Tag: U.S. Indie Film Blu Ray Review
Kicks | Blu-ray Review
Combining art-house visual aesthetic with gritty urban coming-of-age formula, director Justin Tipping makes a striking directorial debut with Kicks. A heartfelt examination of youthful...
Imperium | Blu-ray Review
Moving further away from his Harry Potter persona with a trio of three immensely dissimilar films in 2016, actor Daniel Radcliffe’s anxiety laced performance...
The Sea of Trees | Blu-ray Review
Nearly every edition of the Cannes Film Festival seems to yield a significant misstep for at least one auteur premiering in competition. Less common...
Criterion Collection: Blood Simple | Blu-Ray Review
Now among the most distinctive of American auteurs, it’s hard to believe Joel and Ethan Coen had a difficult time getting their first film,...
Clown | Blu-ray Review
Director Jon Watts’ 2014 horror film Clown stands as the writer/director/producer’s feature debut, even though it arrived well after his moderately hailed sophomore effort...
The Darkness | Blu-ray Review
Director Greg McLean has yet to escape the shadow of his 2005 Aussie breakout, Wolf Creek, which inspired him to helm a 2013 sequel...
The Invitation | Blu-ray Review
One of the best under the radar genre pieces of the past year has to be Karyn Kusama’s The Invitation, the director’s fourth and...
Crimes of Passion | Blu-ray Review
“Save your soul, whore!” cries Anthony Perkins’ crackpot street preacher in the first several minutes of Ken Russell’s infamous and endlessly provocative 1984 film...
The Daughter of Dawn | Blu-ray Review
The story concerning the restoration of lost silent film The Daughter of Dawn (1920) nearly eclipses what amounts to as a fascinating achievement of...
Romeo Is Bleeding | Blu-ray Review
Looking back at the landscape of early to mid-90s neo-noir, only a few titles have survived relative obscurity, conversations tending to celebrate the Coen...
Knight of Cups | Blu-ray Review
The term ‘masterpiece’ has been bandied about too often and for too long to rightly mean anything anymore, and yet, should such terminology actually...
99 River Street | Blu-ray Review
The plight of the failed boxer, and the gladiatorial viciousness of the sport itself, are themes forming an unheralded, even invisible substrata within the...
Woman on the Run | Blu-ray Review
Flicker Alley rescues the neglected 1950 San Francisco film noir Woman on the Run, previously victim of the public domain effect associated with debased...
Black Mama, White Mama (2-Disc Special Edition) | Blu-Ray Review
Arrow Video continues its revitalization of Pam Grier’s iconic Blaxploitation period with 1973’s Black Mama, White Mama, arguably the star’s breakout vehicle which would...
Room | Blu-ray Review
Directly following its premiere at the 2015 Telluride Film Festival, Lenny Abrahamson’s Room won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival,...
Carol | Blu-ray Review
A critical darling right out the gate of its premiere at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, Todd Haynes’ Carol, was a clear Oscar front...
Life | DVD Review
A troubling hush seems to follow Anton Corbijn's fourth and least enthusiastically received Life, a snapshot on the short but intensely felt celebrity of...
Sheba, Baby | Blu-ray Review
Strangely enough, Pam Grier’s last Blaxploitation feature, 1975’s Sheba, Baby, would be the title to introduce her to a much wider audience thanks to...
99 Homes | Blu-ray Review
Director Ramin Bahrani scores his most lauded venture yet with the critically acclaimed 99 Homes. Premiering in competition at Venice in 2014, Broad Green Pictures...
Freeheld | Blu-ray Review
Released two weeks after premiering at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, Peter Sollet’s awards-baiting LGBT drama Freeheld failed to command an Oscar campaign....
A Child is Waiting | Blu-ray Review
Though it’s a famously compromised vision, to be sure, director John Cassavetes’ third film, A Child is Waiting, represents an important cinematic juncture. Meant...
Count Yorga, Vampire | Blu-ray Review
Before grindhouse director Bob Kelljan turned exclusively to television by the late 1970s, he had accidentally carved out a small triptych of derivative American...
White of the Eye | Blu-ray Review
For the first time ever, Donald Cammell’s obscure 1987 serial killer thriller White of the Eye is available on DVD and Blu-ray in the...
The Gift | Blu-ray Review
One of the best surprises of 2015 thus far has been Joel Edgerton’s directorial debut, The Gift. The increasingly prolific actor somehow managed to...
The Larry Fessenden Collection | Blu-ray Review
Scream Factory and IFC Midnight have paired up to present an inspired disc set for The Larry Fessenden Collection, an assortment of four of...
