Category: DVD Reviews

It’s been four years since I wrote an article entitled Bionic Blunder – Where are those Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman DVDs?  And just over a year since that question was answered by Universal Television with the release of wonderful box sets of both of those series.  While I have not yet reviewed that 40-disc SMDM set ($240 is still a bit steep for that), I have reviewed Season 1 and Season 2 of The Bionic Woman, and am now here to cap it off with my thoughts on S...

Read More

After having a huge success with the looooong awaited release of The Bionic Woman Season One last year, Universal Studios Home Entertainment has followed it up with (what else?) Season Two.  If you grew up in the 1970s, you were likely as big a fan of this show and its Six Million Dollar Man counterpart as I was.  I have written many words on this site about my affection for these iconic shows (not to mention the massive boyhood crush I, and countless others, had on Lindsay Wagner), an...

Read More

I have written at length on this site about my affection for the 1970’s über shows The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman.  From championing the cause of getting these two iconic series released on DVD after decades of legal entanglements, to basically reviewing Season One of The Bionic Woman last year after Hulu decided to put all 14 episodes online. Still I waited (and waited) for the DVD box sets.  Well … the wait is over. The Six Million Dollar Man &nda...

Read More

In an earlier article, PSYCHO BABBLE: The Legacy of Norman Bates, I waxed Hitchcockian on Hitch’s notorious 1960 classic, its three sequels, and my affection (is that wrong?) for all of them.  (You may want to scratch that post before continuing here.)  In that article, I mentioned that a recently-produced documentary, THE PSYCHO LEGACY – chronicling the making of ALL of the PSYCHO films – had been completed and was seeking distribution.  Thanks to our friends at...

Read More

Two years ago I wrote an article entitled John Carpenter & Kurt Russell's ELVIS – Where's the DVD?, wherein I championed this nearly forgotten 1979 biopic of the King of Rock and Roll. Produced by Dick Clark two years after Presley's tragic passing, ELVIS was the first collaboration between young director John Carpenter – hot off Halloween, the highest-grossing independent film at the time – and Disney's teen heartthrob Kurt Russell. These two up'n-comers would, of ...

Read More

Clint. Say it soft. Say it low. Say it with a squint.I'm a big Clint Eastwood fan -- if you've read my reviews of Dirty Harry: The Ultimate Collector's Edition or Gran Torino, you already know this. Having recently picked up a 4-movie DVD package entitled Clint Eastwood: American Icon Collection, I didn't expect to be writing about it. Reason being, I thought this bargain-priced set was just another quick cashing in by a studio (in this case, Universal) of films that were gathering dust in t...

Read More

Any discussion regarding Alfred Hitchcock's greatest films is going to include Vertigo. Is that 1958 film Hitch's masterpiece? Some would say yes -- others would say Psycho, or Rear Window, or North By Northwest, or ... well, you get the idea. Rereleased last year on DVD as part of Universal's Legacy Series, the 2-disc Special Edition of Vertigo is a shining upgrade for one of the most important films ever committed to celluloid.Neurosis (not to mention psychosis) have long been part of The Ma...

Read More

Since I already reviewed The Dark Knight back in July when it was released to theaters, and I essentially stand by that post, I will focus here on its home video incarnation.Or maybe I don't stand by that review anymore. While at the time I was slightly off-put by the dark and dour crime-drama take on this comic book staple (I still gave it a solid B+), upon watching it again, I must say the film improves with repeat viewings. On multiple levels, this is an incredible accomplishment -- quite p...

Read More

Time does fly. It's been a quarter century since a 19-year-old Tom Cruise slid across the floor in his stocking feet and danced in his underwear to the strains of Bob Seger's Old Time Rock and Roll. The year was 1983. The movie was Risky Business. A movie star was born.The past couple years have been a little rough on the erstwhile box-office king. Say what you will about Tom Cruise, for over 20 years nearly every movie he starred in grossed over 100 million dollars -- it's a record no other ...

Read More

Tim Burton's 1993 masterpiece, The Nightmare Before Christmas, has been released on video a couple times before by Disney. However, for a triple-dip, this new 2-disc Special Edition is indeed pretty special.I'll admit it had been a few years since I'd seen this landmark film, and – despite the fact I am a big Tim Burton fan – I was blown away anew by the sheer poetic power of the thing. Since we've all seen it (hopefully), here's the synopsis in a nutshell: Jack Skellington, leader...

Read More

I am a big Coen Brothers fan. Ever since seeing their ode-to-noir debut film, Blood Simple (1984) and its follow-up, Raising Arizona (1986), I have come to appreciate and anticipate their wonderfully whacked oeuvre. There are some I still don't get (Miller's Crossing), some I just don't like (The Man Who Wasn't There), and some -- despite being utter box-office failures -- that I love (Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy).After winning a Best Screenplay Oscar for 1996's Fargo, Joel and Ethan dust...

