DVD Reviews

The Marx Brothers are coming! The Marx Brothers are coming!  Well, after a bit of exposition that is as Casablanca (and others like that film) get a big kiss-off thanks to the parody on display throughout the 86-minutes that make up A Night in Casablanca.  This REEL CLASSIC might not be the ...

“Is your sword for hire?  I would pay anything for it. What is wrong?  Is your sword too small. . . “ Go BOLD or GO HOME, right?  Surely, that must have been behind this sword and sorcery romp as a bad king dares to raise a demon from the depths of Hell in order to conquer even more land for  ...

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  ...

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  ...

It lives in the sewers of Chicago.  It’s 36 feet long and weighs over 2000 pounds.  This gargantuan is also very, very hungry.  Its name is Ramon and, after being flushed down the toilet by an angry Dad, is now about to break out from beneath the city!   And Chicago will never be the same  ...

Back in the early nineties, Kevin Costner was at the zenith of his cinematic reach. With the likes of Bull Durham, The Untouchables and his Oscar-winning Dances with Wolves under his belt already, the man could (and did) write his own ticket. In these happy times, a star with that pedigree  ...

"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 ...

This is what happens when an abusive drunk tries to drive the last remaining link to his family’s inheritance absolutely mad in order to cash it in all for himself.  Moody, full of fine performances, and with plenty of twists along the way, Paranoiac is a black-and-white gem of atmospheric terror ...

And now, thanks to the fine folks over at Paramount, we finally get the 4K transfer of  Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, a masterwork of filmmaking ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

“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 ...

“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 ...

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 ...

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,  ...

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 ...

Shot on video and completely off its futureshock rocker, Todd Sheets’ Moonchild, in which a werewolf super soldier joins forces with an army of dim-witted kung-fu warriors in the search for his messiah-like son, just won’t stay dead and buried! ...

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 ...

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  ...

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  ...

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  ...

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  ...

It seems impossible that there was any year where I didn’t see Chevy Chase litter his house with enough Christmas lights to be seen from space. But I was in fact fourteen when this now Christmas staple debuted in 1989 (a stellar year for classics of the future). Being a little Aussie, the concept  ...

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...

“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 ...

What a month! Not only did I get to extol the virtues of The Lost Boys on UHD this Halloween, but what should arrive in the mail but Tom Holland’s equally classic 1985 vampire flick, Fright Night. The 80s is known for many classic horror flicks, most of which—including this one—have been remade ...

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 ...

"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 ...

“Please let me keep this memory, just this one.” What do you get when you combine the weird and innovative nature of a Charlie Kaufman script with the daring visuals of director Michel Gondry? Obviously, the only answer is the cult classic Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. With its totally ...