Criterion Collection: My Own Private Idaho| Blu-ray Review
Patching together portraits of his beloved Portland streets, bits of Shakespeare's Henry IV via Welles' tumultuous Chimes at Midnight, and vignettes of a narcoleptic vagabond hustler whose motherless anxieties...
Eaten Alive | Blu-ray Review
Following the unprecedented success of his monolithic sophomore feature, 1974’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which would forever immortalize director Tobe Hooper in the annals...
The Woods | Blu-ray Review
Horror director Lucky McKee unfortunately remains one of those unknown, peripheral genre names, mostly thanks to a number of compromised or abandoned projects following...
Prime Cut | Blu-ray Review
Lovers of odd and neglected vintage cinema can rejoice in the repackaging of Michael Ritchie’s weird sophomore title, Prime Cut. With all the menace...
I, Madman | Blu-ray Review
Scream Factory brings late 80’s horror thriller I, Madman to Blu-ray, one of two notable cult classics from Hungarian/Canadian director Tibor Tabaks. Beginning in...
Criterion Collection: The Killers | Blu-ray Review
Criterion digitally restores this earlier release, a combination offering of Robert Siodmak’s 1946 film noir masterpiece The Killers paired with Don Siegel’s retro 1964...
Truck Turner | Blu-ray Review
Kino Lorber resurrects the obscure and fascinating 1974 Blaxploitation gem Truck Turner this month for the first time on Blu-ray. One of Isaac Hayes’...
Spider Baby | Blu-ray Review
Arrow Video resurrects Jack Hill’s first solo directorial effort, Spider Baby (1967) for lovers of cult oddities. Prior to becoming a lynchpin in the...
Friday Foster | Blu-ray Review
Towering aggressively over the legacy of the problematic film movement of 1970s Blaxploitation is the iconic figure of actress Pam Grier, emblazoned in our...
Society | Blu-ray Review
Arrow Video unveils one of the most impressive Blu-ray packages of 2015 with its remastered presentation of Brian Yuzna’s languished body horror classic Society....
Scarecrows | Blu-ray Review
At the top of a definite genre shortlist is William Wesley’s 1988 title Scarecrows, a little horror flick about the eponymous objects used to...
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night | Blu-Ray Review
Hailed as one of the best new cinematic discoveries in 2014 is director Ana Lily Amirpour with her debut A Girl Walks Home Alone at...
Cooley High | Blu-ray Review
Forty years after its theatrical release, Michael Schultz’s poignant early title Cooley High (1975) comes to Blu-ray. A prominent figure in film in the...
Wild | Blu-ray Review
Grossing just under forty million domestically and scoring two Academy Award nominations (for its actresses Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern), Wild arrives on Blu-ray...
The End of Violence | Blu-ray Review
Arriving for the first time on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films is Wim Wenders’ 1997 existentialist take on the definition of violence and its...
The Criterion Collection: Ride the Pink Horse | Blu-ray Review
Robert Montgomery’s 1947 sophomore film, Ride the Pink Horse is an exciting film noir gem ripe for rediscovery, available on Blu-ray for the first...
St. Vincent | Blu-ray Review
The independently produced dramedy from helmer Theodore Melfi received a mostly positive critical reception following its premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival...
The Drop | Blu-ray Review
Coming off the white hot success of his hard hitting, Oscar nominated debut, Bullhead, Michaël Roskam signed on to helm a Hollywood backed crime...
The Guest | Blu-ray Review
Enjoying a healthy festival run after its premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, and a tour that brought it to SXSW and Toronto,...
Criterion Collection: Safe | Blu-Ray Review
Todd Haynes receives his first entry in the Criterion collection with a beautiful restoration of his landmark 1995 sophomore feature, Safe, the film that launched...
Come Back to the 5 and Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean | Blu-ray Review
Long unavailable for home viewing, Robert Altman’s 1982 title Come Back to the 5 and Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean has languished as a...
Begin Again | Blu-ray Review
After having been picked up for a cool 7 million dollar and some change price tag by the Weinsteins at the Toronto Int. Film...
Sidewalk Stories | Blu-ray Review
Beautifully restored and available for the first time on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber’s distribution deal with Carlotta US, the Cannes premiered 1989 directorial...
Salvador | Blu-ray Review
It’s been a long time since Oliver Stone made anything with as much punchy political grit as Salvador. As the first of two films...
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre: 40th Anniversary Collector’s Edition | Blu-Ray Review
There’s no denying the cultural magnitude of Tobe Hooper’s 1974 grindhouse classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Inspiring legions of seminal directors, as well as...
