Category: DVD/BLU-RAY

By the time "Frankenstein Created Woman" arrived in theaters in 1967, the series, from legendary horror factory Hammer Films, was already three installments into its run. Facing a new cinematic adventure, the producers elected to avoid coarse savagery of the flesh to travel within, sparking to a story concerning the trappable aspects of the human soul. Of course, some gore zone visits were required to please the fan base, yet, for the most part, "Frankenstein Creates Woman" is a movie with ideas, just no real sense of how implement them into a riveting feature. Lead work from Peter Cushing is reliably passionate and regal, and bombshell Susan Denberg makes an impression as an innocent vengeance machine, but the effort lacks a certain macabre zest present in other Hammer Horror endeavors. While it's digestible, with a handful of respectable scenes, the picture doesn't rise to the occasion, reaching its potential as a Frankenstein film with a minor in metaphysics. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Robert Redford is no fool. The screen icon and celebrated director knows full well that audiences wouldn't be very patient with "The Company You Keep" without the security and color of a large cast made up of famous faces. It's a smart move, providing a sense of stability with this labyrinthine tale of aging radicals, weighty secrets, and dubious journalism, with the talent helping to ease the often scattered feel of the storytelling — an effort that faces a difficult job of establishing numerous names and places. Never underestimate these modest flashes of star power, as the ensemble manufactures the suspense and reflection necessary to make "The Company You Keep" stick as a stirring drama and as a statement of generational idealism greeting the golden years. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

When most directors repeat themselves, it's typically a sign of artistic exhaustion or perhaps unshakable fixation. In Wes Anderson's case, his visual repetition has become an irresistible thumbprint, and one of the great moviegoing joys I've encountered in recent years is the opportunity to watch this supremely gifted filmmaker use his leather-bound imagination to impart varying stories of eccentric outsiders and their enduring emotional wounds, with each picture connected by exotic aesthetic degrees of detail-oriented splendor. Now Anderson takes his cinematic language to the hand-woven field of stop-motion animation for "Fantastic Mr. Fox," and, yet again, the helmer shapes a breathtaking cinematic marvel; he finds a magnificent home nestled firmly in the lush textures of the animation, the dancing vocal performances, and delicious wry tone that makes for stunningly fanciful cinema. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It's easy to dismiss the music business these days as a soulless machine of mediocrity, always chasing a buck with any novelty act or trend it can massage for a few years before moving on to the next big thing. "That's the Way of the World" is a troubling reminder that it's always been this way, with the 1975 picture employing a mildly satiric approach to expose the vulgarity of record companies as they pick and choose popularity, tossing talent aside to invest in pap for the masses. It's a potent message, and one the feature isn't shy to share, often taking the most obvious route possible to expose the mind-numbing predictability of the industry. However, while its messages are about as subtle as an air horn, "That's the Way of the World" remains a successful, entertaining interpretation of vampiric business practices and the burden of selling out, scored to a series of hits from Earth, Wind & Fire, who also appear in the effort. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Although it's dressed up as your average exploitation feature, 1974's "Flavia, the Heretic" actually contains some intelligence to go along with its nudity and bloodshed. Director Gianfranco Mingozzi dips back into the history books to explore a period tale of an oppressed woman struggling to define herself in a world controlled by men, permitting the picture to inspect the vicious side of gender politics and domination, while tending to all the necessary violence that comes along with a story that concerns the workings of Christian and Muslim forces in the 15th century. While it has a tendency to wander when concentration is needed, "Flavia, the Heretic" is a fascinating dissection of frustration and desire, led by a powerhouse performance from star Florinda Bolkan, who gives the titular role her all as the character is humiliated, beaten, and exploited, with her only crime being a thirst for independence. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Because of the erratic nature of Blu-ray review assignments, there are times when a critic is presented with a program they aren't necessarily familiar with. Even more complex are situations when the writer must jump into a program mid-run, tasked with covering a show that's already established a tone and characterization. I'm relatively new to ITV's "Inspector Lewis" (simply titled "Lewis" in England and on this BD set), leaving me at a disadvantage when it comes to exploring this "Series 5" set, not having viewed previous adventures in prior years. However, credit must be paid to the production, which has such a firm handle on mood and personality, it's scarily easy to slip into the whodunit groove of the show. That the writing could welcome a newcomer so effortlessly without disrupting the ongoing narrative is wholly impressive, making these four episodes engaging and unexpectedly meaningful. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There were moments during the course of the third season of "Downton Abbey" where it felt as through creator/writer Julian Fellows was trying to turn his beloved creation of manner and misconduct into a slasher film. There was a sizable body count of main players as the program concluded its most successful year, generating a divisive response amongst fans, especially those who promised themselves to noble Aryan knight, Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens). The demise of Lady Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay) was equally shocking, though, to be fair to Fellowes, it appears he didn't have much of a choice when it came time to shed characters for actors who no longer wanted to be a part of the production. Keeping the turbulent tone of Season 3 in mind while embarking on this latest journey of refined melodrama is important, as Fellowes has elected to soften the majority of the narrative this time out, possibly hoping to lure back viewers left cold by all the senseless carnage of the previous year. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Credited as a "technology columnist and best-selling author," David Pogue is one animated guy. He's the host of "Making Stuff 2," a follow-up to his lauded 2011 series for "Nova," once again embarking on a journey around the globe, now on the hunt for scientific breakthroughs born from "Wilder," "Colder," "Safer," and "Faster" exploration. The goal of the series is to display the enormity of human ingenuity that remains active, with geniuses and ambitious types searching the natural world for inspiration that could possibly fuel innovation, with many of the visits concerning radical changes in bioengineering. The result is an entertaining show that values a sense of discovery, allowing the viewer to find excitement as experimentation unearths surprising results, creating a more advanced scientific viewpoint. The series is also comedic and slickly edited, making sure accessibility greets even the most complex theory. Pogue works to maintain dignity about the work, but he's not above a cartoon moment or two. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Referred to as the "Godfather of Gore," filmmaker Herschell Gordon Lewis built a legacy on the wonders of repulsive, violent entertainment. With "Blood Feast" and "Two Thousand Maniacs," Lewis gifted moviegoers a new style of horror picture that erased boundaries, delivering grotesque imagery typically involving dismemberment and torture. However, big screen pain didn't always pay the bills and, under various pseudonyms (such as "Mark Hansen" and "R.L. Smith"), Lewis returned to sexploitation endeavors that originally launched his career, before bloodshed turned him into a genre legend. With "Ecstasies of Women," "Linda and Abilene," and "Black Love," Lewis stumbles through three particularly patience-testing productions, armed only with flat cinematography and an army of actors willing to bare all for the camera, engaging in all types of softcore and hardcore shenanigans while the helmer works diligently to pad these efforts out to feature-length status. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Psychotica" is a backyard horror effort that's utterly inept, with writer/director Jonathan Wright caught up in a delusion that his tiny, gory commentary on sinister government control and drug addiction is going to carry any weight after enduring a painful no-budget production approach. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

