Disc Type

“When you take on the responsibility, great power will come.”

In my opinion, Madame Web is a victim of its own marketing. Based on the trailers, the audience members, such as myself, geared up for an expansion of the spider-verse featuring several notable characters who donned the spider mantle. As such, I expected to see Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, and Celeste O’Connor showcasing their skills as their respective characters. And while we are partially treated to this, it essentially amounts to an appetizer, as these scenes make up less than five minutes of the film’s run time. For me, that made the film basically a 116-minute trailer for larger story that I am skeptical that we will ever get. While I applaud the attempt to build a larger universe, the foundation needs to be established first, and sadly I don’t think it was adequately done here in Madame Web. This is disappointing given the talent pool of the aforementioned up-and-coming stars, as well as established actors such Dakota Johnson, Adam Scott, and Emma Roberts.
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“I once loved this island. This is where I found peace and quiet. The peace of waves forever breaking on the shore, the quiet of tranquil moonlight on the sea. When the night wind rises and the fingers of the fog steal i, they say you can hear voices. They say it’s the dead growing restless and calling to the living. I never believed it, until that evening Vi came looking for me.”

If you’re a fan of some of the old almost-forgotten films, then you’re a fan of Film Masters. For a few years now they’ve been digging up a lot of these old “classics” and spending the time and resources to give them the full 4K restoration treatment. It appears that lately they’ve had their sights on some of the early films from The Filmgroup, which of course is the moviemaking machine of Roger Corman. Corman became the king of making quality low-budget films that almost always made at least a little money. In the 1960’s and 1970’s you could watch these wonderful budget horror and science fiction films doubled up at your local drive-in theaters.
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“Space… the funniest frontier?”

Star Trek: The Animated Series first aired in September of 1973, four years after the three seasons of what is now referred to Star Trek: The Original Series. It was a straight sequel that continued the five-year mission of the starship Enterprise. All of the original cast lent their voices to the characters they played in the live-action series with the notable exception of Walter Koenig. Chekov was replaced with an alien that had three arms and legs named Arex, who was voiced by James Doohan, as were many of the other guest characters throughout the two years the series ran. There were episodes that served as direct sequels, and so we were treated to the likes of Harry Mudd, tribbles, and the Guardian of Forever once again.  Now Paramount and CBS have brought us a second animated series, and the first season of 10 episodes arrives on DVD straight from its running on the network’s streaming service.
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“They say time heals all wounds. But that’s a lie, time is the wound. Takes you further and further away from that place when you were happy. Makes those good smells go away.”

