Saturday, May 18, 2024
Friday, May 17, 2024
Thursday, May 16, 2024
New Release Tuesdays
Mask of Fu Manchu- Englishmen race to find the tomb of Genghis Khan before the sinister Fu Manchu does. I am a sucker for these old Boris Karloff movies. Bravo to Warner Archive for bring this out on blu ray, it has been out of print on DVD for a long time.
Amityville Bigfoot- Birdwatchers, activists, scientists, and a film crew unknowingly converge in Bigfoot's neck of the woods, where something even more sinister lurks. I am not going to bother to do the research on Amityville naming rights, but the name must be usable because there a slew of Amityville whatever movies. And the director of this one has used it more than once because he also directed Amityville Karen. Hey, good for him. If Wally World carried these I would pick them up but they do not carry the generic horror movies as much as they use to in store.
Imaginary- A woman returns to her childhood home to discover that the imaginary friend she left behind is very real and unhappy that she abandoned him. If you thought Amityville Bigfoot and Teddiscare looks cool then you need to check this one out too!
Destroy all Neighbors- Struggling prog-rock musician William Brown finds himself in a living nightmare when he accidentally kills Vlad, the neighbor from hell. A cool, rock n’ roll horror movie that deserves a spin since I got rid of Shudder last year.
Monday, May 13, 2024
Monday, May 6, 2024
Monday, April 29, 2024
Friday, April 26, 2024
New Release Tuesday
The Beekeeper- One man's brutal campaign for vengeance takes on national stakes after he is revealed to be a former operative of a powerful and clandestine organization known as "Beekeepers." Jason Statham cleans off the Expendables 4 and coats himself in honey for this action flick that got good reviews and made quite a few bucks at the box office.
Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part 2- I still need to watch part 1.
The Cat and Canary- Relatives of an eccentric millionaire gather in his spooky mansion on the 20th anniversary of his death for the reading of his will. I love me some old 1930s horror and look forward to checking this out.
Hardware Wars- This is a short parody of the movie Star Wars. Wow, this made it to blu-ray. If you like Stars Wars this is definitely worth checking out but I do not if it is worth buying the blu to do that because it’s short. Real short. I will not spoil it anymore for you.
Big Foot- Man, I thought this was gonna be a horror movie nut turns out it is a documentary. Still might be worth spinning.
Monday, April 22, 2024
Friday, April 19, 2024
New Release Tuesdays
Man, I have been on a long spring break. I was out of town on maybe the biggest blu ray release day ever so let's go over some of the recent releases. If you are a Digital Bits reader if you go check their "rumors" section, you will see two of these new releases were being worked on back in 2013. Glad they finally made it. Also, I had to depend on the Amazon man to bring me all but one of these titles. Stores are not carrying much physical media anymore, but we will get to that another time.
The Abyss- A civilian diving team is enlisted to search for a lost nuclear submarine and faces danger while encountering an alien aquatic species. It has been over twenty years since I have watched this movie. I tried to watch it on DVD once and it was an awful non-anamorphic copy so I stopped it and waited for the blu ray. And waited, and waited…If you check the Digital Bits site their last rumor for this and True Lies to come out on blu was back in 2013! Anyway I am glad James Cameron decided to take a break from writing about blue aliens and giving us proper blu rays of his films. This is a gripping under water action movie that had spectacular special effects at the time that still hold up well. Be sure to watch the extended version of this, it is far superior.
True Lies- A fearless, globe-trotting, terrorist-battling secret agent has his life turned upside down when he discovers his wife might be having an affair with a used-car salesman while terrorists smuggle nuclear war heads into the United States. See above but at least for this movie I had a Spanish region free import that I have watched for the last few years. This is a good action movie with great action sequences and Arnold and Jamie Lee Curtis together makes this a lot of fun.
Aliens- Decades after surviving the Nostromo incident, Ellen Ripley is sent out to re-establish contact with a terraforming colony but finds herself battling the Alien Queen and her offspring. The first Alien movie was a balls out horror movie and this one was a balls out action movie. Glad to see Cameron’s also had something to do with this release. I will buy this again. Also, be sure to watch the extended version.
The Iron Claw- The true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers, who made history in the intensely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s. The feel-good movie of the year! Not. I grew up in Dallas so these events were on the local news as they happened but nice to see this in a movie finally. Zac Efron does an outstanding job in this bio.