If the 1994 sleeper hit, "Four Weddings and a Funeral," kicked off the whole middle-class, Richard Curtis-scripted notion of the "Britcom," 1999's "Notting Hill" turned such submissive endeavors into a formidable industry, creating a sizable dent at the box office, even directly competing with the behemoth known as "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace." Its impressive performance isn't surprising, as the picture is the type of Casual Friday film audiences love when they take time to find it, only here Curtis has an ace up his sleeve with star Julia Roberts, who tempers the English bite of the effort with her flashy Hollywood charisma, forcing the production to find a halfway point between comedy and romance that would be able to register worldwide. Moments charm and the screenplay has a wonderful fondness for its characters, yet "Notting Hill" takes its time to arrive at a foregone conclusion, glacially working through quirk and stuttered contemplation that doesn't carry the pace it should. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

What happens when the scary stuff no longer terrifies? Time to bring in the cleavage. 1971's "Twins of Evil" is a selection from the sexploitation era of Hammer Horror, where the studio, slowly running out of ideas, decided to follow cultural trends and emphasize sexuality as a way to attract attention to their releases. It's a smart play, as the fusion of lust and death has proven itself to be an irresistible combination, a fact extending to this picture. While short-sheeted in the story department, "Twins of Evil" is an evocative vampire story with a fascinating focal point, trotting out identical twins (and Playboy models) Mary and Madeline Collinson to portray the yin and yang of virginal susceptibility, with the production using their good looks and, ahem, other attributes to create a sensual suspense feature that's supported in the acting department by the great Peter Cushing. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

How does one approach a film like "The Beach Girls," with all its questionable material and fixation on titillation? It's not an especially good movie, with fumbling performances, on-camera mistakes, and a screenplay dripping with goofy stereotypes. At times, it's downright horrible. However, this 1982 production carries a weird aura of innocent fun, with silly shenanigans its only real concern, generating a party atmosphere of dancing, sexin', and imbibing while it shares copious amounts of nudity to guarantee screen interest. A major force in the beach picture revival of the 1980s (1984's "Hardbodies" being its crowning achievement), the feature sets out small goals for itself and accomplishes them without much of a fuss. "The Beach Girls" is just amiable enough to entertain, though a steady finger on the fast-forward button is recommended to slip past the moldy vaudeville routines that pass for a sense of humor here. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

