Disc Reviews

I was kind of excited about this one. Starring Gene Wilder and directed by Sydney Poitier, plus it had a funny title. I thought this was going to be just the thing to kick off my weekend. However, after viewing, I have to say that I don’t think this film aged well. It didn’t hold my attention, and I found several of the character interactions to be subpar. The story took a while to fully form, as several events played out before Wilder’s character is even introduced. And it’s even longer before Gilda Radner’s character comes into play. I give the story credit for trying to establish an intricate plot, but in my opinion too much time in the beginning was dedicated to characters that aren’t are primary protagonists. To it’s credit, the plot did get slightly more interesting when  Wilder’s and Radner’s characters eventually meet, and we start to get some answers about the fine mess they find themselves in. It would have been nice to get that point quicker, as it seems we wasted valuable time investing in characters that were not crucial to the story.

Wilder stars as Michael Jordon, a architect in New York on business. When a beautiful stranger runs into the taxicab he's using, he volunteers to put a package into the mailbox for her after she hastily addresses the envelope. Unbeknownst to him, the woman is being watched, and that simple kind gesture lands him in in a whole heap of trouble with some very dangerous and mysterious types. When these dangerous and mysterious types catch up to the woman, she ends up dead, and he ends as suspect number one. His only ally is Kate Hellman (Radner), who has secrets of her own. To clear his name, they have to find out what was in the package, who wants it, and why.

"Take your voltage, coming in the main power station in Canoga Park. Now, the electric company will tell you that it's running smooth and steady. That's a lie. I mean, you put that thing under a magnifying scope, that smooth, steady line starts to look like King Kong's EKG. Ninety-volt drop-offs, 130 volt spikes. Pulses, they're called."

I'm old enough to have known relatives who were born before Thomas Edison started to wire America with his great new electric generators. In less than three generations we are completely dependent on that sweet 120-volt juice coming through our lines. When it's not there, we panic and complain about having to deal with things like darkness and uncomfortable temperatures, not to mention how the heck are we going to cook dinner? We need it. We want more of it, because we keep buying more things that require it. We not only let it into our homes, but we demand it stays on. Now what if that electric current we feed on like it's mother's milk, what if it were an evil force trying to kill us off? That's the premise behind director Paul Golding's 1988 thriller Pulse. It's now out on Blu-ray, so if you managed to miss this one, you have a chance to add it to your collection. Of course, you're going to need a steady supply of that current in order to watch it. On second thought ...

“From the studio that watched the first two seasons of Downton Abbey.”

Having never watched Downton Abbey, I can’t speak to any parallels between this film and the television series turned movie. However, the good thing about a parody is that you don’t have to be familiar with the source material to enjoy it. Which is exactly what I did with Fackham Hall. This aristocratic parody which showcased the comedic talents of Damian Lewis (Billions), Tom Felton (Harry Potter), Katherine Waterston (Fantastic Beasts), and Ben Radcliffe (The Witcher) gave shades of iconic parodies such as Airplane and the Naked Gun. Even the title, which also serves as the setting of the film, is in on the joke (say it aloud and you’ll understand). Speaking of the classic mystery parody, Fackham Hall has a mystery of its own weaved into the plot, which serves as the main driving force of the film as a prominent member of the family is found murder and suspicion falls on everyone.

Going into 2026, Heated Rivalry (2026-) is probably the most talked-about series circulating on social media right now, with many fans already ascribing it as their favorite comfort show. It has proven to be a sensationalized hit among queers and wine moms alike. After all, it was renewed for a second season almost immediately following the finale. The HBO series is a gay hockey romance built on the enemies-to-lovers trope, loosely based on Rachel Reid’s novel Heated Rivalry (2019), and created, written, and directed by Jacob Tierney. At its center are the two dreamboats, Illya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) and Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams), who play on opposing teams and are naturally positioned as rivals, hence the namesake.

One of the more striking, and probably distasteful, aspects of Heated Rivalry (2026-) is its use of progression and time jumps. However, I'd argue that the story does good to not rush intimacy, nor does it romanticize permanence too early. It breaks away from Hallmark-esque heteronormativity entirely with the grudging evolution of acceptance. Instead, the season unfolds across years, tracking a relationship that begins almost entirely in lust and secrecy. Early episodes feel impulsive and experimental, driven by tension, exploration, and desire rather than love and security. As the season progresses, the time jumps allow the audience to witness how repetition slowly turns into attachment, and how attachment becomes something far more fragile and frightening than hedonism alone. Love is not presented as a revelation, but as something that sneaks up on both characters despite their best efforts to bury it.

"You never know who your friends are until the ice breaks"

Apparently that's an indigenous peoples' proverb. I wonder if it applies to Siberian huskies? Mine is here in Florida where there is no ice or snow to be found, so I will not have the occasion to test the theory. The closest she gets to snow is the crushed ice setting on my freezer door. Of course she does belong to a snow dogs sled pulling club with other huskies, but they cheat and have wheels on the sled. So sitting here in sunny Tampa, Florida, we're about to have the longest stretch of 30 degree nights than I've encountered in a long time. So I thought this was the perfect time to invite Aurora (the husky) into my theater and settle down to watch Icefall, a film directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky and out on Blu-ray by Decal Releasing. I had to bribe Aurora with a premium treat, and she slept through many of the best parts of the film. I remained awake and alert throughout, with the pretty much perfect 96 minute running time. So now I'm in a position to give you guys some idea of what you might be in for, and if you should bother being in for it at all. So let's get going, shall we? Hike!

“You should be so proud of her.”

Shelby Oaks is something special when you look at it objectively; it’s a film that was crowd funded by the YouTuber Chris Stuckmann, who wanted to take a shot at making a movie of his very own. The original goal was to raise $600,000, but by the time his Kickstarter was closed, he was able to raise over 1.4 million to make his film. Before he’d even begun filming, this is already an impressive achievement considering how many established filmmakers struggle to get funds together to make their own films. For Shelby Oaks, over 14,000 people contributed to funding the dream for this directorial debut, so again, in my book Chris Stuckmann already won for being able to pull this off. Now the film has a producing credit from Mike Flanagam attached as an executive producer and Neon in charge of the films distribution … so needless to say, there is a great deal of hype around this film. Two films immediately come to mind when I think about this kind of hype before a film even reaches audiences, The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity … both films that innovated the found-footage genre but also had some clever marketing once acquired for distribution.  Does Shelby Oaks live up to the hype? Well, from my experience, this is a pretty divisive film.