Read More

If you've been keeping up with posts on this site, you already know I am a big fan of Fox Television's Terminator - The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I reviewed this show after the first two episodes. After the first season wrapped up (only nine shows due to the writer's strike), I not only stand by that review, I can tell you it very much lived up to its promise.Season Two begins on September 8th -- if you need to get caught up, Season One has been released on DVD and Blu-Ray.Extras include:* Creat...

Read More

As a big fan of John Carpenter, I have always had a special place in my heart for the one movie he made that wasn't a horror, action or suspense film. It could be argued that it's science-fiction, but ... no. Starman is a love story.Released in 1984, Starman was Columbia pictures answer to E.T. It involved an alien come to earth in response to an invitation on one of the Voyager space probes. Attacked by military aircraft, the ship crash lands in Wisconsin near the cabin of a young widow name...

Read More

There are many beloved cinematic westerns -- High Noon, Shane, Stagecoach, The Searchers, to name but a few; fans can quote reams of dusty dialogue -- but few have the fanatically devoted following of the 1989 CBS miniseries, Lonesome Dove.Based on Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer-winning novel and directed by Australian filmmaker Simon Wincer, the story tells of two retired Texas Rangers, Augustus McCrae (Robert Duvall) and Woodrow Call (Tommy Lee Jones) and their last adventure: a 3000-mile cattle dr...

Read More

Do you like movies about con men? I do. Some of my favorites being The Sting (hands down, the best), Paper Moon, The Grifters, Catch Me If You Can, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Spanish Prisoner, Matchstick Men, etc ...Add one more to that list -- David Mamet's 1987 directorial debut, House of Games, which last year received a deluxe upgrade from Criterion.Pulitzer-winning playright, Mamet -- whose other writing credits include, The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), The Verdict, The Untouchabl...

Read More

All right, so I'm a couple years behind in seeing this film, however, it's never too late to catch up ... at least in the world of cinema.When Juno was released last year, the only previous films I knew Ellen Page had appeared in were X-Men 3 and something called Hard Candy. I'd heard great things about that last, but never got around to seeing it. Until last night.I knew a little about the controversial (to put it mildly) subject matter of this film, but nothing could have prepared me for the...

Read More

Clint Eastwood -- actor, director, producer, mayor, and one of the few movie stars to have created more than one iconic character in his career. While many of those icons wore cowboys hats and rode horses, arguable his most indelible role was of Inspector Harry Callahan of the SFPD. Harry speaks softly, packs a big gun, hates bureaucracy, is quick with a one-liner, and has a little problem with authority ... no wonder I think he's so cool.In five films over 17 years, Dirty Harry, Magnum Force,...

Read More

Arguably one of the most influential films of the 1960s, Bonnie and Clyde marked a turning point for popular cinema. Along with Easy Rider and The Graduate, this movie went against every cinematic convention known, and succeeded not in spite of this rebellion, but because of it.Was it a comedy? A drama? A historical bio-pic? A surreal, glamorized, post-modern take on two notorious bank robbers from the 1930s? Yes, yes, yes, and yes. Long before Oliver Stone gave us Natural Born Killers, di...

Read More

Praise has been heaped and much has been written over the past few months about Juno, the most recent Little Movie That Could (budget: 6.5 million, theatrical gross: 213 million -- I'd say that qualifies).Likewise, much ink (and digital verbage) has been scrawled about its unlikely author, Diablo Cody, and her now famous rags to riches story ... or pole to podium if you prefer. An ex-stripper-cum-blogger (does that sound dirty, or is it just me?) from Minnesota, Cody was discovered by Hollywood...

Read More

I love bio-pics. See The Best Bio-Pics You've Never Seen for more on that. I am also fond of (some) DVD Director's Cuts ... although most of them are either examples of scenes better left on the cutting room floor, or studios trying to milk every dime they can out of their properties.Artists love to tweak their work and DVD technology has provided directors a chance to do just that. The efforts range from worthy to heretical. Studios also love to release Unrated or Extended Versions, often w...

Read More

Francis Lawrence's film version of Richard Matheson's classic I Am Legend, was a smash hit ($255,000,000 domestic box office - I'd call that a home run). Since I reviewed this film when it came out theatrically, I'll not bother rehashing my opinion here.I will keep this review short, because ... I'm pissed.Having bought the 2-disc DVD (as I am wont to do for certain movies), I was extremely disappointed to learn that ALL of the bonus content was viewable only on a PC. As I am a Mac man, this u...

Read More

Considered by many (including myself) to be the best DVD release of 2007, Blade Runner ~ the Final Cut is a wonderful gift to fans of a film that was not only years ahead of its time, but one that would inspire countless imitators. Indeed, the cinematic "cyber-punk" revolution that was ushered in by The Matrix, would never have existed if Blade Runner had not come first. A critical and box-office failure when released in 1982, it nevertheless developed a rabid cult following over the ensuing y...

Read More