DVD Reviews

Ah, yes, there WILL BE blood.  Double Walker, one of my favorite independent offerings from last year, arrives on Blu-ray via Kino Lorber and its recent partnership with Cranked Up Films.  While it has no bonus features, this release is certainly very welcomed ...

Jack Hill is BACK in a BIG way! For anyone who “hates” on exploitation film auteur Jack Hill’s The Swinging Cheerleaders for its objectification of women – namely cheerleaders – there’s a need for a brief lesson in film and cultural history.  Made during the 1970s, Hill’s movie was a very ...

It’s hard to conceive in this era of remakes that some redos in the history of cinema go on to become classics in their own right. For genre fans, John Carpenter’s The Thing is often cited as a prime example. For comedy, however, Billy Wilder’s beloved cross-dressing romp, Some Like It  ...

Well, this one definitely flew under the radar.  After its initial premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, Mass quietly made its festival rounds, then only to be played in a very few select theaters, until finally in December, it got a VOD release, and now, to the thanks of Bleeker Street, we finally are  ...

Now, this right here is the KA-RAZY chop Saki kung-fu that I miss about the action flicks from the 1980s!   Written, directed and starring Taiwanese martial arts legend John Liu (The Secret Rivals, Invincible Armor) , New York Ninja is truly a one-of-a-kind martial arts film as a mild-mannered sound ...

"What a story!  Everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." Written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, All About Eve continues to shine bright thanks to the dazzling performance of Bette Davis as Margo Channing as she takes Anne Baxter as ...

Perhaps one of, if not the most important film movement in cinema’s history is that of the French New Wave, that made its audacious emergence in the late 1950’s and lasted until about the late 1960’s. Throwing out every rule of the dominating studio system, this movement took to the streets  ...

Are you ready to take a chance again?! Written and directed by Colin Higgins (The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, 9 to 5) and featuring the debut of Chevy Chase in a feature film (when he left SNL in ‘76), Foul Play - while originally dismissed by a lot of print critics at the time of its release ...

Los Angeles after dark is always an exciting place.   Whether it be out on the street or gazing out the window of your home, the air of unpredictability is always lurking about in the air.  And it is that unpredictability which opens director Billy Wilder’s film noir classic, Double Indemnity as a ...

Eddie Brock has a BIG secret! It takes a couple of views, but Venom: Let There Be Carnage is a fun, fast-paced flick that, easy to swallow, gets straight to the point as Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) continues to live with the unwanted shape-shifting symbiote known as Venom (also voiced by ...

Exploitation flicks don’t get any nastier than this!  You've been warned.  If there is any thread of humanity left within you, you'll just stop reading now and go about your day.  Nothing to see here. Still here?  Goooooood.  Then you already know just how absolutely AWESOME this film is and, yeah, there's plenty to see.  I don't know  ...

“Did you bring me here by force?” And INTRODUCING Audrey Hepburn.  That’s right, the screen legend begins here with Roman Holiday, a quintessential romantic comedy, which was shot on location in Rome . . . even though Paramount wanted it filmed on their studio ...

Primal terror has never looked this good before! Writer/Director Joe Dante (Gremlins) humorously takes on America’s culture of violence with 1981’s The Howling.  Manically led by a charging performance from Patrick Macnee (BBC’s The Avengers), The Howling and Dante – alongside Jon  ...

Those turned off by the squeaky clean nature and preaching-to-the-choir reality of most faith-based films these days certainly won’t have those complaints with the new movie called Father Stu. They may find plenty of other things to complain about, but, by taking full  ...

When the “Yes” men start telling you “NO”, you are probably approaching the trash-lined gutters along Sunset Boulevard.  Hollywood is clearly sending you a message.  You are no longer needed . . . or are you?!?!  Well, if Billy Wilder (director of The Seven Year Itch, Some Like It Hot,  ...

In just five short years since the much-maligned Spider-Man 3, Marvel’s Spider-Man gets the rebooted remake in Marc Webb’s thrilling The Amazing Spider-Man.  While, before seeing the picture, one could argue the rationale of such a move on Columbia’s part, the necessity however becomes  ...

“You made two mistakes.  One was getting up and the other was making fun of Shirley Temple.” Directed by David Berlatsky and starring Gary Conway as a decorated World War II veteran who returns home to try to save his farm from being taken over by the bank, The Farmer, a ...

From identical dresses to the fire which ravishes Manderley, the second Mrs. de Winter (Joan Fontaine) can never, ever take the place of Rebecca.  Cue the romance, the heartbreak, the haunted tension and wind it all up because this film is all about the snap.  That’s what makes this ...

If we are to believe the film’s promotional materials, namely its poster which asks “Who Made Tony Soprano,” then The Many Saints of Newark is an origin story for the fictional gangster played by James Gandolfini in David Chase’s groundbreaking, award-winning HBO drama series ...

"The motion picture that follows is a fable. In it there are many nudists but only one monster. In life, it is generally the other way around." Brain dead dialogue?  Plenty of female flesh?  Monster madness?  Where do I sign up?! AGFA and Something Weird, those cool-headed ...

A minister-turned-serial killer in one of the most beautiful films ever made by Hollywood?  Sure.  Why not?  When the results of exaggerated set designs and a directing style reminiscent of early silent cinema are as good as they are in The Night of the Hunter, no one is going to complain  ...

The run of Daniel Craig as James Bond comes to its stunning and long delayed conclusion with No Time to Die, an action-packed spectacle of fun and tears that seriously delivers.  For “final” Bond films, this one satisfies on every level connecting the dots and plot points of previous entries  ...

Fishing with grandpa was never as wild and as out there as in this slasher satire!  That’s right, Gorehounds and Guppy Heads, Blood Hook is back to get you in the mood for some more summertime hijinks . . . and this time all the muskie madness and mutilations are completely uncensored!  Whoop  ...

Was he trying to kiss or kill her on that hilltop?  The verdict is still out as Suspicion makes its debut on blu-ray thanks to the efforts of the Warner Archive Collection. Alfred Hitchcock’s adaptation of Francis Iles's novel Before the Fact - which is as dissimilar as they...

Despite the film’s strong foundation and rather rich themes, Paul Schrader’s newest project, The Card Counter, is unsuccessful in attempts to achieve a tense and mysterious tone, and ultimately ends up as a dull, messy drama full of awkward dialogue and performances ...

007 who?  The Man From Hong Kong has all that you crave! Operating as if Inspector Fang Sing Leng (Jimmy Wang Yu) was the one and only James Bond, The Man From Hong Kong blows its action sky high and delivers a spirited action-adventure flick that could only come out of the pages of ...

You can’t say that Hitchcock didn’t warn audiences of Hitler.  He made several films with Hitler’s world view overhanging the shadows in each frame.  But, after a decade in Hollywood, Alfred Hitchcock took that warning to a new level and gave audiences the ultimate romance between a ...

Independent films don’t get any more baadasssss than with Melvin Van Peebles at the helm.  Recognize that right now and we can remain on speaking terms.  The collective black consciousness is alive and well in his filmography and, thankfully, his independent output left a lasting mark on pop ...

Like The King of Rock n’ Roll himself, Baz Luhrmann’s new film, deceptively titled Elvis (more on that later), is bold, brash, and over the top. This should come as no surprise as the Moulin Rouge! director – subscriber to the Auteur Theory of filmmaking – is known for his distinctive style and  ...

“I know what happens in those mystery pictures!  A guy walks over to a perfectly ordinary door he opens it up and - ZOWIE! - out falls a body right on its kisser!” And, of course, a body falls to the ground!  When it comes to getting the tone of horror comedies right, you have to sometimes go ...