• 4K UHD Review – Catch-22

    Described as a “satirical war novel,” author Joseph Heller’s 1961 book, “Catch-22,” initially triggered a race to acquire the movie rights, with producers looking to make something out of the writer’s vision for World War II insanity. Director Mike Nichols eventually claimed the project, building on career momentum provided by the successes of 1966’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and 1967’s “The Graduate.” He was the right man for the job, tasked with untangling Heller’s work, bringing in “Graduate” co-writer Buck Henry to make sense of the material and find a cinematic way to explore it. “Catch-22” definitely plays like a difficult book-to-screen adaptation, pushing its way through time and temperament to track the dwindling patience of the main character and his full-body desire to get out of military duty. It’s not an easily classifiable feature, and it’s rarely a consistent endeavor, but there’s a certain darkness here that Nichols captures exceptionally well, best served when he isn’t trying so hard to be humorous. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • 4K UHD Review – Spinal Tap II: The End Continues

    Few people actually saw “This Is Spinal Tap” when it was originally released in 1984. The feature came and went, attracting some positive reviews and cult appreciation, leaving the real exposure of the film to home video and cable airings, where a fanbase developed, while the intimacy of domestic viewings certainly helped to process director Rob Reiner’s clever approach to faux documentary moviemaking. 41 years later, and the picture is a bona fide classic, one of the greatest comedies of all time, and stars Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer have certainly kept the brand name alive, releasing albums, making TV specials, and even touring as Spinal Tap, doing an incredibly impressive job extending the illusion with tremendous wit and good-natured fun. And now there’s “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues,” which is an official sequel, bringing Reiner and the guys back to the screen for a fresh round of heavy metal tomfoolery, assembling a valentine to the aging band while putting them through the wringer of comedic misfortune again in this slight but very funny follow-up. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – Splitsville

    Screenwriters Kyle Marvin and Michael Angelo Covino found their way to some notice in 2020’s “The Climb,” where they explored the complications of life and love while following a study of male friendship. The duo returns with “Splitsville,” and they don’t stray far from their dramatic interests, once again inspecting the difficulties of partnerships and connections, this time involving married couples trying to make sense of a newfound curiosity around the ways of open relationships. Marvin and Covino (who also directs) have something slightly wacky in mind for the feature, but they also try to blend in emotionality and perhaps a bit of reality as they construct a semi-farce. “Splitsville” is funny and very strange, following a screenplay that’s attempting to share bizarre behaviors and relationships, out to remain approachable while dealing with thorny issues of jealousy and control. It’s a fascinating tonal tightrope walk at times. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – Red Sonja (2025)

    After the success of 1982’s “Conan the Barbarian,” plans were quickly put into motion to deliver a sequel and help expand the cinematic potential of writer Robert F. Howard’s literary creations with a spin-off. 1985’s “Ren Sonja” was intended to keep the world of Conan going, but it didn’t find an audience, who were offered a visually striking but largely inert fantasy adventure, while Brigitte Nielsen’s performance as the main character left much to be desired. Talk of returning to Red Sonja has been going on for decades, but now there’s another pass at the character and her violent spirit, with actress Matilda Lutz (“Reptile,” “Magpie”) hired to bring the flame-haired warrior to life for director M.J. Bassett (“Rogue,” “Endangered Species”) and screenwriter Tasha Huo. The new “Red Sonja” has a plan for Hyborian Age action and adventure, but not a lot of resources to pull off the adaptation, which often struggles with low-budget visuals and a few critical miscastings. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Thrash

    Writer/director Tommy Wirkola specializes in violent content, often sold with a side of silliness to help create exaggerated genre entertainment. He’s previously helmed “Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters” and “Violent Night,” and he now he takes on the wrath of killer sharks in “Thrash,” pitting a handful of South Carolina locals trying to survive a hurricane against the arrival of aquatic predators looking for something to eat. Wirkola returns to his Sam Raimi-inspired ways in the endeavor (2019’s Raimi-produced hit, “Crawl,” is surely the reason why this movie was made), and he manages to score a few reasonably exciting set pieces along the way, focusing on physical stunts and the chaotic atmosphere of the storm. However, when characters start speaking, “Thrash” (which was shot two years ago) takes a huge dive, with Wirkola delivering painfully clunky dialogue and crude exposition, taking the fun factor out of the viewing experience as stupidity begins to dominate the feature. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Outcome

