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The Fugitive (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 22nd, 2023

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“All right, listen up, ladies and gentlemen; our fugitive has been on the run for ninety minutes. Average foot speed over uneven ground, barring injuries, is four miles per hour. That gives us a radius of six miles. What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, hen house, outhouse, and doghouse in that area. Checkpoints go up at fifteen miles. Your fugitive’s name is Dr. Richard Kimble. Go get him.”

The Fugitive, since its’ original release in 1993, has always been seen by a majority of people as the defining thriller of the 1990’s. The film stars Harrison Ford as Dr. Richard Kimble. Kimble, a very well known Chicago doctor, has just been framed for killing his wife. He claims a one-armed man killed her, which prompts nearly everyone to laugh at him.
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Death Wish (2018) (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 15th, 2023

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By JC.

Cinematically speaking, the name Eli Roth has been synonymous with murder and mayhem. The director is best known for his work in the horror genre, bursting on the scene with 2002’s Cabin Fever and upping the ante with Hostel and Hostel: Part II a few years later. So it was a bit surprising to hear he’d be taking on a remake of Death Wish — the iconic 1974 Charles Bronson revenge flick — until I started thinking about the bloody possibilities. If the Hostel films gained notoriety as prime examples of “torture porn”, then it seems like Roth has graduated to “revenge porn” with this slick and (intentionally) silly re-imagining.

“People rely on the police to keep them safe. That’s the problem.”

Paul Kersey (Bruce Willis) has it all. He’s a successful, emergency room trauma surgeon living in Chicago with a loving wife (Elisabeth Shue) and college-bound daughter (Camila Morrone).
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Justice League X RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsman Part Two (UHD Blu-ray)(4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 7th, 2023

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Hopefully, most of you reading this review enjoyed my breakdown of the 1st part in this series. I honestly haven’t been this vested in a two part series since Batman’s Long Halloween. That one had the added sting that we had to wait a full year until we got the complete 4K version. At least in the case of Justice League and RWBY, we get the full 4K splendor from the get-go. However, as I alluded to in the first review, there was certainly room for improvement. We shall see if the creators can correct those issues now that the series shifts into the Justice League’s world. Let’s take a look.

Mission:Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 7th, 2023

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“It’s called the Impossible Mission Force for a reason.”

I imagine this is how it happened. It’s January of 2019, and Tom Cruise has just popped into the bathroom to shave. He opens up that can of Barbasol just to make sure there isn’t any dinosaur DNA left in the can, but as he takes off the cap, an authoritative voice begins to speak: “Good morning, Mr. Cruise. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to make a two part film of the Mission Impossible franchise. It won’t be easy. That’s why only the IMF team can be counted on to complete this task. There are agents out to stop you before you even get started. In China there is a virus code-name COVID, and this virus will spread to pandemic levels just as you’re starting to get your production crew together. Elements within our own government will take measures to shut you down. Delays will cost an extra $100 million and necessitate crucial cast changes.
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Blue Beetle (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 3rd, 2023

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“Batman’s a fascist!”

Let’s address the elephant in the room, shall we? Hello there, big guy. How ya doing? There now, let’s continue. I have to tell you, it was hard to get motivated to watch Blue Beetle. I didn’t want to like it, and I wanted to try to watch it without letting myself get too involved in the whole thing. This had nothing to do with the character. I know little about him and have only read a few comics featuring the character, mostly the Ted Kord character along with his buddy Booster Gold. But none of this had anything to do with my reluctance on the part of the film. It’s Warner Brothers/DC and James Gunn. All we’ve been hearing lately is how this new regime is going to change EVERYTHING. It all starts with the upcoming Superman film, and everything we see before then is merely filler, I guess. Yes, the Snyderverse had a ton of issues, and I’m frankly glad to see it go away.
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Barbie (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on October 26th, 2023

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“Since the beginning of time, since the first little girl ever existed, there have been dolls. But the dolls were always and forever baby dolls, until …”

