Author Archives
I’m a cinephile/tv junkie/podcaster who loves to watch films, write them and write ABOUT them. My film and TV reviews are posted on 8bitwaffles.com and blakcinpehilewrites.wordpress.com. I also write film musings and rants on Instagram and Twitter (@blakcinephile). I am also the co-creator/co-host of “Double Feature: Versus” (https://doublefeaturevs.com), a podcast where my co-host Brad and I clash heads on two competing films with a single connection or theme.
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Transgressive master Takashi Miike’s violent, mean-spirited “Agitator” gets a solo-edition home release with updated resolution by Radiance Films.
Trigger Warning: Agitator contains sequences of graphic violence and sexual assault that may be difficult for sensitive viewers. It’s a rather tall order to not expect a yakuza film with title Agitator to not … well, agitate you. But such… Read More ›
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A classic sprawling epic of power and politics within a powerful crime syndicate, Sadao Nakajima’s “The Japanese Godfather Trilogy” finally arrives on Blu-ray, courtesy of Radiance Films.
Sadao Nakajima’s Japanese Godfather Trilogy is a collection of three yakuza films made between 1977 and 1978 based on the true story of Japan’s largest crime syndicate. Taking some inspiration (both thematically and visually) from Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 gangster… Read More ›
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The Criterion Collections brings the nuclear fallout of “Testament” back to life in a stunning restoration.
Originally made for television, Lynne Littman’s 1983 film Testament takes a human, grounded approach to the sensationalized topic of nuclear devastation. Based on the short story “The Last Testament” by Carol Amen, Testament is as prevalent today (given recent world… Read More ›
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“Blue Moon” boasts a career-best performance from Ethan Hawke as Richard Linklater lovingly brings the 1940s to life.
Director Richard Linklater (Nouvelle Vague) has been actively communicating with the past, meaning he has released two films within the past year that pay homage to the figures behind classic films and musicals. Alongside Nouvelle Vague, a film about the… Read More ›
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A complex love story brilliantly masked in a survival story and political thriller, “Kiss of the Spider Woman” receives a beautiful digital restoration, courtesy of The Criterion Collection.
Two prisoners. Two different pasts. One love story that keeps them going. Set within the Brazilian military dictatorship, Héctor Babenco’s 1985 film Kiss of the Spider Woman (adapted by Leonard Schrader, based on Manuel Pieg’s 1976 novel) is about two… Read More ›
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Fun ‘90s action flick “Under Siege” gets an overdue updated restoration thanks to Arrow Video.
When the name “Steven Seagal” is spoken in Tinseltown nowadays, it’s probably met with a few grunts and eyerolls. When the name is said among B-movie action fans, it’s probably met with a few chuckles and recanting of obscure lines… Read More ›
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“Thank You Very Much”, an inclusive, insightful documentary about the comedy enigma Andy Kaufman arrives on home video via Drafthouse Films.
In the beginning of Alex Braverman’s documentary Thank You Very Much, there is a clip of performance artist/comedian Andy Kaufman stating how we would make a film: he would start with the climax, show the title “The End,” show a… Read More ›
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“Salaam Bombay!”, Mira Nair’s acclaimed gem about love, friendship, and tragedy on the streets of Mumbai receives a digital restoration release courtesy of The Criterion Collection.
Mira Nair’s first narrative feature, the Indian Hindi-language drama Salaam Bombay!, is as much a documentary as it is a narrative of Bombay’s (now Mumbai’s) loud and chaotic street life. Even though its story and characters are crafted by Nair… Read More ›
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A great documentary of one great filmmaker watching another, Les Blank’s “Burden of Dreams” gets a 4K re-release courtesy of The Criterion Collection.
In the rare event where game recognizes game or a filmmaker puts his camera on another filmmaker, there’s no telling what moments of unflinching honesty and remarkable ambition you will find. In his 1982 film Burden of Dreams, documentarian Les… Read More ›
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Ari Aster’s incendiary, messy, modern western “Eddington” comes home courtesy of A24.
