Trigger Warnings: The film contains (1) depictions of violence against animals (some quite real) and (2) a sequence at a club involving flashing lights. Art always reflects the times. What the artist is feeling, what inspires them, what terrifies them… Read More ›
Believe it or not, the use of 3D in cinema is not a modern marketing ploy. Before it was pushed in theaters to the point of influencing the television market, there were titles released using anaglyph 3D, such as the… Read More ›
Arrow Video’s new 4K restoration of Takashi Miike’s Audition in 4K is surely going to have fans, new and old, jumping at the chance to add it to their collection. Audition defined Miike’s style as a director and the adrenaline-filled… Read More ›
Ignored upon initial release and later championed by supporters like director Martin Scorsese (Cape Fear) and rock artist Nick Cave, Ted Kotcheff’s 1971 Australian horror film Wake in Fright arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video. Before he gifted the… Read More ›
It’s not unusual for an actor to write and direct, a director to write and act, or some other configuration of the three (and sometimes all at once on the same project). Being versatile not only permits someone to find… Read More ›
There are some films which come together and seem like a slam dunk yet fail to connect with audiences, while others are this mysterious combination of magic that, against all odds, finds its way both into audience’s hearts but also… Read More ›
Blue Thunder makes its way back home with a stellar 4K Blu-ray release from Arrow Video, delivering exactly the kind of jam-packed collector’s edition that reminds people why physical media still matters. In a time where so many catalog titles… Read More ›
Trigger Warning: The film includes a moment of spousal rape that may be difficult for sensitive viewers. The scene in question is discussed in the following home review. Of the various action subgenres to come out of Hong Kong action… Read More ›
“Steven Spielberg presents a Joe Dante film.” Six words of guaranteed Blockbuster magic if one has ever heard them. From the classic, influential 1984 Gremlins to the wacky, satirical 1990 sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch, all the way to… Read More ›
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 ›
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 ›
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 ›
Over the last few years, physical media boutique Cult Epics has released a series of restorations of filmmaker Tinto Brass’s catalogue, the latest of which is his 1983 erotic romance The Key. Courtesy of Cult Epics, EoM is giving away… Read More ›
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 ›
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 ›
Adapting a work properly requires a confluence of events. It’s more than just translating one media into another as you need someone who understands the context of the source, who gets what it means to be moved to a new… Read More ›
Last month, Cult Epics released another restoration from Japanese filmmaker Nobuhiko Ôbayashi’s catalogue of titles, the sci-fi romance The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Courtesy of Cult Epics, we reviewed the standard edition of their new 4K UHD restoration and, now,… Read More ›
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 ›
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 ›
Cinema borrowing from folktales is a natural fit given that folktales often elevate figures or events and cinema does this innately through projection. Who wouldn’t want to see the figures or events of lore cast upon a 40-foot screen or… Read More ›