Let me preface this by saying that I am in no way the target audience for this film. That said, this film is in no way for the target audience that you may imagine it is for. Initially, I suspected the film was intended for the age bracket that actually plays with Barbies. However, after watching, I’d have to argue that the themes of the film are geared more towards the young adult / early adulthood crowd. Bearing all that in mind, it should go without saying that Barbie was a film that I endured rather than enjoyed until one key moment which I will describe later. To my mind the film was an amalgamation of films that came before it. And while I appreciate the film’s diversity in encompassing a wide range of actors to represent variations of the Barbie and Ken characters, at times it felt as though the film’s agenda was literally punching me in the face.
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Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match (UHD Blu-Ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 16th, 2023

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In 1995, I remember very vividly going to see Mortal Kombat on the big screen during my summer off from college (when very often I had nothing else to do). I was instantly wowed by all of the characters that I had played with in the first two video games and seeing them brought to screen. The music was absolutely fantastic (and still one of the best soundtracks I have ever heard). However, what I have carried with me most from that experience is my utter love of one character. Johnny Cage. Fast forward nearly thirty years, and we finally have a film where he is the main character and no longer some sort of side gag by all those involved. Let’s go to the Cage Match! Join me, won’t you?

31 Nights Of Terror: Halloween H2O: 20 Years Later Steelbook (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 11th, 2023

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“I met him fifteen years ago. I was told there was nothing left. No reason, no conscience, no understanding, even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, good or evil, right or wrong. I met this six-year-old child, with this blank, pale, emotionless face and the blackest eyes … the devil’s eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized that what was living behind that boy’s eyes was purely and simply … evil.”

Blumhouse and David Gordon Green recently finished a sequel/reboot of John Carpenter’s Halloween with mixed results. He got Jamie Lee Curtis to return for all three films in the trilogy. Most of the various sequels and reboots did not include the original film’s star, but Green was not the first one to get her to return to the role of Laurie Strode.
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31 Nights Of Terror: Natural Born Killers (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 6th, 2023

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“My Mamma told me to pick the right one.”

In 1982, Cheers first broke on the network sitcom circuit. It was a small Boston bar owned by a has-been baseball player living on the glory years he didn’t really have. It was the bar where everyone knows your name. Behind the bar there was Woody. Woody was pretty much a kid who looked up to the owner in an almost hero-like way. He was naive and was easily and often taken for a rube. But he was kind, and no matter how out of it he might be, there wasn’t an evil bone in that character’s body. It was all an act. Of course, it was a television show where Woody was played by Woody Harrelson.
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“31 Nights Of Terror” The Exorcist 50th Anniversary Edition – Theatrical & Extended Director’s Cut (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 2nd, 2023

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“Have you ever heard of exorcism? It’s a stylized ritual in which rabbis or priests try to drive out the so-called invading spirit. It’s pretty much discarded these days, except by the Catholics who keep it in the closet as a sort of embarrassment. It has worked, in fact, although not for the reason they think, of course. It was purely the force of suggestion. The victim’s belief in possession helped cause it. And just in the same way, this belief in the power of exorcism can make it disappear.”

By now we’ve all heard of The Exorcist. The film was based on a best-selling novel by William Peter Blatty. Blatty himself based the story on a real exorcism of a young boy many years earlier. And that’s where the true power of the film begins. The monsters of horror movies often allow us a sense of unreality that protects our inner selves from being truly terrified.
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Staying Alive (40th Anniversary Edition) (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on September 28th, 2023