    Actor Jonah Hill made his directorial debut with 2018’s “Mid90s,” finding inspiration from youthful days of camaraderie and social group exploration, making an appealingly loose picture. He returned with the documentary “Stutz,” highlighting his relationship with his therapist, and Hill returns to psychological matters in “Outcome,” which takes a look at a Hollywood star enduring a personal crisis after decades of life in the public eye. Hill co-scripts with Ezra Woods, and he appears to be pursuing a special emotional journey with the endeavor, which touches on the process of making amends and testing the power of honesty with others. It’s also a profane, riff-happy comedy, with Hill’s initial intent for the offering extremely confusing. His message is lost in a painfully unfunny and unenlightening feature, as “Outcome” (which was shot two years ago) fumbles its potential from the opening scene, sending viewers through a baffling study of recompense and silliness with an all-star cast. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – You, Me & Tuscany

    Halle Bailey made her starring debut in 2023’s live-action “The Little Mermaid,” and she made a positive impression, giving the heavily criticized endeavor a big heart and substantial charm, capably carrying the effort with her presence. She’s appeared in a few other projects since then (“The Color Purple,” “The Line”), but she returns to a starring role in “You, Me & Tuscany,” which is meant to be a romantic comedy concerning a young, wayward woman and her various entanglements while trying to experience the pleasures of Italy. Bailey is joined by co-star Rege-Jean Page, and the pair is tasked to bring something sparkly to the feature, which is scripted by Ryan Engle (“Rampage,” “The Commuter,” “Non-Stop”) and directed by Kat Corio. Unfortunately, there’s nothing special about “You, Me & Tuscany,” which is as routine a movie as can be made, offering viewers little enchantment while Bailey and Page attempt to survive a picture that doesn’t ask much of their talents. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Heads or Tails

    John C. Reilly only works sporadically these days, and he hasn’t spent much time on the big screen in recent years, with his last starring role dating back to 2018’s “Holmes and Watson.” He returns in “Heads or Tails,” portraying Buffalo Bill Cody in an Italian production from co-writer/directors Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis, who attempt to merge wild west fantasy with spaghetti western traditions in an askew character study about outlaws on the run. Reilly brings needed color to the endeavor, offering a memorable take on Cody’s theatrical ways, and acting in general is quite strong in the picture, which highlights a number of itchy performances. “Heads or Tails” has texture, and there’s an interestingly twisty tale to follow, but the helmers aren’t terribly focused on pacing, leaving the viewing experience lumpy as adventure is repeatedly interrupted by screen stillness, losing early momentum. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – The Drama

    Kristoffer Borgli is the creator of strange movies. He’s a director known for his work on 2022’s “Sick of Myself” and 2023’s “Dream Scenario,” dabbling in indie film oddity featuring abrasive, troubled characters stuck in upsetting situations of their own making. Borgli takes a few steps toward the mainstream with “The Drama,” but he hasn’t abandoned his fondness for uncomfortable situations, scripting another tale of psychological implosion that follows all the trouble that arrives for an engaged couple after the bride-to-be confesses a grim secret right before their wedding day. “The Drama” has its moments of seriousness, but it’s mostly a dark comedy about the processing of disturbing information, with Borgli looking to extend the torment of a groom who suddenly knows too much about his partner for as long as possible. There’s a limit to this type of endeavor, but the material hits most of its targets, successfully getting outrageous without spilling over into crude hysterics. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Faces of Death (2026)