When it was announced that contemporary cinema’s most interesting enfant, Ari Aster, was developing a COVID-19 western, it did more than turn a few heads. Tackling one of the most uncertain and anxious times in recent memory seemed like an… Read More ›
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Alex Winter’s misunderstood zany black comedy “Freaked” gets a 4K upgrade, courtesy of Drafthouse Films.
It’s good to be in the age of once-reviled films getting their just due of 4K restoration. Once a film with little to no release, Alex Winter and Tom Stern’s 1993 over-the-top shock comedy Freaked is being re-released thanks to… Read More ›
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One of Jacques Audiard’s early hits, the unique romantic thriller “Read My Lips”, comes home to Blu-Ray, courtesy of The Criterion Collection.
Before he brought us the polarizing 2024 crime musical Emilia Pérez, the Palme d’Or winning 2015 Dheepan, and the 2009 critically acclaimed gangster film A Prophet, director Jacques Audiard brought us the complex romance thriller Read My Lips in 2001…. Read More ›
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James Sweeney carries double duty of filmmaker/actor in “Twinless”, one of the most provocatively original dramedies in recent years.
There’s something to be said of independent film that continues to carry the torch of creativity and intrigue, taking its viewers on a journey of being entertained without a huge budget or expensive special effects. With his sophomore feature Twinless,… Read More ›
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Disney & Pixar’s “Elio,” a standard but fun, visually dazzling cosmos adventure of self-esteem, comes home in digital HD.
From 2008’s WALL-E to 2022’s Lightyear (and 2020’s Soul, if you count The Great Beyond as a qualifier), Pixar started a tradition of traveling into the beautiful outer space cosmos. In 2025, they continued this tradition with Elio. The film… Read More ›
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“Lilo & Stitch” come home digitally with a talented cast delivering great family entertainment in live-action.
Live-action remakes of coveted animated films can be a pain point of mine. Most of the time (well, all of the time), it’s an opportunity to juice more money out of an existing IP and less an opportunity to tell… Read More ›
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Vittorio De Sica’s first masterpiece “Shoeshine,” a devastating tale of innocence lost in postwar Italy, comes home in excellent restoration, courtesy of The Criterion Collection.
Before he directed one of the greatest films of all time, 1948’s Bicycle Thieves, Vittorio De Sica became the face of Italian Neorealism in 1946 with his first masterpiece Shoeshine. Italian Neorealism was a post-World War II film movement which… Read More ›
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Enjoy the stunning cinematography “Rust” at home thanks to DECAL Releasing.
Reputation could make or break a film. While making what is arguably one of the greatest films of all time, Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola went through a plethora of production delays including casting switches, health problems with his lead… Read More ›
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Bennett Miller’s low-fi documentary about an eccentric NY tour guide “The Cruise” comes home in a lean, well-crafted Blu-ray release from Oscilloscope Laboratories.
Before he struck critically-acclaimed gold with Capote, Moneyball, and Foxcatcher, director Bennett Miller stepped onto the scene with the 1998 lo-fi, black and white documentary The Cruise. The documentary follows the eccentric tour guide Timothy “Speed” Levitch, a nasally-voiced human… Read More ›
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Alex Proyas’s “Dark City” touches down in all its sci-fi noir glory in a jam-packed Blu-ray from Arrow Video.
Once a box office bomb but now a celebrated cult classic in its own right, Alex Proyas’s Dark City (1998) gives its audience the best of both worlds in its genre-bending plot — dystopian science fiction mixed with detective noir…. Read More ›
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Todd Solondz’s endurance test of cringe comedy and subversive subject matter, “Palindromes”, finally comes home in Blu-ray, courtesy of Radiance Films.
Writer-director Todd Solondz’s fifth feature Palindromes (2004) — a film of taboos, hypocrisies, and uncomfortable hard truths – is an exercise in cynical, cruel comedy. Known as one of independent cinema’s favorite misanthropes, Solondz paints his twisted portrait of motherhood,… Read More ›