B-movies don't have it easy these days. Thank the SyFy Channel, who've built a brand name on obvious schlock, constantly ruining the fun with their formula of intentional absurdity and dangerously low budgets, hoping to transform the network into a year-long meme that attracts the attention of social media watchmen and the easily entertained. SyFy has gone out of their way to take the zip out of bottom shelf discoveries, making the bluntly titled "Big Ass Spider!" even more of a surprise. From the outside looking in, the feature resembles yet another backyard creation hoping to create a monster movie ruckus with limited resources, armed with shaky CGI and a wink-happy sense of humor. However, "Big Ass Spider!" proves to be a real charmer with a professional sense of cinematic duty, deftly merging mayhem with chuckles as writer Gregory Gieras and director Mike Mendez set out to reclaim the tattered subgenre with some degree of invention and a belief in the simplistic screen power of a giant spider invasion. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It seems appropriate for the "Nature" series to devote an entire episode to the business of creature copulation, because the subject always seems to creep into every show anyway. Assembling an assortment of clips from various global documentary excursions, "Love in the Animal Kingdom" seeks to summarize various acts of seduction from a few of the world's most interesting animals, showcasing the long, tiring battles some males are faced with when trying to attract a little attention from the opposite sex. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The balance between the science of life and its inherent, untouchable mysteries is what drives the human experience. It's a hunger for knowledge and understanding that motivates a mind into constant analysis and reflection, and for some, the push and pull of such thinking slowly develops into obsession. Director Michael Apted, captain of the masterful "Up" documentary series, explores this insatiable drive of intelligence in two documentaries, 1997's "Inspirations" and 1999's "Me & Isaac Newton," capturing the process of art, the study of self, and the quest for answers in an exceedingly complex world. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1980's "The Octagon" was the fifth starring role for martial arts master Chuck Norris, and the first to try a few things differently as he built a career on mindless actioners. Instead of the traditional intimidate and pummel routine, the picture strived to include a worldwide sense of doom, tackling a story about the swelling state of terrorism with a sizable roster of players, leaving the heavy lifting to a group effort, allowing Norris to concentrate on his contemplative looks. It's ambitious work but not always successful, with director Eric Karson biting off a little more than he can chew when it comes time to build momentum with such a top-heavy film. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

They certainly don't make films like this anymore. 1977's "Day of the Animals" was released during a time of "nature strikes back" horror pictures, looking to spook audiences with a plausible enemy born from the shadows of the great outdoors. It's an interesting subgenre, and one that doesn't find many takers these days due to strict animal handling issues, leaving a title like "Day of the Animals" doubly compelling as both an exploitation movie and a sneaky production that somehow masterminded brutal animal attacks on a limited budget, though perhaps it's best to leave behind-the-scenes particulars alone (call it the "Milo and Otis" rule). Although undeniably silly and ridiculously broad at times, the feature remains a beguiling look at an environmental meltdown, using hot button scientific study of the time to inspire a violent chiller that pits man vs. beast or, during one scene, boy vs. shirtless Leslie Nielsen. Either way, "Day of the Animal" is a terrifically entertaining look at a unique type of doomsday. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

As the Italian Western genre began to flourish in the mid-1960s, taking the world by storm, certain pictures, such as "A Fistful of Dollars," were quickly solidified as modern classics, making a director like Sergio Leone synonymous with squinty actors and ruthless Ennio Morricone scores. However, a few other gems managed to slip into view during this fertile period, including 1966's "The Big Gundown," a fascinating manhunt tale from helmer Sergio Sollima that employed a political slant to its tale of unlikely respect, making the feature as much about the changing tide of American and Mexican relations as it was about cowboy violence. Impressively shot and edited, "The Big Gundown" manages to thrill, tickle, and thunder in all the ways a masterful western should, adding a nice counterpoint of flawed heroism to the genre's operatic accomplishments. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Interpretational filmmaking should be a great many things. We hope for mystery, symbolism, emotion, and art. To be in the hands of a helmer who takes this responsibility seriously results in dynamic, unforgettable cinema. "Post Tenebras Lux" is determined to stake its claim as a wonder of the subconscious, with writer/director Carlos Reygadas turning on the art-school afterburners to craft a vaguely defined ode to patriarchal concerns, class anxiety, and naturalistic splendor. It's not a feature that welcomes a thorough dissection, since most, if not all the movie exists in Reygadas's mind, where the images hold special meaning and the characters possess significant traits only one man is meant to understand. Undeniably beautiful but exhausting and intermittently intolerable, "Post Tenebras Lux" is one of those pictures that doesn't seek approval and doesn't particularly care if anyone is watching. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com