Here are our latest reviews of films on DVD.
Reviews of Classic Films
Applause (1929)
Tim Brayton @ Antagony & Ecstasy
Bad Dreams / Visiting Hours
M. Enois Duarte @ High-DefDigest.com
Before Dawn (1933)
Dennis Schwartz @ Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews
Burden of Dreams
Cole Smithey @ ColeSmithey.com
- Excerpt: [VIDEO ESSAY] Les Blank’s haunting documentary about the four years Werner Herzog spent making “Fitzcarraldo” is such an essential companion piece to the actual film that it seems irresponsible for any would-be audience member to view only one of the two.
The Burglar (1957)
- Excerpt: The Burglar is a bizarre, almost impressionistic take on the usual small-time heist drama. I say almost, as you’d be hard-pressed to make a case for its disjointed quirks being intentional. When it comes down to it, The Burglar is a bit of a mess.
Die, Monster, Die!
For You I Die
Dennis Schwartz @ Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews
From Beyond the Grave
Godzilla (1998)
A.J. Hakari @ Attack from Planet B
Godzilla: Final Wars
Tim Brayton @ Antagony & Ecstasy
Green Lantern: The Animated Series
A.J. Hakari @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
The Hideaways
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
Tim Brayton @ Antagony & Ecstasy
I, Monster
A King in New York
King Kong vs. Godzilla
M. Enois Duarte @ High-DefDigest.com
Madman
Master of the House
M. Enois Duarte @ High-DefDigest.com
Monkey Business (1931)
Tim Brayton @ Antagony & Ecstasy
Morning Glory (1933)
Tim Brayton @ Antagony & Ecstasy
Night of Dark Shadows
Pennies from Heaven (1981)
Pharoah (Faraon)
Marilyn Ferdinand @ Ferdy on Films
- Excerpt: None of us will ever have the chance to experience life in ancient Egypt, but thanks to Pharoah, we can at least imagine this remote world and its concerns. Moreover, Kawalerowicz has given the world another approach to epic filmmaking that allows our empathy and participation.
Public Speaking
Dennis Schwartz @ Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews
The Real Blonde
The Retrieval
- Excerpt: It’s no 12 Years a Slave but this is you how make a good film on a small budget
Revenge of the Nerds
M. Enois Duarte @ High-DefDigest.com
The Room
Gregory J. Smalley @ 366 Weird Movies
- Excerpt: All of this nonsensicality would have resulted in a forgettably awful movie if not for the odd screen presence of Wiseau, whose incongruous anti-charisma adds a layer of perverse fascination.
The Satan Bug
Dennis Schwartz @ Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews
Scream, Blacula, Scream
The Spiders
Roderick Heath @ This Island Rod
- Excerpt: Here are the common roots of the serials made by Republic Studios, James Bond, Indiana Jones, and just about any other adventure movie where a dashing hero battles gangs of evildoers, trots the globe, and makes escapes by the skin of his teeth.
The The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe
Roderick Heath @ This Island Rod
- Excerpt: The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe declines to overtly inflect Defoe’s work with Luis Buñuel’s twists and tweaks: it is, on the surface, a very faithful retelling of Daniel Defoe’s novel. Buñuel digs and investigates Defoe, however, noting his blind spots as well as amplifying his best, half-latent ideas.
Think Fast, Mr. Moto
Dennis Schwartz @ Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews
Tobor the Great
A.J. Hakari @ Attack from Planet B
Trans-Europ-Express
Gregory J. Smalley @ 366 Weird Movies
- Excerpt: …a pioneering work of cinematic meta-fiction that prefigures the work of Charlie Kaufman (among others) by putting a fictional author inside of the movie, one who supposedly writes the script in real time as we watch.
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
- Excerpt: Lynch makes TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME a corrective to the series. The horror that could once be explained away by the show’s more surreal elements becomes more mundane. And much of the groundwork for this is laid in the Deer Meadow chapter.
Recent Home Video Releases
The Legend of Hercules
M. Enois Duarte @ High-DefDigest.com
Ship of Theseus
Kathy Gibson @ Access Bollywood
Special ID
Peter Nellhaus @ Coffee Coffee and more Coffee
The Truth About Emanuel
- Excerpt: Though lacking what often feels like essential components for the psychologically rocky narrative to completely hold together, Francesca Gregorini’s The Truth About Emanuel is at times captivating and consistently beautiful to watch. Kadya Scodelario and Jessica Biel deliver wonderful performances of two women dealing with loss in their own way, creating a convincing rapport that the script never fully capitalizes on.
Other Reviews from 2012 and earlier
Une Femme est une femme
Roderick Heath @ Ferdy on Films
- Excerpt: Godard’s strong romanticism is the secret lode of Une Femme est une Femme, coexisting with and battling his ruthless analysis and overpowering male gaze turned on Karina
Too Sane for This World
Jerry Roberts @ Armchair Cinema
- Excerpt: An an open-minded, of oddly short (at 63 minutes), documentary that introduces us to a handful of very interesting, and very bright, people who live day to day with autism, something that most us don’t completely understand. What we learn, to our surprise, is that they don’t seem to fully understand it either.
Vivre sa vie
Roderick Heath @ Ferdy on Films
- Excerpt: Godard’s vow to create a true tragic vehicle for her talents produced Vivre sa Vie, but it didn’t satisfy Karina’s desires. Indeed, it could be called an anti-tragedy, consciously cutting away catharsis and questioning the usual linkages that define the actions in tragedies.