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Coming up on its 40^th anniversary, Staying Alive continues to be one of the most bizarre sequels to be made by a major studio, starring John Travolta and co-written and directed by Sylvester Stallone. The film was intended to be a sequel to the massively popular Saturday Night Fever, but when Staying Alive came out, disco was pretty much dead, and really there isn’t much that connects the films but for the character Tony Manero (John Travolta) and that there is dancing in the film. When the movie came out it was a financial success, but it was pretty well hated by critics of the time to the point that even one of the film’s stars, Finola Hughes, was awarded a Razzie for her performance. Apparently the film has a loyal cult following, but now after 40 years I’m here to give this film a fair shake and decide for myself: is it as bad as people say, or is it a gem from the 80s that will make us all nostalgic for when there were several movies with the cast in leotards, headbands, and over-the-top dance numbers?
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3 Days of the Condor (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 20th, 2023

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“Don’t expect too many mistakes from this man. After all, he does seem rather more interesting than just another reader researcher. For example; has he gone into business for himself? Was he turned around? Does someone operate him? Is he homosexual? Broke? Vulnerable? Could he be a soldier of fortune? Did he arrange the hit? Is that why he’s still in flight? Still, he may be innocent. But why didn’t he come in gently?”

Sydney Pollack might have been channeling the essence of Alfred Hitchcock when he directed 3 Days Of The Condor. It’s hard not to see the similarities to some of Hitch’s work. But he might also have been having a bit of precognition at the same time. The later novels and films about Jason Bourne bear a striking resemblance to this 1975 thriller.
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Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 20th, 2023

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“This is The Batman we’re talkin’ about here.”

In 1992 Batman: The Animated Series hit television sets all over the country. It was perhaps the biggest comeback for the Dark Knight since Adam West went camp with the cowl in the 1960’s. Yes, the Tim Burton film and its sequels went a long way to bringing the bat back into the popular culture, but the series is what took the fans by storm. Kevin Conroy became, for many, the definitive Batman when he was hired to voice the series, and Mark Hamill finally got out of the shadow of Luke Skywalker with his voice rendition of the Joker. The show was a hit, and around the early years it was decided to do a direct-to-video movie called Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm. Somewhere in the production Warner Brothers had a change of heart. They decided to roll the dice on a theatrical release of the animated feature, likely assuming the series fans would flock to their multiplexes in droves.
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The Flash (2023)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on September 7th, 2023

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“If we’re going to do this, there’s a lot I’m going to have to explain to you.”

Been waiting on this one for some time, ever since we were introduced to the character in the Justice League movie and it was announced that the film would cover the Flashpoint Paradox storyline, which is one of my favorite comic storylines. My enthusiasm was tempered a bit with the film being delayed and the actor’s subsequent troubles (for the purposes of staying on the topic at hand, that will be my only mention of that situation). However, it is finally here, and after viewing it I can say that it was well done and well received. It is also a bit bittersweet, as it signifies the conclusion of the DCEU as we know it.
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Roman Holiday (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 18th, 2023

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“It’s always open season on princesses.”

Roman Holiday is one of those classic films that had an extremely hard time getting made. Frank Capra had the rights to the story for several years. Most of what he had was based on a screenplay by Dalton Trumbo, but that was extremely problematic, as Trumbo was one of the original Hollywood Ten and was blacklisted. They were a group of Hollywood people who refused to answer questions before the Joe McCarthy-led House Un-American Activities Committee that was pretty much rooting out communist with little regard to whether they were there or not. The committee ruined thousands of lives, and in 1947 the group had turned their attention toward Hollywood. Many played along by attending the hearings, and some even passed on names of others to avoid trouble for themselves. The Hollywood Ten stood up to the madness, and it got them blacklisted.
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East of Eden (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 17th, 2023

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“In northern California, the Santa Lucia Mountains, dark and brooding, stand like a wall between the peaceful agricultural town of Salinas and the rough-and-tumble fishing port of Monterey, fifteen miles away It’s 1917 just outside of Monterey.”

