We open on Jo Jo Dancer, wildly successful comedian, at the height of his success. He’s manic, electric, also hypocritical and conniving. He swears to get off drugs but immediately proceeds to do what he promises is his last cocaine. In all the whirlwind chaos, he catches himself on fire and is rushed to the…
Godzilla vs. Biollante UHD 4K review
Being a lifelong Godzilla fan, writing about Godzilla movies is especially special to me as he is my favorite pop culture character. Reflecting about Godzilla 1985(the title for the USA cut of the film) and seeing Godzilla fall into Mount Mihara to his apparent death was really a heartbreaker for myself and I am sure…
The Grifters [Criterion Collection] Blu-Ray Review
Roy Dillon (John Cusack) is a small time con man, pulling little grifts in bars to get by. While the occasional blown con may get him a savage beating from an irate bartender now and then, his life grows increasingly more complicated when his new girlfriend Myra (Anette Benning) tries to pull him into a…
Eastern Condors [Criterion Collection] Blu-Ray Review
The Vietnam War is over but American soldiers have left a massive clutch of weapons in enemy territory. Lt. Lam (Ching-Ying Lam) along with the criminal Tung (Sammo Hung) is tasked with leading a ragtag group of Asian prisoners into Vietnam to destroy the weapons before the Vietcong can get their mitts on them. In…
The Shape of Water [Criterion Collection] 4K UHD Blu-Ray Review
Elisa (Sally Hawkins) is a mute cleaning woman at a top secret government facility who becomes fascinated with a humanoid amphibian creature (Doug Jones) that is being held captive and tormented by the sadistic Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon). When her feelings of fascination grow into something more akin to love, Elisa, with the help of…
Demon Pond (1979) [Criterion Collection] Blu-Ray Review
Gakuen (Tsutomu Yamazaki) is a teacher and botanist who travels alone through the wilds of rural Japan, eventually stumbling across a drought-stricken village so desperate for water that breast milk is used as a substitution. He meets in this village an old friend, Akira (Go Kato), who is married to a mysterious woman named Yuri…
Gregg Araki’s Teen Apocalypse Trilogy [Criterion Collection] Blu-Ray Review
Criterion Collection, in collaboration with Strand Releasing, bring for the first time in high definition in North America, Gregg Araki’s crazy, influential Teen Apolcalypse Trilogy, comprised of the films Totally F***ed Up, The Doom Generation and Nowhere. It’s been a long time coming, so let’s dig in! Totally F***ed Up from 1993 follows the lives…
Three Revolutionary Films by Ousmane Sembene [Criterion Collection] Blu-ray Review
In Emitaï, a small Diola village is being provoked by French colonialists during World War II by being forced to give them their rice harvest as a tax imposed on them. The women of the village begin to organize and push the men of the village to take a stand against the French. One way…
Peeping Tom [Criterion] 4K UHD Blu-ray Review
Mark Lewis (played amazingly well by Carl Boehm) is a focus puller at a film studio who, as a side gig, also takes provocative photos of women for money. The ladies find Mark cute but a bit aloof, not realizing that he holds a dark secret rooted in his childhood. Mark is a murderer of…
The Heroic Trio / Executioners – 4K + Blu-ray Review (The Criterion Collection)
The Heroic Trio (1993) tells the story of a mysterious cult that is stealing babies from the city for nefarious purposes and the useless cops can only stand by and watch. I mean, they are kinda out of their league since Ching (Michelle Yeoh), the person snatching these kids, can turn invisible and run up…