    1978’s “Faces of Death” is largely appreciated as one of the most notorious cult films around. The faux documentary about real-life murders and disasters earned a mighty reputation as a “dare you to watch” title, tempting horror fans and sleepovers with its presentation of gore and macabre situations. The original release launched a franchise that petered out after the seventh chapter of the series was issued in 1999, but the brand’s legacy hasn’t completely faded from view. Enter co-writer/director Daniel Goldhaber (“How to Blow Up a Pipeline”), who elects to celebrate the intimidating atmosphere of the original endeavor with “Faces of Death,” which isn’t a remake, but more of a riff on the 1978 picture, using its special way with evil to inspire a new slasher offering that plays into our world of social media-led desensitization. Goldhaber doesn’t craft a particularly dominating genre experience, but he captures some sinister business with the effort, which carries an effective sense of dread and a feeling of encroaching madness. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Exit 8

    “Exit 8” is an adaptation of a 2023 video game, which offered players a chance to experience a special kind of disorientation with its first-person perspective and maze-like construction. Bringing the gaming experience to the screen provides co-writer/director Genki Kawamura with a tough creative challenge, tasked with preserving the concept of the game while finding ways to flesh it out some, giving viewers a different kind of exploratory event. “Exit 8” is largely contained to the seemingly endless hallways of a Japanese train station, but the script tries to offer a more dramatic understanding of panic and confusion. There’s obvious repetition in play, and the limitations of the basic idea driving the story are found, but Kawamura creates a strikingly cinematic tour of madness at times, working with excellent technical achievements and nicely rattled acting to help explore this unique puzzle. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Bunnylovr

    Actress Katarina Zhu makes her feature-length directorial debut with “Bunnylovr,” going the micro-indie route with her examination of loneliness and the sex worker experience. Zhu also handles the screenplay as well as starring in the picture, giving her a level of creative control to help explore a strange cinematic space involving the intimate experiences of someone who deals with intimate experiences for a living. “Bunnylovr” doesn’t develop into anything more than study of bizarre tensions and longing, and Zhu doesn’t pump the feature up with dramatics, showing no interest in going bigger with the endeavor. Instead, she settles on a few scenes of human connection that carry unusual atmosphere at times, helping the effort achieve stretches of seduction and anxiety that offer Zhu as a promising young filmmaker to watch. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

    2023’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” was treated like an event film release. Here, at last, was an animated production looking to please the hardcore Nintendo fanbase, giving them exactly what they want after 1993’s live-action “Super Mario Bros” left the faithful puzzled and tremendously disappointed in a pass to make something incredibly odd with a seemingly easy lay-up moviemaking opportunity. Illumination endeavored to play it safe with a softer, colorful adaptation, and the house of “Minions” was rewarded with a massive box office success. And now there’s “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” with the sequel setting out to generate an even larger world for the main characters to explore, putting directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic to work stuffing in as many Nintendo cameos and environments as possible, setting the series up to explode with spin-offs and continuations galore. “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” remains action-packed and vibrantly animated, but there’s new heaviness in play as the endeavor gets carried away selling a brand instead of telling a story. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • 4K UHD Review – King of the Gypsies

    The grand successes of 1972’s “The Godfather” and 1974’s “The Godfather Part II” certainly had an influence over the film business, and producer Dino De Laurentiis wasn’t about the let such glory pass him by. 1978’s “King of the Gypsies” isn’t a sprawling story of family and crime (Dino isn’t about to pay for that), but it shares some of the domestic turmoil and community exploration with the Francis Ford Coppola classic, finding writer/director Frank Pierson (1976’s “A Star is Born”) tasked with bringing Peter Maas’s 1975 book to the big screen. The ties that bind remain as tight as ever in the picture, which surveys growing tensions between rival Romani clans and follows the itchiness of a young man who doesn’t want anything to do with it. It’s a messy adaptation with extreme forms of acting, but Pierson looks to celebrate culture and drama with the endeavor, finding periodic success with the madness of it all. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • 4K UHD Review – Tromeo and Juliet

    Before he was Mr. DC Universe and before he gave Marvel significant hits with the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies, James Gunn was just a young man with a dream to make movies. And to help begin his journey into the industry, he went to Troma Entertainment for help, who were delighted to pay almost nothing for the services of a desperate writer. 1996’s “Tromeo and Juliet” is Gunn’s first produced endeavor, and he’s working hard to play into the Troma Way, serving up a “loose” Shakespeare adaptation that’s big on dead animals, farts, a close-up nipple piercing, screaming matches, a penis monster, and plenty of head trauma. Director Lloyd Kaufman has no interest in making a different kind of movie, once again recycling “Tromatic” attitude and shock value for “Tromeo and Juliet,” retaining his love for overlong scenes, amateur performances, and low-budget storytelling that favors the minimal in production polish. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – Twist and Shout