The Shootist- A dying gunfighter spends his last days looking for a way to die with a minimum of pain and a maximum of dignity. This is the one John Wayne movie besides The Alamo I have been waiting for on blu. Nice to see Arrow got put this out so it will be really good. This was a fitting final movie for The Duke.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom- Black Manta seeks revenge on Aquaman for his father's death. Wielding the Black Trident's power, he becomes a formidable foe. To defend Atlantis, Aquaman forges an alliance with his imprisoned brother. They must protect the kingdom. I liked the first one and I love Mamoa as the lead and it will be the last time we see him in the role so sit back and enjoy.
Paint Your Wagon- Two unlikely prospector partners share the same wife in a California gold rush mining town. OK, beside Ambush at Cimarron Pass this is the only other Clint Eastwood movie I have not seen in its entirety. I use to watch bits of it on cable long ago but never the whole thing. When Dirty Harrys starts singing, I got turned off by it back in those days. I will add this to the collection and give it a whole spin soon.
Ferrari- Set in the summer of 1957, with Enzo Ferrari's auto empire in crisis, the ex-racer turned entrepreneur pushes himself and his drivers to the edge as they launch into the Mille Miglia, a treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy. This is from the great Michael Mann but there was absolutely no marketing for this movie during its holiday season release and it bombed hard. The critics were kind to this so it will be interesting to see how this movie is looked upon in a few years. Bring on Heat 2!
Monday, April 1, 2024
Monday, March 25, 2024
Monday, March 18, 2024
Monday, March 4, 2024
Monday, February 26, 2024
Monday, February 12, 2024
Monday, February 5, 2024
Friday, February 2, 2024
Wednesday, January 31, 2024
New Release Tuesday
Conan the Barbarian- A young boy, Conan, becomes a slave after his parents are killed and tribe destroyed by a savage warlord and sorcerer, Thulsa Doom. When he grows up he becomes a fearless, invincible fighter. Set free, he plots revenge against Thulsa Doom. The classic action movie that made Arnold a star. This movie has issues and lots of bad acting but Arnold’s charisma makes you look past those issues. This soundtrack is one of the best there is. Glad to see Arrow putting this out.
Thanksgiving- After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts - the birthplace of the infamous holiday. How long have we been waiting for this since the fake trailer on the Grindhouse double feature? Glad to see this finally able to get made and its also nice to see director Eli Roth doing horror again.
Silent Night- A grieving father enacts his long-awaited revenge against a ruthless gang on Christmas Eve. Director John Woo is back for some Christmas action! This could be a good double feature with Die Hard.
Monday, January 22, 2024
Tuesday, January 16, 2024
New Release Tuesday
Lone Star- When the skeleton of his murdered predecessor is found, Sheriff Sam Deeds unearths many other long-buried secrets in his Texas border town. I was so glad to see Criterion was releasing this fine movie. It has been out of print for a long time and my crappy burn copy looks crappy so very excited about this release. This is a great murder mystery that features Matthew McConaughey in one of his earliest roles. Highly recommended.
Monday, January 15, 2024
Friday, January 12, 2024
New Release Tuesday
Suitable Flesh- A psychiatrist becomes obsessed with one of her young patients, who she later discovers is linked to an ancient curse. This is a Lovecraft story that is brought to us from some of the people associated with the best Lovecraft stories on film: Re-Animator and From Beyond. This is from director Joe Lynch of the best movie making podcast out there The Movie Crypt and movies Wrong Turn 2 and Mayhem. It also co-stars the great Barbara Crampton who was in the other classic Lovecraft films and she is a producer on this as well. I have been reading great things about this as it made its festival rounds last year and Mr. Amazon has already delivered it. If you still buy physical media, have you been to any of the stores that still sell it? The shelves are almost empty. Looks like most of my movie purchases will always be Amazon from now on.
Monday, January 8, 2024
Friday, January 5, 2024
Wednesday, January 3, 2024
New Release Tuesday
The Holdovers- A cranky history teacher at a remote prep school is forced to remain on campus over the holidays with a troubled student who has no place to go. This is one of my favorite movies of the year. The three main actors give fantastic performances and I love that the movie is set in the 70s so its got the look and feel of a 70s movie. Highly recommended.