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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Once panned and now revered, Friedkin’s highly influential masterpiece “Sorcerer” gets a much-needed upscaled restoration courtesy of The Criterion Collection.
This film is a miracle of cinema. Let me explain. After struggles making the film, including production delays, cast conflicts, and more, William Friedkin’s tense masterpiece of a thriller Sorcerer was finally released in cinemas in 1977. Another film released… Read More ›
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Twisted masterpiece “Steppenwolf” brings all of its blood and brutality home courtesy of Arrow Video
Blowing me away (as well as many audience members) at Fantasia International Film Festival in 2024, Steppenwolf is a Kazakh language thriller which follows two characters — a psychopathic, murderous former police investigator (Berik Aytzhanov) and a woman consumed by… Read More ›
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Charles Burnett’s “Killer of Sheep” and his mosaic of Black life in the ‘70s get an overdue, beautiful 4K via The Criterion Collection.
There’s a key scene in Charles Burnett’s highly influential 1977 classic Killer of Sheep that is indicative of what one would call the Black experience. A mother puts on makeup in the mirror as her young daughter plays with her… Read More ›
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Showcasing a terrific vulnerable performance from Jeffrey Wright, Julien Schnabel’s fluid and impressionistic biopic “Basquiat” comes home in a beautiful new edition, courtesy of Criterion.
It is more fitting than ironic that an impressionistic biopic about the acclaimed neo-expressionist painter Jean-Michel Basquiat would also be written and directed by another painter. For his directorial debut (the first in a line of acclaimed releases including Before… Read More ›
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One of the most entertaining and charming high-concept films of the past few years, “A Samurai in Time” finally comes home in beautifully upscaled 1080p, courtesy of Third Window Films.
In a landscape of recycled IPs, a never-ending torrent of superhero fever, and films that are made for adults being shoved to the wayside, original high-concept films (strong examples being Inception (2010) and The Matrix (1999)) seem to be a… Read More ›
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Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist,” a beautiful, harrowing epic about the elusive American Dream, comes home in beautiful HD Blu-ray.
Clocking in at a whopping 215 minutes and being filmed in VistaVision (a high-resolution format once used for classic films such as Vertigo (1958) and The Ten Commandments (1956)), it is not hard to understand why someone would be quick… Read More ›
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Disney’s “Mufasa: The Lion King” is generic and forgettable yet gorgeous in 4K.
In a time where sequels, prequels, and legacy-quels run rampant, one hopes — even begs — for something different. A prequel to the live action The Lion King (2019) that revolves around Mufasa and his humbling, noble rise to power… Read More ›
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Short and sweet thriller “Wake Up” continues RKSS’s trend of fun subversive horror.
The key to a great slasher film, other than a great antagonist, is a situation where the stakes are high for one or both parties, an arena where both the hunter and the hunted have an equal playing field and… Read More ›
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Revisit a terrific Gene Hackman performance with The Criterion Collection’s edition of “Night Moves.”
The New Hollywood movement (or “period”, depending on who you ask) was a defining moment in cinema where the film director was the “end-all/be-all” authority rather than the film studio. It’s a movement (generally from the mid-‘60s to early ‘80s)… Read More ›
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“Deep Blue Sea” lunges home in stunning 4K from Arrow Video.
All the way up to the late 1990s, there had not yet been a satisfactory successor to Jaws, Steven Spielberg’s iconic 1975 blockbuster hit about a marine biologist and shark hunter taking down a man-eating great white shark. In walks… Read More ›
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Marianne Jean-Baptiste delivers a masterclass performance in Mike Leigh’s somber slice-of-life dramedy “Hard Truths.”
“I don’t understand you. But I love you.” These are key words said towards the climax of Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths, a somber slice-of-life film about two disparate sisters in a Black British family. Mike Leigh, a veteran indie darling… Read More ›
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Ethics and morals, ambition and purpose are examined in the tense, journalism thriller “September 5,” now on home video.
When creating a film about the morality and ethics of journalism, centering a story around the Munich massacre of 1972 is an inspired choice. September 5 (2024), co-written and directed by Tim Fehlbaum (The Colony), is a film about an… Read More ›
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Richard Pryor’s soul-baring, uneven biopic “Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling” gets a digital 4K Blu-ray upgrade with The Criterion Collection.
For better or worse, beloved comedian Richard Pryor’s semi-autobiographical film Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling is an ‘80s film, through and through. From the start, we have the classic neon glow of the film’s title backed up by… Read More ›
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Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway shine in the gorgeous-but-forgettable “Mothers’ Instinct,” now home on Blu-ray.
Benoît Delhomme’s directorial debut Mothers’ Instinct (2024), a remake of Olivier Masset-Depasse’s French-language thriller of the same name (2018), feels like it was born out of a cinephile’s (or actor-phile’s) dreamboard. Oscar-winners Jessica Chastain (It: Chapter Two) and Anne Hathaway… Read More ›
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Sean Wang’s effective and heartwarming film about growing up in the age of peak-internet, “Dìdi (弟弟)” comes home on digital.
At first glance (or first trailer), Sean Wang’s directorial debut Dìdi (弟弟) (Chinese for “younger brother”) may seem like an empty rehash of other contemporary coming-of-age films like mid90s (2018) or Eighth Grade (2018), but to my surprise, there is… Read More ›
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Eureka Entertainment brings home the messy but entertaining “The Miracle Fighters,” an ‘80s mashup of kung fu, fantasy, and comedy.
Those not used to extreme tonal shifts, a mixture of martial arts, comedy, and fantasy in one may be in for a shock watching Yuen Woo-ping’s cult hit The Miracle Fighters (1982). Within the first 10 minutes, we witness a… Read More ›
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Tai Katō’s intense prison drama “Eighteen Years in Prison” get a homecoming with a HD transfer by Radiance Films.
When it comes to prison break films or life in prison films, there’s a certain level of escapism to be expected. Whether it’s Frank Darabont’s poignant 1994 hit The Shawshank Redemption or Don Michael Paul’s silly but fun-as-hell 2002 flick… Read More ›
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A redefinition of “cool” comes home with Criterion’s 4K restoration of Jean‑Pierre Melville’s influential classic “Le samouraï.”
Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1967 French classic Le samouraï (The Samurai) is a testament to why people love cinema. And if it’s not considered as such, then it damn well should be. Its mere existence is a miracle of the hybrid hitman/samurai… Read More ›
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Buy a ticket and take the ride as The Criterion Collection brings the polarizing cult classic “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” home in stunning 4K.
Two guys, a trunk full of drugs, and the open road leading to the place of sin itself. Not Hell … but close enough. Las Vegas. Add in some counterculture themes such as the Vietnam War and its relation to… Read More ›
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The brutality of the iconic “Shinobi” trilogy comes in high definition thanks to Radiance Films.
The shuriken throwing star, the black mask and suit, the high-flying moves — the few identifiers synonymous with the ninja archetype. Radiance Films brings home one of the most respected and influential ninja films of all time with the Shinobi… Read More ›