DVD Reviews

When Italians do American-styled action flicks, they usually hit the stereotypes AND the action a hell of a lot harder than we do.  Thought First Blood was a tough watch, especially when the entire town gets blown the hell up?  Think again.  Because Blastfighter, directed by Lamberto Bava ...

The new comedy starring Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson called The Hustle is an almost identical remake of the 1988 classic comedy Dirty Rotten Scoundrels which starred Michael Caine and Steve Martin - itself a remake of Marlon Brando’s Bedtime Story. I say “almost” because  ...

“A fable from a true tragedy.” From the moment Spencer opens with these words, any preconceived notions that the audience has about sitting down for a conventional biopic is completely thrown out the window. Instead, director Pablo Larraín and writer Steven Knight place us right inside ...

When asked how the training of his replacement is coming along, Stanley (Richard Jenkins, The Visitor) mumbles to his manager, “I just don’t think he’s a good fit here.” Stanley would know. After all, we’s worked the late night drive-thru shift at Oscar’s Chicken and Fish, a run-down fast food spot in  ...

It is the year 2047 and, somewhere near Neptune, a missing research vessel has reappeared.  It is up to the rescue ship, Lewis & Clark, to investigate its sudden reappearance and, with vital signs detected and a chill in the air, it is confirmed that what is on board is definitely not human ...

Iranian-American filmmaker Cyrus Nowrasteh has made quite a name for himself around Hollywood with unflinching films that pull back the curtains on governmental corruption and institutionalized abuse. His target is never limited to the American government, however, and those  ...

Maybe you've heard of The Karate Kid.  Sure, sure, but nothing KICKS ASS like the gleam and determination of RAD . . . and, yes, that's entertainment that is in ALL CAPS!  ...

Gather ‘round all you puzzle lovers. Have I got a challenge for you! With twisty logic, time-altering physics, and an alternate existence that defies reality, the highly anticipated new thriller called Tenet is the mental challenge puzzle masters trained their entire lives for. For all ...

“I can do this. I am a dude! I am a hunky dude! I’m a badass hunky dude!” It seems impossible.  It’s borderline unreal, but - according to the cursed calendar hanging on the wall - it has been 15 years since Amanda Bynes pretended to be a boy so that she could play soccer in the hilarious and endearingly sweet ...

Well, this one had a pained and storied journey to the big screen. Filmed in 2017 after three years of developed, and falling prey to 20th Century Fox indecision, this Josh Boone directed X-Men spin-off production went through several re-workings before, during and after (in fact LONG after)  ...

GIANT STARFISH FROM SPACE!  Holy crap, humans!  Run for your lives!  These baggy-suited martians with eyes where their stomachs ought to be might just tickle you to death  ...

There’s something about a Judd Apatow film that identifies itself almost immediately. Whether it’s gut-busting humor simply for the sake of making us laugh, or foul language and raunchiness with the sole intention of allowing us to be happy wallowing in our own consenting adulthood, his ...

Move over, Jason!  There’s a new Boogeyman on the block and his name is . . . Virgil!  Now, doesn’t that put the fear of God in you?!  The filmmakers of this so-bad-its-not-really-good-at-all horror film were kind of banking on that draw.  Oops.  Virgil the ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period?  Well, ...

If you’ve not yet become totally comfortable with the whole AirBnB home-sharing thing yet, then stay away from The Rental. It’s the new film from first-time director Dave Franco (yes, that Dave Franco) and it plays off the distrust many have about staying in the home of a complete stranger. Think about ...

Radioactive cultists and transient meth-heads unite!  Slithis has returned from the contaminated depths of the canals to kill again.  Grab the 6-pack from the fridge, Horror Hounds and Gore-Gore Girls, we're going to need a steady stream of 12 fluid ounces to get through this mad tale of yet ...

The product of two A-list protégés (at the time) floundering in their careers; a script deemed too dirty by Disney, and not dirty enough by other studios (this was era of sex comedies). Back to the Future, despite being one of the tightest screenplays ever written (then and now) just could not ...

Because the nonsensical matters!  That’s why Voyage into Space exists!  Seriously, though, you don’t get Iron Giant without a stop alongside Voyage into Space, about a boy who controls an IRON GIANT (yeah, I went there!) with his wristwatch! ...

I’ll say this about The Assistant: it’ll probably make you appreciate your own boss. That person is almost guaranteed to be better than the nameless tyrant dominating The Assistant. The movie depicts one long and ordinary day in the life of Jane (Julia Garner), a twenty something wannabe film ...

Calling all vets!  There is a heartwarming calm at the center of All Creatures Great & Small, a family drama that is more about optimism than anything else.  It is a calm that is hard to explain in these trying times yet it exists and flourishes with each and every episode as lush, rolling...

What if they made a movie and nobody came? That was the fear when the horror satire The Hunt was scheduled for release last fall before being delayed by a series of unfortunate events. First, it was the El Paso and Dayton mass shootings. Then a tweet about the film from our ...

“Watch. Her entire body is going to get zombiefied . . . including her anus.”  A weird sentence to come out of the mouth of my wife as she sits next to me watching Sky Sharks, a German produced but English-friendly splatter and trashfest with tons of gratuitous nudity, but there it was, a nude  ...

While browsing through your favorite streaming service last week, you probably flipped past the title card for the little-known Canadian thriller called Becky. Big mistake. Need convincing? It stars Kevin James as a swastika-tattooed neo-Nazi murderer. Yes, that Kevin James ...

Ho-Ho-Holy shit!  Santa smokes!  He carries a flask with him!  He cusses like mothertruckin’ sailor, too!  And, when the shit hits the fan, he jumps into action in a snowy shootout with a hitman that a child has hired to kill the jolliest man alive.  This is the wild territory of Fatman. ...

Knives Out (2019) is a clever murder mystery from writer and director Rian Johnson, the best quality of which is its awesome ensemble cast: Christopher Plummer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Chris Evans, Michael Shannon and more. Everyone seems to enjoy their juicy  ...

Death by carpenter’s gun! Paddling in the boiling room!  Hot water scalding!  Sorority girls get their comeuppance when a paranoid killer is accidentally released from a small asylum which is apparently also run by a lunatic in Silent Madness.  Time to get your 3D groove back on when you pop  ...

Though more than eighty years have passed since Claude Rains donned the dark sunglasses, smoking jacket, and yards of ACE bandages in 1933’s The Invisible Man, the character still holds a firm place in the pantheon of Universal’s classic movie monsters. That’s not only a testament to the legacy of the studio’s monster ...

Recharged! Rebooted! And reunited with the children of the world! Gamera, after a fifteen year hiatus returns thanks to the films which make up Gamera: The Heisei Era.  All FOUR films in this set from Arrow Video make for a hell of a good time with solid special effects and a ...

Films of the ilk of last year’s Ad Astra are always a quandary for me to write about. With the output of most of Hollywood’s efforts being what some might sarcastically call formulaic and digestible, it is both a blessing and a curse when something is offered to buck the trend. James Gray’s science  ...

The Friend of All Children has arrived!  Otherwise known as the Guardian of the Universe, Gamera is what happens when you imagine a turtle flying alongside your plane on a hot summer day.  Debuting as an aggressive bipedal monster capable of flying the not so friendly skies, this massive turtle calmed ...

With streaming now taking the lion’s share of the average household’s attention, it is getting harder and harder for the studios to entice us for yet another dip at their titles; especially when a great many of them are but a single click away on our smart TVs. It is wildly believed that physical home media ...