during his legendary career, he admits himself that Summertime is his favorite. Not Dr. Zhivago. Not The Bridge on the River Kwai. Not Lawrence of Arabia. But Summertime, starring fellow film legend Katharine Hepburn, is the film  ...

At its heart, Killer’s Kiss is a movie where the choreography of ballet dancing meets the moves of boxers crossing in the ring.  Film fans recognize it as Stanley Kubrick’s second film (the first being his 1953 debut feature Fear and Desire), in which he took the streets of New York with 35 mm  ...

Psychological. Shocking. Suspenseful. And downright BEAUTIFUL to look at. The Alfred Hitchcock Classics Collection II release in Ultra 4K is a DEFINITIVE release for some of the most thrilling classics from the master of the macabre. Seriously, there is no flaw to be seen in both the  ...

Tampering with evidence?  Bullying witnesses?  Doctoring voice recordings?  Just what won’t the mob do?!  Looks like it is all in play in 1957’s Chicago Confidential, written by Robert T. Marcus, which is now on blu-ray thanks to Kino Lorber’s ongoing Film Noir: The Dark Side of  ...

From sea to shining sea!  That’s the attempted reach of 1951’s The Raging Tide, yet another film noir offering highlighting the streets and alleys of San Francisco.  With steely-eyed direction from prolific director George Sherman (Larceny, The Sleeping City) and ace cinematography from Russell Metty (The Stranger, Touch of ...

Hard-boiled and crackling with stark intensity, Los Angeles after dark is always an exciting place.  Especially with all the femme fatales walking the streets. Whether it be out on the street or gazing out the window of your home, the air of unpredictability is always lurking ...

Based around a single make-or-break heist, The Asphalt Jungle is known in the halls of film noir thrillers as the first ever caper flick and, honestly, this brilliantly scripted offering is more than deserving of its praise and its legacy, which is why the Criterion Collection has added it to their list of  ...

Are there two sides to everyone? One good and simple. The other…bordering on evil perhaps. And does this “evil” side live in all of us just waiting to be unleashed? While attending church one morning, Dr. Jekyll (Spencer Tracy) witnesses a man - once a good, upstanding citizen – turn  ...

"Ya wanna dance, Mike Doyle?!" The hills!  The fog!  The slick city streets!  The atmosphere is on point as Johnny Stool Pigeon opens and that’s thanks to cinematographer Maury Gertsman, who shot Singapore, the first offering in this set from Kino Lorber ...

Pear smuggler Matt Gordon (played wonderfully by Fred MacMurray) has returned to the scene of his heartbreak: Singapore.  Cue the lush heartstrings!  The drama!  The crimes!  And, oh, the Casablanca influences as Singapore, with boat and schooner whistles blaring in the distance instead  ...

“Why do people have to love people, anyway?” By the time the 1960’s rolled around in America, the infamous Production Code that was implemented in the 1930’s was clearly losing its grip in Hollywood. The years of filmmakers sliding in double-meaning lines of dialogue and skirting  ...

Want to watch some classic films for the first time again?  Scoop up this release.   Psychological.  Shocking.  Suspenseful.  And downright BEAUTIFUL to look at.  The Alfred Hitchcock Classics Collection release in Ultra 4K is a DEFINITIVE release for some of the most thrilling classics from the  ...

“Orson Welles had a perception of everything in the film, including the music. He knew. He truly understood film scoring. …Touch of Evil was one of the best things I’ve ever done.” - Henry Mancini And it shows, too.  From Mancini’s score to ...

“The things we like best are either illegal, immoral or fattening.” It starts on a boat – an ocean liner headed to New York. Two strangers who enjoy a life of indulgences have a chance meeting when a telegram caught in the wind brings them together. Despite being engaged to their own respective  ...

Elwood P. Dood has a really BIG secret.  No, it’s not his constant drinking, which might be a cause for alarm in and of itself.  It’s his friend; his drinking buddy; and the only person who shares his innermost secrets with.  His best friend in the whole wide world is invisible.  He’s also 6-foot tall ...