George A. Romero’s Knightriders (1981) Blu-ray Review: The Most Sincere, Underrated Drama About Adult Outcasts Ever Made

Posted: 23 April, 2013 in Movies/TV
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George A. Romero’s Knightriders (1981) Blu-ray Review: The Most Sincere, Underrated Drama About Adult Outcasts Ever Made

The setting is a quiet forested area, with a gentle, calming body of water nearby. A king awakens completely nude on the ground – his slumber distributed by a vision of a black bird – with his just-as-bare queen lying next to him. He goes about his ritualistic afternoon: bathing in the water, lightly lashing himself in the back with a small, flexible branch, only to then don his tunic, his sword, his armor and helmet, and then – as if a moment had been pulled straight out of the pages of a forgotten Monty Python screenplay, the king and queen mount a motorcycle and head down the road in contemporary early ’80s America. What’s wrong with this picture? Absolutely nothing. Read the rest of this entry »

John Dies at the End DVD Review: Hey, Thanks for the Spoiler Alert!

Posted: 22 April, 2013 in Movies/TV
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John Dies at the End DVD Review: Hey, Thanks for the Spoiler Alert!

Every filmmaker has some sort of visual signature that can be easily recognized in their works. Sometimes, such as in the instance of Alfred Hitchcock, it’s a brief walk-on role that you have to look out for (to say nothing of his directorial style, but that’s quite literally beside the point in his case). For others, it’s the tendency to repeat the same damn scene in every movie they make – such as that no-talent hack Michael Bay and his frequent usage of something exploding on a freeway as the camera pans away. And then there are directors like the great Don Coscarelli. Actually, there’s only one Don Coscarelli: I can’t imagine another moviemaker in this universe who would be capable of pulling off Phantasm, The Beastmaster, and Bubba Ho-Tep. Read the rest of this entry »

Blu-ray Review: A Haunted House (2013) – A Hate Crime Against Humor

Posted: 21 April, 2013 in Movies/TV
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Blu-ray Review: A Haunted House (2013) – A Hate Crime Against Humor

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: A Haunted House (2013) – A Hate Crime Against Humor on Blogcritics.

Even in today’s age of using-all-things-digital-like, there is still a heavy usage of a once-everyday item that continues to be employed by the writers working within the film and television medias: the 3×5 index card. The reason for utilizing such a thing is simple: it assists those who have been handed the often-unenviable responsibility of coming up with something creative in assembling what they feel is the perfect story with the ideal elements. Where does Bob go after he walks out of the lounge at midnight? A quick toss of the dart onto the wall lands on the 3×5 card reading “Zimbabwe” — and so it is written. Well, it could be written that way; needless to say, it takes at least an iota of talent or the slightest inkling of discernable taste in order to achieve this method of storytelling. Read the rest of this entry »

Warlock (1959) DVD Review: A Dynamic Western Presented in an Outdated, Eviscerating Format

Posted: 17 April, 2013 in Movies/TV, TV
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Warlock (1959) DVD Review: A Dynamic Western Presented in an Outdated, Eviscerating Format

OK, so let me bring you up-to-date here, kids: recently, Fox Cinema Archives released several classic motion pictures – originally presented in theaters in CinemaScope – in the dreaded, severely outdated process of pan-and-scan (something that was used for older 4:3 TVs, but which is flat-out ridiculous in this day and age, what with widescreen television sets and all). As Douglas Adams would say: “This made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.” Well, seeing as how everyone else has griped about this faux pas (or would that be a “Fox pas“?) – including Cinema Sentries writer Will McKinley -  I’m just going to bypass the introductory bitching and actually discuss the fine motion picture Fox has massacred by presenting on DVD in this outdated, eviscerating format in 2013. Read the rest of this entry »

DVD Review: Archer – The Complete Season Three

Posted: 16 April, 2013 in Movies/TV, TV
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DVD Review: Archer – The Complete Season Three

Article first published as DVD Review: Archer – The Complete Season Three on Blogcritics.