James Dean was somewhat of a brief candle. Very much like Marylin Monroe, he came upon Hollywood so bright and hot only to burn for a short time. And while Norma Jean had a few good years in which to shine, Dean would have less than a handful. In those few years he made three incredible films. His last was Giant, and before that was perhaps his best known, Rebel Without A Cause. East Of Eden was the first of this trilogy of films that would pretty much make up the career of James Dean. All three films were made in the years 1955-1956, and just as suddenly as Dean had come upon the scene, billed as the next Marlon Brando, he was gone.
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Rio Bravo (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 2nd, 2023

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“Man gets shot that’s got a gun, there’s room for reasonable doubt. Man gets shot that hasn’t got a gun, what would you call it? But, you knew that already; otherwise you wouldn’t have set things up the way you did.”

Rio Bravo (1959) stars John Wayne as John T. Chance, a small-town sheriff facing the fight of his life. His town is infected by a gang of 30-40 men, professional bad guys on the payroll of Nathan Burdette (John Russell), whose brother, Joe, Chance has locked up for murder. Burdette is dead-set on freeing Joe, and the only help Chance has got is his former deputy, Dude (Dean Martin), who’s been drunk for two years since he got involved with the wrong kind of woman, and Stumpy (Walter Brennan), an old, trigger-happy cripple. The trio has six days until the U.S. Marshall comes to collect Joe, but that’s a long time to wait when you’re surrounded by the enemy.
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The Night of the Hunter (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 21st, 2023

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“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.”

Charles Laughton is known primarily as an actor. He starred in several classics such as Spartacus, Witness For The Prosecution, and the title role in I, Claudius. He was the titular character in a remake of Lon Chaney, Sr’s The Hunchback Of Notre Dame. He was the cruel Captain Bligh in Mutiny On The Bounty and the evolutionary mad scientist in Island Of Lost Souls with Bela Lugosi which was based on the H.G. Wells novel The island Of Dr. Moreau and happens to be my favorite of his films. He married the Bride of Frankenstein herself, Elsa Lanchester, in one of those rare Hollywood pairings that lasted from 1929 until death did they part in 1962. They were a kind of royal couple for a while, giving some of the era’s most iconic parties. He was quite an accomplished man when he died too soon at 63.
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The Truman Show (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 8th, 2023

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For me it’s crazy to see that The Truman Show is turning 25 years old. I was graduating high school when this had come out, and television was just an entirely different landscape back then. In 1998 when this film came out, the only reality shows were pretty much COPS and then The Real World on MTV, I really don’t believe anyone could have expected just how big reality TV would become. The same year in competition for box office dollars was Ed TV. Oddly enough, Ed TV would be a little closer to the mark on what the reality TV landscape would look like, taking a regular guy and making him a star overnight because he was on TV. The Truman Show I always felt was the superior film in just about every aspect. In many ways it is what I had hoped reality TV could be, but unfortunately it seems what viewers wanted in their reality programming was something more scandalous and absurd, more akin to a Jerry Springer episode than someone living in an idyllic world that was out of an episode of Ozzie and Harriet or Leave It To Beaver.
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Evil Dead Rise (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 29th, 2023

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Back in 2013 the remake for Evil Dead came out. I enjoyed the film, but it just didn’t feel right not having Bruce Campbell on the screen fighting off the deadites in that crazy cabin in the middle of the woods. But I could still appreciate the gore, and I felt the filmmakers did a decent job at capturing the tone of the franchise. The film has kind of grown on me over the years. Then fans got hit with the Ash Vs. The Evil Dead series, which was three seasons of bliss that really did a fantastic job honoring the trilogy that Sam Raimi had created. Now in 2023 we have a new film, Evil Dead Rise, a film that ignores pretty much everything fans of the franchise have known and loved for 40 years. It did great at the box office, but where does the film stand on its own and in relation to the legacy before it?
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The Longest Yard (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 29th, 2023

“All right, men, now here’s the play we’re gonna use. I don’t think the guards know this formation. It’s called ‘incidental punishment after the ball is blown dead.’ Remember, any man you tackle gets an elbow, knee, or kick in the mouth.”

