Music is a significant part of the oral tradition. Even if we lack words for our feelings or experiences, we can always chant, using the power of our lungs to vibrate our breath into song and story. This is why… Read More ›
Home Release
Screenlife real-time techno thriller throws everything at you except what it needs: “Mercy.”
The insertion of artificial intelligence (A.I.) in storytelling used to be entirely science fiction in the same way that submersible technology (Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea) or watch phones (Dick Tracy) were. Now, however, A.I. is being worked into… Read More ›
Johnnie To’s mixed-genre “Romancing in Thin Air” gets a first-time US and UK Blu-ray via Radiance Films.
When a storyteller — whether writer, director, actor, etc. — becomes known for something, they very often get pigeon-holed and face difficulty escaping that perception. People known for westerns do westerns, for action do action, for horror do horror, and… Read More ›
Sam Raimi’s survival horror comedy battle of the sexes “Send Help” is now available to watch at home.
A recent report by the Economic Policy Institute shows that the gender wage gap has increased in the past year. On average, women are paid 18.6% less than men. In addition, protections meant to enforce equal employment and prevent discrimination… Read More ›
For those who came in late, “The Phantom” is bestowed a first-time 4K UHD with brand-new features via Kino Lorber.
Before comic films were cinematic, extended, or otherwise franchise driven, they were more often singular. It’s hard to believe given the proliferation of them today, however, before the 1990s, major studio cinematic comic adaptations were limited to Superman (1978) and… Read More ›
“We Bury the Dead” home release offers little incentive to purchase as it lacks special features.
We Bury the Dead features a strong central performance from Daisy Ridley (Ophelia), but, unfortunately, that standout performance is not enough to elevate a film weighed down by familiar genre problems and uneven storytelling. While Ridley brings emotional commitment and… Read More ›
“The Good Shepherd” Blu-ray release is better left to pasture.
The Good Shepherd follows a young, dedicated, and occasionally merciless fictional CIA agent named Edward Wilson (Matt Damon). Tracking his early years at Yale in the secret Skull and Bones society to the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, the film… Read More ›
Head back to 1987 with Paul Michael Glaser’s “The Running Man” on Blu-ray.
Most folks know a dystopia when they see one. It’s not all Escape from New York (1991), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), or The Hunger Games (2012); sometimes it looks exactly like your regular life does just with more distinct… Read More ›
Stephen Fung’s wuxia comedy “Tai Chi Zero” is the latest addition to Imprint Film’s Imprint Asia sublabel.
There’s something about an ensemble cast that can make a movie. We’re talking from the lead actor to the barely there scene-stealers, the right collection of actors can elevate even the dullest of tales while they can send a strong… Read More ›
Mona Fastvold’s musical drama “The Testament of Ann Lee” brings its hunger and thirst to home video.
Each award season brings frustration as a film that one loves (for any reason) doesn’t make it onto the short list — it gets snubbed. In a sea of talented performances, gifted crew, and dazzling creative leadership, there’s always going… Read More ›
“The Birthday” is a totally unhinged celebration of occult conspiracies, now on 4K UHD via Arrow Video.
If you were to take The Shining (1980) and replace the psychosis with a completely different trip of mental anguish, then you’d get Eugeino Mira’s The Birthday (2004). It focuses on Norman (Corey Feldman) who’s hopelessly in love with his… Read More ›
Tobe Hooper’s Stephen King adaptation “Salem’s Lot” joins Arrow Video with a brand-new 4K UHD restoration.
Having *never* seen Tobe Hooper’s adaptation of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot (1979) prior to the Arrow 4K UHD release, I was surprised to notice that disk 1 (disk A) featured the miniseries versus the movie itself, so I changed disks… Read More ›
Filmmaker Tsui Hark’s violent wuxia deconstruction “The Blade” joins The Criterion Collection with a first-time 4K UHD restoration.
Martial arts fans have it so good right now; it’s truly incredible. With deals being made to restore and re-print various titles out of Hong Kong, what was once hard to find (Hard Boiled) and barely accessible on HD (Rumble… Read More ›
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 ›
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 ›
It’s showtime anytime with “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” on home video.
Since Scott Cawthorn’s horror survival game Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNaF) released in 2011, a fan base has arisen around the murderous animatronics and the new security guards whom try to make it through their shifts. Including the initial outing,… Read More ›
Find love, catharsis, and behind the scenes details within Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet” on home video.
Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao (The Eternals; Nomadland; The Rider) is a singular voice in filmmaking. Her work focuses on a naturalistic approach, making her films’ environments characters in their own rights. Some viewers could find that as nothing more than… Read More ›
The 1973 film “Westworld” gets a 4K home release by Arrow that does not wrong.
If you fell in love with the 2016 tv show Westworld and never saw the original movie that the show is based on, you’re definitely in for a wild wild west journey. Westworld (1973) is a mixed bag that mostly… Read More ›
Nobuhiko Ôbayashi’s 1983 sci-fi romance adaptation “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” receives a first-time North American release via Cult Epics.
By the time of his passing in 2020, filmmaker Nobuhiko Ôbayashi had directed nearly 80 films, features and shorts, with his most recent, Labyrinth of Cinema, released in 2019. It would be his feature debut, House (1977), that would make… Read More ›
“Hanky Panky” delivers a decent upconvert but nothing else in this Blu-ray home release.
What do Gilda Radner (Saturday Night Live), Gene Wilder (Young Frankenstein), and Sidney Poitier (Sneakers) have in common? Well, outside of arguably being three of the best to ever do it, Poitier directed the two aforementioned comedy legends (after directing… Read More ›