Category: DVD/BLU-RAY

"Arthur & George" presents a plateful of comfort food for the "Masterpiece Mystery" crowd, imagining a time when "Sherlock Holmes" author Arthur Conan Doyle (Martin Clunes), growing fatigued with his legacy as a mystery writer, elects to crack a real life case of murder to recharge his creative batteries and snap out of depression. "Arthur & George" (adapted from a 2005 novel by Julian Barnes) tracks his experience in the wild, joined by butler Alfred (Charles Edwards), with the pair venturing into the unknown to help George (Arsher Ali), a potentially innocent man, clear his name. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1972's "The Revengers" is an uneven film, but it wisely commences with all the energy it can possibly muster. A dark tale of vengeance from director Daniel Mann ("Willard," "Our Man Flint"), the first half of the picture launches with shock and rage, establishing a rhythm of determination and planning that stands up this "Wild Bunch" reminder with purpose and identity, also permitting star William Holden a chance to embrace western conventions with pure screen authority, leading the charge as "The Revengers" embarks on a long road of violence and barbed camaraderie. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While mountaineering movies are the norm these days, 1924's "The Epic of Everest" was an event. John Noel's documentary about the 1924 British Mount Everest Expedition (featuring George Mallory and Andrew Irvine) is an eye-opening journey into the then-unknown, offering sensational footage of a perilous journey that revealed cultures and dangers few could witness before, shot with startling clarity that follows the mission up the mountain, where explorer glory and profound danger awaited the men. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Bob Chinn's "Sweet Young Foxes" is the polar opposite of his work on "The Young Like It Hot." Instead of lighthearted fun, the feature goes dramatic, exploring a particularly illuminating summer for college freshman Laura (Hyapatia Lee), who tries to make sense of the world without her boyfriend, bickering with her mother, Julie (Kay Parker, who earned an award for her solid performance), and seeking comfort with friends (Cara Lott and Cindy Carver). Displaying surprising solemnity, "Sweet Young Foxes" struggles to manage the extremity of penetration with the intimacy of wounded feelings. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While 1983's "The Young Like It Hot" is an adult film with certain amorous priorities, it's also a workplace comedy of sorts, bringing viewers into a California telephone operator station that's about replace its staff with a computerized system. While pleasures of the flesh are lovingly detailed, there's actually a sense of tension and mischief to the Bob Chinn feature that gifts "The Young Like It Hot" some entertainment value beyond bedroom encounters. Or perhaps office encounters is more accurate description here. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1969's "The Reivers" is based on a William Faulkner novel, with director Mark Rydell doing a serviceable job trying retain the project's literary origins. An episodic feature concerning a coming-of-age journey, "The Reivers" is best appreciated for its atmosphere, as the production creates an enjoyable turn-of-the-century mood with fading innocence and industrial influence, giving viewers a pleasurable time machine viewing experience that helps to digest the periodic tedium of the plot. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1979's "Play Motel" is a confusing picture from director Mario Gariazzo, with its focus mixing the terror of a traditional giallo endeavor with the sleaze of soft-core pornography. Somewhere in the mix is a story, though any level of dramatic engagement is cast aside for exploitation highlights. There blood and bare skin in "Play Motel," which struggles to build momentum as a chiller, stopping every ten minutes to assess the visual potency of naked women. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After finding success with "The Toxic Avenger" and "Class of Nuke 'Em High," Troma Entertainment decided to get serious with 1988's "Troma's War." At least as serious as director Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz are willing to get while still clinging to fart jokes. Attempting to simulate political commentary in the midst of Troma-branded slapstick carnage, "Troma's War" emerges as a particularly confused production, lost somewhere between a need to play the entire movie as broadly as possible and a desire to communicate the fallibility of the military-minded 1980s, with Kaufman and Herz manufacturing a response to Regan's America that never gels as imagined. A loud, bloody, unfunny display of tastelessness, the picture has its moments of Troma-stamped shenanigans, but the overall effort is missing clarity of plot and a more devious display of satire. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1966's 'Navajo Joe" is a straightforward revenge picture questing to create an icon out of the titular character, portrayed by Burt Reynolds. Produced by Dino De Laurentiis and directed by Sergio Corbucci, "Navajo Joe" is all action and intimidation, striving to generate an agitated tone of boiling rage as it details failed heists and southwestern chases, emerging as a wonderfully entertaining adventure that's Quentin Tarantino approved, with the filmmaker lifting sections of Ennio Morricone's wily, anthemic score to breathe a special cinematic life into his masterpiece, "Kill Bill." Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