Zelda Williams has been busy in the industry working on short independent projects. The daughter of the late comedian Robin Williams has some good stuff in those genes, and she’s finally been given a feature project to play a little with those genes. So she teams up with the quirky Diablo Cody for a romp that feels a little too much at times like the cutting room floor for a Tim Burton film.
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For horror fans, this title is one to be cautiously excited over, because it is the beginning of a partnership between Jason Blum and James Wan. The pair have united to release several horror projects in the near future. Night Swim was initially picked up as a feature after the success of the short film with the same title which was released back in 2014 from directors Rod Blackhurst and Bryce McGuire. Now ten years later Bryce McGuire dives back in to create a feature-length project about a haunted pool in the suburbs in an attempt to scare the floaties off its audience, but does he succeed? You know the rules, folks; no viewing after eating unless you’ve waited thirty minutes, and absolutely no viewing without supervision unless there is a lifeguard on duty. Now, with that said, grab your swim trunks and settle in; we are taking the plunge into Night Swim.
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One of the best things about cinema in the 80s was the buddy cop films. Sure, they existed before the 80s, and they still exist now, but the 80s was their “golden era”. Sure, they all followed the same formula: a pair of misfits who seem to always get on their captain’s nerves, and they come across some big case, and the only two knucklehead cops who seem to be able to solve it are our loveable pair. Personally, Lethal Weapon is my favorite of this subgenre, with 48 Hours coming in a close second, but really during the 80s there really isn’t a bad buddy cop film. They are just over-the-top action with a few laughs, but most important is the chemistry between the pair as they chase down and shoot bad guys along the way. One of these classic films is Running Scared. It paired Billy Crystal with Gregory Hines in a film filled with laughs and action and utilizing a Chicago cityscape as the background.
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Taylor Sheridan is back at it again. You have to admire the ever-growing body of work he’s brought to the television/streaming screens. He’s really the first one to dominate that landscape the way the likes of Dick Wolf and Steven Bochco have dominated our network television screens for decades. As a writer I often find him a little weak in plots and overall storytelling. But what he does very well is world-building and creating authentic and compelling characters. He did it with the likes of Kevin Costner in Yellowstone. There’s Jeremy Renner in The Mayor Of Kingstown and Sylvester Stallone in Tulsa King. He has the ability to bring the best actors to these projects because they know he’s going to create something compelling and fun to watch. He talked Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren into doing the awesome Yellowstone spinoff 1923.
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I’m a sucker for a good “Invisible Man” story. Ever since H.G. Wells put out his story in 1897, he’s captivated readers, and his story has been a part of Hollywood history since 1933. For decades we’ve gotten to see Hollywood tackle the story and offer viewers some FX wizardry that has ranged from cheap and silly to simply Hollywood magic (aka CGI or even better, a man in a green suit). A good portion of these films have been good. I’ve always been a fan of the 1992 John Carpenter film Memoirs of an Invisible Man, and more recently in 2020 we had The Invisible Man, which I’d argue might be the best of the “Invisible Man” films. Then you have a film like The Man Who Wasn’t There, a 1983 release that tries to reinvent the story and fails in such a way that you have to wonder if anyone involved with the making of the film had ever seen the previous films or read the books, because the result is a mixture of bad to awful, and no amount of bare breasts could save this film, though they inserted plenty to test this theory. So what makes this a film I’d wager many involved wish it could just vanish from their film resume?
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If you’re a fan of some of the old almost-forgotten films, then you’re a fan of Film Masters. For a few years now they’ve been digging up a lot of these old “classics” and spending the time and resources to give them the full 4K restoration treatment. It appears that lately they’ve had their sights on some of the early films from The Filmgroup, which of course is the moviemaking machine of Roger Corman. Corman became the king of making quality low-budget films that almost always made at least a little money. In the 1960’s and 1970’s you could watch these wonderful budget horror and science fiction films doubled up at your local drive-in theaters. I certainly have memories of those days, and they were completely made up of Roger Corman or Hammer films. Corman gave their first break to some of the biggest names in the filmmaking industry: Francis Ford Coppola, James Cameron, Joe Dante, Peter Bogdanovich, Martin Scorsese, Jack Nicholson and Ron Howard. They all got their first breaks directing films in what has become known as The Roger Corman Film School.
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One of the best things about being a critic that I have discovered over the years is how it puts shows and films in front of me that under different circumstances I might never have given a chance. The French detective drama, Mongeville, is a perfect example of this. I wouldn’t say the show is a hard–hitting drama, but instead a cozy murder mystery where each episode is 90 minutes that had me nostalgic for the old TV murder mysteries like Murder She Wrote. This was something I was glad I went into blindly and over the course of the 28 episodes the show took me on a journey through the French city of Bordeaux, travelling through the countryside and meeting some interesting characters along the way. So was this a series worth checking out as its characters pieced together the clues one mystery at a time? Grab your passport, gloves, and a few evidence bags, because that’s exactly what you’re about to find out.
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While the film definitely feels like a Wizard of Oz carbon copy, it is not without its charms. For one, it was nice to see Keanu Reeves in one of his earlier roles, before Bill and Ted or Speed. Same goes for Drew Barrymore; while this wasn’t one of her first roles, as she was a child actor, it was still nice to see some of her earlier work, especially as it was one of the film’s charms that I mentioned earlier. Babes in Toyland tells the story of Lisa Piper, a eleven-year-old girl. While most girls at this age are all-consumed by Christmas and presents, she is too busy caring for her family, as the death of her father has caused her to have to grow up fast. As a result, she has no time for toys, and she resents being treated like a child despite her age. Concerned about a impending snowstorm, Lisa travels to her older sister Mary’s job to warn her. Mary’s boyfriend, Jack Fenton (Reeves), gives them a ride home, but loses control due to the blizzard conditions.
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