DVD Reviews

War is hell. Nowhere is that notion so vividly illustrated than in Erich Maria Remarque’s 1920 novel All Quiet on the Western Front. While Remarque’s story was brought to life in previous adaptations (1930 followed by 1979), we are reminded yet again of the novel’s significance in Edward  ...

“Why do you like me so much?” Charles loves Laura. I mean, he really loves her. So much so that it’s painful. But…when we meet Charles (John Heard), he’s no longer with Laura (Mary Beth Hurt). Their short love affair that blossomed while Laura was separated from her husband ends when ...

During a particularly stubborn bout of doing what writers do best: procrastinate - screenwriter Jimmy Warden ran across a 1985 news piece that became the seed of his next project. The true story involved the news of a 175-pound black bear that was found dead in the Chattahoochee  ...

“Jaaaaaaaaaammmmmeeeessss!” We’re only about one month into 2023 and there is already a film to come out that has left me completely and utterly stunned. It shocks you; it makes you squirm, and it hypnotizes you with its unnerving atmosphere and startling images. Brandon  ...

Watching the documentary, LYNCH (one), that’s included on Criterion’s gorgeous release of David Lynch’s Inland Empire, we hear Lynch himself say that this film is “an experiment.” BUT he also makes it very clear a couple of times that it is NOT an experimental film, though many viewers would  ...

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, during a speech to the House of Commons in June of 1940 in the opening months of World War II, famously said, “Our policy is to wage war, by sea, land, and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us.” ...

Since Marvel, DC, Godzilla, Conjuring, Spider-Man, and others have their own cinematic universes these days, it should be no surprise that even the Screenlife genre of filmmaking is now gaining its own universe of sorts. It’s where all of a film’s events are shown on the screen of a computer ...

“You either are a star or you ain’t. And honey, I am.” Every once in a while, there is a movie that comes along that leaves you completely awestruck. A cinematic feat that leaves you in a perpetual state of amazement and wonder of how the film was even pulled off. And let me tell you, Babylon is one of those movies. Most similar to his beloved ...

Keanu Reeves turns 50 this year.  With age comes wisdom, I’m told.  Perhaps that is why his portrayal as the super lethal John Wick, a former hitman fresh out of retirement, is such a crowd-pleasing good time.  Wait?  What did I just type?  A familiar story that  ...

Every single time Keanu Reeves is written off or dismissed, he comes bouncing back with a powerfully charged character.  Hell, he even got booed for his performance in Knock Knock.  I think I was one of the eight critics who gave him credit for knowing the  ...

John Wick is one of those franchises that seemingly came out of nowhere. Keanu Reeves (deservedly) has maintained a level of currency through his lengthy and stellar career, but if we’re to be honest, his star was on the wane when he signed on to the ...

Those troubled by the increasingly predominant role technology has begun to play in the rearing of today’s children should probably stay far, far away from M3GAN. On the other hand, those who want a front row seat to witness how those perceived dangers might actually play themselves  ...

Director: Claire Denis
Writer: Claire Denis and Marie N'Diaye
Cast: Isabelle Huppert; Christopher Lambert; Isaach De Bankolé

In her 1988 debut film, Chocolat, French filmmaker Claire Denis visited colonized Africa, telling her story of childhood memories with a strong visual affinity for the landscapes and people of the beautiful continent. With White Material, she dips back into that same familiar bag of themes, only this time she tinges the haunting story with elements of danger, defiance, and audacious stubbornness...

“You kill my cat, I’ll blow your head off.” There’s a white jaguar loose on a big boat. Nic Cage is on board. What else do you need to know? If you are a fan of Cage, then you are going to love this spirited take on ...

In a role he was… ahem, born to play, Nicolas Cage plays Nick Cage in Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten’s The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, the pair’s earnest love letter to who else but… Nicolas Cage ...

“Everytime we come here, someone has to get topless.” Truly, this one had me at the idea of Kane Hodder butchering more beauties in bikinis, but this slasher is a bit more than just his performance as Goatface.  Let’s see, there’s the beautiful location (on Cape Cod in Massachusetts)., an interesting storyline (which begins in the  ...

Tom Hanks does grumpy in A Man Called Otto, the American remake of the Oscar-nominated Swedish film called A Man Called Ove from a few years back. Though certainly not the first actor who comes to mind for a role featuring the most cantankerous old man this side of Gran  ...

Confession time, Boils and Ghouls!  I grew up  - even as fat as I was – wanting to be Michael Paré’s cool as a cucumber Tom Cody from Streets of Fire.  Most my age wanted to be cracking shit with a bullwhip and making off, just like Indiana Jones,  with golden idols and, while I was keen to  ...

A swinging sixties marital comedy with the charming Shirley MacLaine and the prim and proper Richard Attenborough? Sure! Why not? It’s an innocent request from the workaholic brasserie manufacturer Robert Blossom ...

What does family really mean? Is it the people who are related by blood through no choice of your own? Or is it more? Is it the people who choose to protect you and stick with you – the people who genuinely care about you? Well, this conversation is the driving theme of acclaimed director  ...

Tis hard to believe in this century that the name Peter Jackson wasn’t known to that many in the mid- 90s. Film nuts like myself were aware of him, devouring the likes of Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles eagerly. I remember distinctly saying to a friend, after viewing Jackson’s R-rated puppet movie, that I ...

In a family-owned butcher shop situated in a sun-scorched small town, we meet Sara (Laura Galán) – an overweight teenager who is constantly bombarded with the merciless bullying and gossip of other kids her age. To them, she’s “Piggy.” ...

On again, off again. In love, out of love. Going back to school, starting a new job. Everything is fluid and everything is changing in the whimsical and lustful drama from French director Jacques Audiard. Capturing the residential district of Les Olympiades in beautiful black and white photography ...

We’ll call them the classic, the prequel, and the sequel. Breaking the mold of the cop/detective story that audiences of the time were all too familiar with, the writers (Felix Chong and Alan Mak) and directors (Alan Mak and Andrew Lau) of the iconic Infernal Affairs trilogy sought to inject new life into the ...

“Give me your money or I’ll bust you up.”  It is this line that forever alters the decision-making of an architect driven to murder. Morbidity goes mad in director Michael Winner’s Death Wish, a revenge flick from 1974 that made Charles Bronson a household name of full-throttled action and made ...

It’s Groundhog Day!  Ready to relive this magical day over and over again?! Well, Phil Conners (Bill Murray) might not be ready to do it, but you certainly will.  Revisiting the highlights of director Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day include watching Murray assault the many characters in the town ...

A bit similar to his acclaimed 2017 film, Call Me by Your Name, with his latest film, Bones and All, director Luca Guadagnino tackles another forbidden love story. But this one requires, let’s just say…more of an acquired taste. Much like its French cousin, Raw, directed by Julia Ducournau ...

“Are you gonna bark all day, little doggie?  Or are you gonna bite?” If one needed to sum up who Quentin Tarantino was in one word, I think the best one would be “pioneer.” He ushered in a new wave of film that is replicated over and over again, ad nauseum, until the entire pool is over saturated with ...

Everything seems nice enough. The neighbors are friendly. The apartment is modern and clean. Her husband has a good job. But to Julia (Maika Monroe), something is wrong – everything is wrong.  From the very instant we meet Julia in a taxi with her husband, Francis (Karl Glusman), her discomfort jumps right ...

After the release of his first two films, 2017’s Get Out and 2019’s Us, one thing became perfectly clear about Jordan Peele as a filmmaker: the guy undoubtedly understands the importance of baking rich themes and abstract motifs into the DNA of his stories. His films are rarely what they initially  ...