DVD/Blu-ray Reviews

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  ...

It is time, my friends, to go back to the woods. The reclusive Blair Witch has returned. It seems she never left the Black Hills Forest. While it may have taken 16 years to get a proper sequel to 1999’s phenomenon The Blair Witch Project (because I’m not counting the  ...

Before we get started, let’s get one thing out of the way. Get off your high horse about The Magnificent Seven being a remake. We mustn't forget that 1960’s The Magnificent Seven was itself a remake of an earlier – and better – film called The Seven Samurai. All three  ...