DVD/Blu-ray Reviews

It has been 16 years since The Blair Witch Project caught audiences off-guard with its creative use of previously recorded material in order to tell a story. The narrative style stuck, much to chagrin of critics and a few of my friends, and continues to be applied to various   ...

Sometimes less of something is better. The Blacksmith is back in RZA’s The Man with the Iron Fists 2.  It is, at once, a movie no one thought possible considering the original film’s lukewarm response back in 2012.  Directed by cinematographer Roel Reiné  ...

I stopped doubting Marvel’s ambitious or, some would argue, arrogant insistence their multi-film magnum opus would succeed after seeing the first Avengers film. That was just a masterpiece of big budget carnage, and character-driven fun. Something, if I’d remembered   ...

Alex Garland’s directorial debut, Ex Machina, is, as far as I’m concerned, the first must-see film of 2015. More human than human indeed. This is breathtaking art that is meticulously assembled to build something unforgettable. Smart, explosive, and – dare I suggest  ...

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the bathroom, Ghoulies return from the toilets.  Making their blu-ray debut, courtesy of Scream Factory, the films responsible for the hilariously awful cult class Hobgoblins - Ghoulies and Ghoulies II – arrive with a heavy  ...

Action.  Atmosphere.   And Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken saying things like, "Sad story.  You got a smoke?"   Do I really need to say any more?  Escape from New York, from writer/director John Carpenter, is the perfect mix of genres from a director who could do no wrong  ...

Time to climb aboard the Grantchester bandwagon before it leaves you in the gravel! The latest British crime drama imports wit, jazz, and murder in a scenic post-war Cambridgeshire. PBS’ Masterpiece Mystery is currently the only place to see James Runcie’s Sidney Chambers  ...

The western genre is familiar territory for a lot of audiences, no matter their location.  From directors like John Ford, Clint Eastwood, and Sergio Leone, the film community has reinforced some of the basic ingredients borrowed from penny books:  the guns, the whores  ...

Getting Vincent Price out of retirement was no easy task.  The boils and ghouls over at Scream Factory have assembled a collection of supplemental material to accompany their release of 1987’s From a Whisper to a Scream and it documents director Jeff Burr’s sincere ...

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  ...