There are many proverbs or common phrases that have worked their way into the moral fabric of society. “It’s better to be safe than sorry.” “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” “Treat others the way you’d like to be… Read More ›
Home Video
David Lowery’s “The Green Knight” is a medieval poem made flesh, transcending time and space.
Over time, the meanings of things often change. This can be a product of shifting social mores, alterations in language, or incidental innocuous moments which lead to global change. One of them is the idea of chivalry as being strictly… Read More ›
There’s Nothing to fear in “The Night House.”
Loss hits us all differently and unexpectedly. We can *know* that someone is no longer with us, yet feel them, as though they are lingering in the air. We can *know* that they may not see them again, yet we… Read More ›
“Night of the Animated Dead” offers little new in its adaptation of the zombie classic beyond blood and gore.
**Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the DVD I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.** Horror changed in 1968 when a small indie picture directed by George A. Romero from… Read More ›
Twitter thread-turned-movie “Zola” is available on home video from Lionsgate.
“Y’all wanna hear a story about why me & this bitch here feel out???????? It’s kind of long but full of suspense” This is the tweet that kicked off a 148-tweet thread detailing the heart-pounding adventure A’Ziah “Zola” Wells King… Read More ›
Beloved Hong Kong director Johnnie To joins The Criterion Collection with 2004 genre-hybrid “Throw Down.”
If you’re well-versed in Hong Kong cinema, then the name Johnnie To will carry a great deal of weight. Among those who know, his films like A Hero Never Dies (1998), PTU (2003), and Election (2005) exemplify the Kong Kong… Read More ›
Celebrate 50 years of Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange” with a first-time 4K UHD release.
Published in 1962, Anthony Burgess’s dark satire A Clockwork Orange hit the streets of England with a 21-chapter tale of a teenager’s prevalence for extreme violence and antisocial behavior. Written in a Russian-influenced language called “Nasdat,” most of what central… Read More ›
“Lady of the Manor” possesses the potential for a high-spirited comedy but tumbles in the execution.
Comedy is one of the most subjective forms of art. What one viewer finds to be right up their alley might completely turn another viewer off. When a film plays around with a blend of comedy subgenres, it is even… Read More ›
Go on a swashbuckling animated macabre adventure in the adaptation of “Petite Vampire.”
There are many things about cinema that The Cine-Men co-host Darryl Mansel laments, but the one that he laments the most is the lack of swashbuckler films. Disney’s recent Jungle Cruise possesses traits of these films, though mostly due to… Read More ›
Shout! Factory’s LAIKA Studios Edition Examination, Part 3: “ParaNorman.”
For the last 15 years, LAIKA Studios has amused, entertained, amazed, and, in some cases, downright terrified audiences with their stop-motion animation tales that continually place children at the center, offering a chance for audiences old and young to see… Read More ›
4K restoration of Frank Perry’s “Mommie Dearest” joins the Paramount Presents label.
Actor Joan Crawford started acting in 1925 with the short The Casting Couch and worked her last job in a guest role on the television series The Sixth Sense in 1972, five years before her passing. In addition to acting,… Read More ›
The HDR in the 4K UHD remaster of “The Shawshank Redemption” will dramatically shift how you react to the film you know.
“Get busy livin’ or get busy dying.” One of the more famous phrases in cinema history and originally uttered by Tim Robbins’s Andy Dufresne, the only innocent man in all of Shawshank Prison, is more often recalled as said by… Read More ›
Arrow Video releases a fourth Yasuzô Masumura remaster, 1969’s “Blind Beast.”
As with previously reviewed films Giants and Toys (1958) and Irezumi (1966), Arrow Video is restoring and offering up to audiences outside of Japan another Yasuzô Masumura film: Blind Beast. Arrow Video provides an opportunity to expand what viewers may… Read More ›
Inherit the dreams of Dreamers with “In the Heights.”
In so many ways, truth is stranger than fiction. According to actor Olga Merediz (The Place Beyond the Pines) in the featurette “That Music in the Air,” playwright/actor Lin-Manuel Miranda told her that he’d begun writing songs that would appear… Read More ›
Come for the cast in novel adaptation “Here Are the Young Men” and little else.
Coming of age stories come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes they’re joyous, ridiculous tales like Weird Science (1985), dramatic like Baby, Don’t Cry (2021), or explorations of addiction and trauma like Trainspotting (1996). The story within writer/director Eoin Macken’s… Read More ›
Shout! Factory’s LAIKA Studios Edition Examination, Part 2: “The Boxtrolls.”
For the last 15 years, LAIKA Studios has amused, entertained, amazed, and, in some cases, downright terrified audiences with their stop-motion animation tales that continually place children at the center, offering a chance for audiences old and young to see… Read More ›
Shout! Factory’s LAIKA Studios Edition Examination, Part 1: “Coraline.”
For the last 15 years, LAIKA Studios has amused, entertained, amazed, and, in some cases, downright terrified audiences with their stop-motion animation tales that continually place children at the center, offering a chance for audiences old and young to see… Read More ›
Relying too much on melodrama results in “Little Q” being a ruff watch.
Following up his martial arts fantasy actioner Iceman (2014), director Law Wing Cheong moves in the opposite direction with the based-on-a-true-story animal drama Little Q. The story follows a dog, named Little Q, from puppyhood to old age as it… Read More ›
Though the home release is bare bones, “Midnight Diner” itself is a robust meal for the soul.
Doesn’t matter the time period or culture, there’s something about food that brings people together. It doesn’t just nourish the body, it possesses the capability of nourishing the soul. The best cinematic iteration of this is the scene in Ratatouille… Read More ›
Action thriller “Those Who Wish Me Dead” is the odd whiff from an otherwise great mixture of talent.
On paper, the adaptation of Michael Koryta’s 2014 novel Those Who Wish Me Dead sounds like an absolute cinematic slam dunk. It has Hell or High Water writer Taylor Sheridan as one of the screenwriters on the adaption, as well… Read More ›