    1984’s “Twist and Shout” is often labeled as a sequel to 1983’s “Zappa.” Technically, this is true, as the story follows most of the same characters established in the original film, and co-writers Bille August (who also directs) and Bjarne Reuter (who adapts his novel) return to maintain exploratory momentum, catching up with the kids as they turn into adults, mostly against their will. Familiar faces are present, but “Twist and Shout” doesn’t feel organically connected to “Zappa,” as the production heads in a slightly more melodramatic direction for the follow-up, while characterizations feel alien this time around, often watching the personalities make the strangest choices in an offering that’s ultimately unsuccessful when it comes to probing the needs of the young adult heart. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – Zappa

    Before director Bille August when big with international successes such as 1987’s “Pelle the Conqueror,” and eventually went Hollywood with 1993’s “The House of the Spirits,” 1997’s “Smilla’s Sense of Snow,” and 1998’s “Les Misérables,” he was invested in making pictures about the ways of adolescence. An adaptation of a Bjarne Reuter novel, “Zappa” examines a troubling year for three students engaged in various criminal activities while navigating their different home lives. It’s not a gentle sit, as darkness is present throughout the endeavor, putting August and Reuter to work on a screenplay that makes sense of personal lives and social demands, also investigating the trials of pubescent interests and difficult relationships. “Zappa” isn’t hysterical work, staying introspective and a bit menacing at times as it surveys volatile emotions, successfully depicting the confusion of a strange time when childhood transforms into adulthood. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • 4K UHD Review – Ruby

    1973’s “The Exorcist” was a greatly influential film, inspiring producers to try to repeat its success, especially in the realm of low-budget cinema. 1977’s “Ruby” doesn’t seem like an obvious knockoff at first, initially spending time as a mild tale of menace involving the vengeful spirit of a slain gangster and his fixation on the drunken gun moll who betrayed him, but the feature eventually reaches a point of demonic possession. Director Curtis Harrington doesn’t seem particularly interested in defining anything about the movie, while the screenplay (by George Edwards, Steve Krantz, and Barry Schneider) has its own identity crisis to work through, trying to pull together various subplots and characters into a single cohesive film. “Ruby” is messy and, at times, unforgivably dull, with Harrington putting a lot of faith into his cast to carry the viewing experience when it could use a lot more fury when it comes to genre elements. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – Inside Jennifer Welles

    Adult film actress Jennifer Welles amassed a significant fan base during her stint in the industry, and she was looking for a way to go out on top. 1977’s “Inside Jennifer Welles” is the performer’s swan song, committing herself to an “autobiographical” tale of experiences collected during her years in New York City, recreating random encounters that helped to bring a certain thrill to her life. Welles is listed as the director as well (an uncredited Joseph W. Sarno called the shots), helping to sell the feature as a personal diary of sorts, complete with narration from Welles that reaches Penthouse Letter-like cartoon intimacy. “Inside Jennifer Welles” isn’t big on story, but it retains plenty of carnal events that keep the star front and center, maintaining some sense of humor while delivering all the heat Welles is known for. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – The Fireworks Woman

    Before he was the mastermind of “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” before he scored a major hit with “Scream,” before he tried to do something different for a change in “Music of the Heart,” Wes Craven was…well, just trying to find a gig. 1975’s “The Fireworks Woman” is an adult movie from the helmer, who pivoted to the ways of obsession after disturbing viewers (and even himself) with 1972’s “The Last House on the Left.” While newly tasked to deliver a more sexual viewing experience, Craven’s interests in dark tales and disturbed people remain in play in “The Fireworks Woman,” which hopes to offer a bit of titillation as carnal events are created. However, the picture is more invested in alarming the raincoat crowd with its surreal understanding of submission and punishment, testing patience with its crude filmmaking and general ickiness. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com