DVD Reviews

“Try to look more bereaved.” This isn’t how funerals are supposed to go. Or is it? Offering something arguably more realistic and touching than any other mopey, water-works-filled funeral sequence/movie we have seen before, Juzo Itami’s The Funeral does anything BUT try to make ...

“You'll never be big time because you're small time in your heart.” Vaudeville: a long-lost form of entertainment that couldn’t hold its own against the rising popularity of the movies and also eventually to television sets becoming a staple in homes. Relatively short-lived ...

Well, they say everything is bigger in Texas, including its films, apparently. A giant story. A giant load of themes. Giant characters with giant lifestyles. And certainly, a giant runtime. If anything, this is a film that certainly does live up to its name  ...

Welcome to the house where dreams dance and race alongside the speeding cars in Amarcord.  If you understand that reference to the small Italian coastal town of Federico Fellini’s 1973 comedy then this is DEFINITELY the movie for you. James Preble (Kentucker Audley), a  ...

When exactly are you supposed to have your life all figured out? Some people know straight out of high school with their college and career paths plus future family plans laid out step-by-step. For other people, it’s perhaps during or after those college years of barely being an adult with some  ...

Wow.  A HUGE existential hurdle has just been crossed by a person who was raised on the set of the original film.  Makes sense then that the Ghostbusters story here in Ghostbusters: Afterlife is told from the viewpoint of a child discovering the truth about their own ghostbusting grandpa ...

“You’re insane…but you might also be brilliant.” When does a joke go on for too long? Isn’t the point to make the audience laugh? If you’re a comedian, then the answer to the latter would most likely be “yes.” But if you’re Andy Kaufman, then the answer is “no.” He never claimed to be a  ...

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  ...

Oh, the power of the media! Many have used it for good, but others, like Louis Carrier (Jean Yanne) realize its potential to generate fear and garner much attention. He is not a psychopath carrying out a lifelong scheme, but rather, Carrier is what you would call a victim of society. Living in poverty  ...

It’s official! Marvel has its first horror film, and oh man…is it frightfully good!  Finally making his return to the superhero franchise after delivering the last installment of his famous Spider-Man trilogy fifteen years ago, it seems only appropriate that Marvel Studio’s inaugural horror picture is helmed by none other  ...

So, you think you’re carrying some emotional baggage? Wait until you see the giant gorilla-proof hardside suitcase of emotional trauma Lulu, the retired military dog, and former Army Ranger Briggs (Channing Tatum) are toting around in the new road trip buddy film called Dog. Masking many ...

Let’s first address the elephant in the room: that unappealing title of the new film from Paul Thomas Anderson called Licorice Pizza. It comes from a now-defunct Southern California record store chain that enjoyed its heyday in the ‘70s. Perfectly appropriate for the weird ...

Classic Hollywood making fun of itself? Count me in! Paris When it Sizzles goes full ridiculous in this charming, downright delightful romantic comedy so silly that you cannot help but smile the whole way through ...

In the case of mistaken identity, how far would you go to clear your name and set the record straight?  In Joseph Losey’s gritty and disturbing nightmare, Mr. Klein, the title character (played by French icon Alain Delon) becomes obsessed with tracking down a man who shares his name. Now, if this were an honest, one-time ...

"When men, even unknowingly, are to meet one day, whatever may befall each, whatever the diverging paths, on the said day, they will inevitably come together in the red circle." ...

“Whatever you plan on happening, never happens. Stuff you would never think of happens.” No matter how much many of us like to pretend that we have our lives under control, the simple fact of the matter is: we don’t…and we probably never will. It is not that we are necessarily doing anything ...

t’s time to go back . . . back to the park.   With the arrival of Jurassic World: Dominion imminent in early June, re-visiting the world that Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park has created is a no-brainer and what better way to do it than in Ultra HD?!  Thankfully, Universal has provided fans with all ...

Get On Up director Tate Taylor faces head-on the overwhelming challenges inherent to creating the all-encompassing biopic. His story of musician James Brown could have easily become just another conventionally-told rags-to-riches story tailor made for VH1. And  ...

It isn’t quite January just yet but Liam Neeson’s next big action flick is already in theaters.  That’s right, Neeson – our beloved “January Man of Action” - is back on the prowl as a troubled ex-cop  (is there any other?) bringing Old Testament justice to the violent streets of New  ...

The creative wizards over at Laika, who previously brought you Coraline and Paranorman, have waved their wands and – POOF! – done it again.   The Boxtrolls is another morbidly funny entry in their 3D stop motion animated film catalog and, while not as friendly as the  ...

James Wan’s smartly made The Conjuring gets its first spin-off with Annabelle.  The demonic doll that kicked off Wan’s movie gets her own headlining gig.  You shouldn’t go into this film with high expectations, though.  Annabelle is a certifiable disappointment.  Oh, it might  ...

Former high-powered New York couple Amy and Nick Dunne – she a well-to-do trust fund baby, he a former magazine journalist – are now struggling to make ends meet in the recession-riddled Midwest. On his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick (Ben Affleck) arrives home to ...

The verdict is in. The Judge is one of the better films I have seen this year. The unstoppable force meets the immovable object, in a Downey-fied, Duvall-laden holds-no-punches emotional slobber knocker. Downey, continuing his journey up the “mountain,” of stardom has  ...

Machismo gets a proper dusting in writer/director David Ayer’s Fury.  This WWII tale of American soldiers at odds with themselves and the Germans around them is as grizzly and as violent as the war genre gets.  While it might not be an entirely true tale, a revisionist’s view  ...

Michael Keaton is Birdman. The actor who, in my opinion, played the best cinematic version of Batman turns the role on its head (or is that on its wings??!) in Birdman, the latest art house flick from writer-director Alejandro González Iñárritu (21 Grams, Babel).  Michael Keaton’s ...

Jake Gyllenhaal sheds 20 pounds and packs on the “creep” as a hapless drifter resigned to selling pilfered copper and chain link fencing in Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler, a film that skewers the bloodthirsty world of today’s “gotta have it now” media while simultaneously   ...

Relativity is finally portrayed correctly on film thanks to the efforts of Christopher and Johnathan Nolan BUT, with a running time at close to 180 minutes and a climactic event happening offscreen, Interstellar’s voyage has an opposite effect upon its audience  ...

In Laura Poitras’ gripping documentary Citizenfour, whistle-blower Edward Snowden, a former contractor with the National Security Agency who leaked classified documents on the agency’s top-secret surveillance programs, continually insists he’s not the story. But in  ...

Holy crap.  Holy crap.  HOLY CRAP. That’s the only thing I could stammer after releasing my grip from the theater armrests upon the completion of writer/director Jennifer Kent’s chilling The Babadook.  This intelligent horror film does more than make you jump out of your seat ...

Peter Jackson doesn’t exactly save the best in his misguided The Hobbit trilogy for the very last. Much of the final film – in fact, too much of it – is all Jackson's epilogue with no real Tolkien story to tell, setting up the exposition for The Lord of the Rings movies. Damn you, Shakespeare. ...