If I said it once, I said it at least three times over: “There’s nothing new under the sun.” Originality sailed off into the wild blue yonder a long, long time ago. And there is no better example of a current FX animated series called Archer. Check this out, kids: in 1975, actor Brian Keith found himself miscast in a short-lived series called Archer. A good thirty-five years later, FX debuted their own series called Archer. And the comparisons between the two are downright frightening — since they both center on a guy named Archer. I know, right? This is major conspiracy theory fodder, people! Read the rest of this entry »

The Marriage-Go-Round DVD Review: James Mason, ’60s Swinger at Large!

Posted: 14 April, 2013 in Movies/TV
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The Marriage-Go-Round DVD Review: James Mason, ’60s Swinger at Large!

Adapting a work from one form of entertainment to another is not an easy task. Imagine, if you will, what might happen were one to add a Descriptive Video Service audio track to a film like Koyaanisqatsi. Or if Cannibal Holocaust were turned into a bloodless Broadway musical. Something would inevitably get lost in translation, making way for that age old adage about capturing lightning in a bottle. But what happens if you hand that magical glass container over to someone – say a complete and total dumbass – and they go and punch holes in the lid so that the poor lightning can breathe? Well, if you’re looking for a good example, The Marriage-Go-Round should more than suffice. Read the rest of this entry »

Oh, Men! Oh, Women! DVD Review: Oh, Brother!

Posted: 14 April, 2013 in Movies/TV
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Oh, Men! Oh, Women! DVD Review: Oh, Brother!

If someone were to voluntarily stroll up to me and willingly make it a point to talk to me about the classic War of the Sexes genre of romantic comedies that highlighted many a headliner at cinemas of yore, chances are they would invoke the holiness of those oh-so-dated-yet-timeless Doris Day/Rock Hudson vehicles. Were such a conversation with a complete stranger to occur, however, my first thought would not stray towards the appeal of either aforementioned lead performer. Instead, I would grin with delight over the very thought of the quintessential War of the Sexes co-star, Tony Randall – one of the few male comedic performers in history to be able to make me laugh without having to do anything – and who is preceded in my book of greatness only by Avery Schreiber. Read the rest of this entry »

Blu-ray Review: The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel) – The Criterion Collection

Posted: 9 April, 2013 in Movies/TV
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Blu-ray Review: The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel) – The Criterion Collection

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel) – The Criterion Collection on Blogcritics.

It is quite often said by most science teachers in the English-speaking world that “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” While it tends not to be muttered as often as another expression that frequently finds itself inserted into the occasional conversation — “When one door closes, another door opens” — both sayings tend to apply in almost every aspect of reality as well as fiction. Take, for example, when somebody makes a powerful artistic motion picture that succeeds in captivating the minds of its viewers worldwide. It is both an action as well as the closing of a door; signifying that nobody can quite compete to this marvel of achievement. Read the rest of this entry »

Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence DVD Review: Or, Before They Were Stars: The Movie

Posted: 3 April, 2013 in Movies/TV
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Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence DVD Review: Or, Before They Were Stars: The Movie

Everyone remembers the late great actor Glenn Ford for a different reason, whether it be his roles as Pa Kent, Mr. Eddie’s Father, Dr. Faraday, or – on perhaps a more famous note – as the lead of many a fine cowboy or film noir protagonist. But what of his films before he became a big star? Well, thanks to the Fox Cinema Archives, we can at long last view Glenn’s very first major role – as a feller named Joe Riley in the 1939 film Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence - without having to scour hundreds of television listings and trying to figure out how to program our modern-day recording devices in advance. Read the rest of this entry »

Pier Paolo Pasolni’s Trilogy of Life: Criterion Collection DVD Review: Make Mine Bunuel

Posted: 2 April, 2013 in Movies/TV
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Pier Paolo Pasolni’s Trilogy of Life: Criterion Collection DVD Review: Make Mine Bunuel

As one of those individuals that became the slightly pretentious artsy-fartsy feller during his teenage years whilst growing up in a small town, I frequently made trips to video stores (or at least ordered random titles from grey market mail-in video distributors) in search of something that I surely thought would add a little culture to my mundane, tormented existence. It was through these actions that I transitioned from one phase to another – discovering and subsequently learning to appreciate the work of oft-renowned filmmakers such as French New Wave pioneer Jean-Luc Godard, the stylish bullet ballet work of Hong Kong’s John Woo, and the gory Italian splatter flicks of one Lucio Fulci. Read the rest of this entry »

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