In 1972 Albert S. Ruddy made motion picture history. He went from the writer of a television sit-com to landing a producer job at Paramount with almost no credentials but his nerve. Once there, this inexperienced producer delivered one of the most iconic films in history. That film was The Godfather, and it would shatter records at the Oscars and is considered one of the best films ever made. In my opinion it is the best film ever made. When the film was finished, it was a no-brainer that there would be a sequel. Sequels weren’t quite so common then, but there was a lot of material in the best-selling novel to continue the story. Ruddy was offered the job of producer once again. He turned it down. He had another movie, one in which he wrote the story, that he wanted to do instead.
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Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on June 27th, 2023

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“How everyone thinks we can solve any problem with magic. There are limits! This isn’t some bedtime story; this is the real world!”

Well not quite, but still very sound advice. Which is what our heroes find out in this adaptation of the popular tabletop game. I’m becoming convinced that there is no such thing as a truly great cinematic adaptation for a tabletop or role-playing games. Think about it? Warcraft, Battleship, the previous Dungeons and Dragons adaptation. All of them failed to hit the mark. When you think about it, it’s not surprising. These games are incredibly nuisance and detailed, it would be more surprising if their entirely was actually able to be encompassed in a matter of hours. In the case of the latest Dungeons and Dragons adaptation, Honor Amongst Thieves, I think it is a case of good movie/decent adaptation.
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Transformers Limited Edition Steelbook 6-Movie Collection (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 2nd, 2023

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When I was a young boy I loved playing with my toys. We didn’t have Transformers in those days, but we did have Major Matt Mason, plastic dinosaurs, Hot Wheels, and Creepy Crawlers Thingmaker sets. Yeah, in those days a toy could cause third-degree burns and no one really worried about getting sued. Kind of takes the fun out of being a kid today. You know who else, I bet, loved to play with his toys? Michael Bay. I bet he had the coolest toys in his neighborhood. He probably wasn’t the best guy to be friends with, however. He didn’t invite the kids over to play with his toys. He likely charged you a nickel to watch him play with them. It’s many decades later, and Michael still has the coolest toys on the block. Only now you have to cough up twenty bucks if you want to watch him playing with them. Sadly, that is what the Transformers film franchise has been reduced to. We’re all watching the rich kid playing with really cool toys.
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Shazam! Fury of Gods (UHD Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on May 24th, 2023

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I know that we all know that the DC universe is going through a bit of a revamp right now. I’m sure we’ve all seen it, with the cancellation of the Batgirl movie and the getting our hopes up over the prospect of Henry Cavill’s return to the fold, only to be crushed when it was announced that the studio was going in a different direction. We all have our feelings about it. That said, if there was a franchise that I would recommend keeping around, it would be the Shazam films. I know, I know, I’m surprised by this revelation too, but the thing is, this franchise of them all was the one that took me by the most surprise. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it. Prior to the release of the first film, the character of Shazam (a.k.a. Captain Marvel) had been nothing more than a background character that I’d observed in the animated films and shows. I even questioned the wisdom of introducing a character like this when DC was behind the curve in comparison to Marvel. I thought they should focus on building up the main Justice League heroes so they could get back in the race. Then in 2019, I went and saw this, and it won me over.
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Rawhead Rex (UHD Blu-ray) (4K)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 24th, 2023

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“He was here before Christ, before civilization. He was king here! Rawhead, that’s what they called him! Rawhead!”

Rawhead Rex started life as one of many stories in a young Clive Barker’s published collection called The Books Of Blood. As a story it has been hailed by the likes of Stephen King as one of the best horror stories ever written. I’m not sure I would go anywhere near that far, but there’s little doubt it’s a well-crafted horror tale. I read it years ago and recall that I was quite impressed. The movie version of the story is something else entirely. It fails on really one important element, and that’s the design of Rawhead himself. It’s one of the worst-looking film monsters I’ve ever seen. It’s a cross between an ape and a clown without the colorful make-up, and the young actor that brought him to life did anything but.
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