A variation on "The Dirty Dozen" set during the Civil War, 1972's "A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die" is an admirable attempt to launch an adventure starring a cast full of grizzled, beefy men, each scripted with quirks and a secretive history. While James Coburn takes top billing, the feature makes room for its ensemble, making up for a lack of action by emphasizing juicy personalities colliding in a spaghetti western-style production. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In his follow-up to "The Big Gundown," director Sergio Sollima continues to mine his fascination with gray areas of conscience and loyalty, instilling 1967's "Face to Face" with moral complexity that helps to support the picture's occasionally iffy dramatics. It's a western with meaning, using a history of Italian politics to inform its plot, and it when it settles down and explores character, it proves itself to be intelligent, lacking some needed urgency to work up necessary suspense. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1957's "The Monster That Challenged the World" is one of many horror features created during the rising years of the Atomic Age, using paranoia and progress to feed B-movie requirements, giving audiences something to be frightened of besides the daily news. Of course, the film now registers as pure silliness, witnessing the discovery and wrath of a giant mollusk at it rises out of the Salton Sea to devour those curious enough to go near it. However, the production shows creative effort rare to the era, working on characterization between attack sequences, trying to shape a personality to the picture instead of simply working through the kills. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1962's "Burn, Witch, Burn" is an unusual combination of a witchcraft thriller and a workplace drama, with both sides of the story managing to generate all the proper pressure the production needs to build tension. Wonderfully performed and inventively made, "Burn, Witch, Burn" (a.k.a. "Night of the Eagle") offers quite a compelling commotion, with style and bursts of anarchy welcome in a tale that's always on the prowl for suspense. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Like a giant layer cake of self-awareness, camp is piled on top of camp in 2000's "Psycho Beach Party," which looks to pants various genres of the 1960s, committing to a broad style of silliness to achieve its goals. Adapting his own theatrical production, screenwriter/co-star Charles Busch wins points for enthusiasm, trying to massage a spirited take on bikini-clad high jinks and serial murder for as long as possible, aided by wonderful performances from the cast, who give themselves completely to the low-budget endeavor, playing loud and lively. However, a little of "Psycho Beach Party" goes a long way, and the feature has trouble maintaining manic energy, with obvious dips in inspiration throttling the merriment Busch is eager to summon. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There are moments when "La Sapienza" is a hypnotic, gracefully made piece of filmic art, and there are moments when it feels like a parody of one. From writer/director Eugene Green, the feature is a specialized viewing experience that invests in stillness to such a degree, the effort stops moving entirely at times. It's gorgeously made, with absurdly beautiful cinematography by Raphael O'Byrne, but "La Sapienza" is often caught trying to pass as a sophisticated assessment of loneliness and marital connection, intentionally abandoning the human experience to play out like experimental theater, set within the walls of architectural mastery. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1971's "A Town Called Hell" (titled as "A Town Called Bastard" on the Blu-ray) sets out to define four different perspectives on guilt, loss, and redemption. It's more than most movies establish to fuel tensions, and the production is not up to the challenge. Disjointed and anticlimactic, "A Town Called Hell" goes through the motions of genre intimidation, urging its cast to communicate unease and threat to the best of their ability, as the story never supports them as securely as it should. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Attempting to make an action comedy, "Hot Pursuit" decides on overkill as a surefire way to laughs and thrills. It's the latest effort from director Anne Fletcher, who keeps getting hired to helm funny pictures despite a spotty track record ("27 Dresses," "The Proposal," "The Guilt Trip"), only here there's a manic energy to manage. Instead of taking it slowly, developing intricate stunt sequences and massaging punchlines, Fletcher encourages broad antics and chunky pratfalls one would expect to find on an elementary school playground. "Hot Pursuit" isn't funny or exciting, it's just loud, gifting stars Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara a holiday to let loose with caricatures, trusting volume to be the cure-all for a dud script. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Russell Crowe has enjoyed an acting career filled with varied dramatic demands, yet "The Water Diviner" marks the first time the star has stepped behind the camera. While retaining leading actor duties, Crowe finds the inspiration to create a heartfelt historical drama that investigates a crisis of anonymity when it comes to the slain soldiers of World War I. It's powerful work when locked in investigative mode, showcasing Crowe's strengths as a performer and helmer, selecting an unusual but evocative mystery of fatherly desperation, and one that's especially aware of the sensitivity surrounding its subject matter. "The Water Diviner" can't help itself with unnecessarily romantic pursuits, but fringe interests fail to implode this sturdily constructed film. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"The Couch Trip" is an attempt by director Michael Ritchie to make a screwball comedy with classic cinema timing in the 1980s, where broad humor was being eaten away by cynicism. The helmer of "Fletch" and "The Bad News Bears," Ritchie certainly understands the value of a wily punchline, but there's an unfinished quality to "The Couch Trip" that keeps the feature from connecting in full. The cast is game to play, with star Dan Aykroyd working at his usual speed with jokes and rubbery reactions, but "The Couch Trip" ultimately feels rushed, which is a shame when it initially appears ready and willing to work through a list of neuroses, accusations, and confrontations worth a little more screen time than what the production is willing to offer. Select moments are genuinely funny, yet the movie tends to muffle what works, clinging to a story that never comes together. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Endeavoring to become Disney-style entertainment, 1965's "War-Gods of the Deep" (a.k.a. "City Under the Sea") does an impressive job matching the dramatic flatness of the company's live-action entertainment, but its spectacle needs some work. Starring Vincent Price, Tab Hunter, Susan Hart, and David Tomlinson, "War-Gods of the Deep" is a passable plunge into a mysterious underwater realm, offering monsters and impending volcanic disaster, but it's clear that a limited budget is in place, keeping the production on a tight leash while the story details Earth-splitting events and oceanic chases. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com