Category: DVD/BLU-RAY

In 1985, Chuck Norris was in a peculiar place in his career. Having
fought to build his brand name on a history of martial arts training and
demonstration, Norris took on Hollywood with the same determination,
starring in a series of actioners that transformed him into an icon, but
one with questionable taste in screenplays and directors. By the
mid-1980s, the star was trapped in a Cannon Films bear trap, churning
out pictures such as "Missing in Action" and "Invasion U.S.A." However,
in the midst of this contractual flurry, Norris managed to slip "Code of
Silence" into the mix, toplining a gritty, low-wattage police thriller
that only relies on Norris's standard display of kick-happy skills of
defense in the final act, allowing the star to, gulp, act a little
between displays of disgust. An entertaining ride through the underbelly
of Chicago, "Code of Silence" manages to temporarily bring Norris to a
realm of reality, sticking a bearded force for justice in the midst of
mob warfare and a sickly sea of corrupt cops, gradually shaping his
character into a lone wolf instead of just assuming the position before
the opening titles have an opportunity to finish. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

I wasn't familiar with the character of Inspector Morse when I reviewed
the pilot for the prequel series "Endeavour" a few months ago. Perhaps
this was for the best, as I didn't cling to any expectations when it
came time to understand how the detective should be played. After years
as a literary series (from author Colin Dexter) and a longstanding ITV
program, it makes sense to return a little youth to the dramatic
equation, allowing all idiosyncrasies and mysteries a cleansing reboot
with "Endeavour," a show that convincingly refreshes the franchise.
Playing nostalgic with its sixties setting and submitting powerful work
from stars Shaun Evans and Roger Allam, the effort is rich with mood and
stuffed with snappy whodunit attitude, sure to please those who've
invested plenty of time with the "Inspector Morse" universe. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The punk experience had it rough in the media during the 1980s. Think
old worrywart "Donahue" debates or the infamous "Battle of the Bands"
episode of "CHiPs." Marginalized and infantilized, the punk scene also
made for excellent antagonists — riling up audiences with heavily
painted exteriors and acidic attitudes. They're easily branded baddies
creating insta-tension with a mere twitch of their squinted eye. "Punk
Vacation" uses the music subculture in a predictable fashion, pitting
the misfits with switchblades against a rural community armed to the
teeth. It's exploitation cinema in its purest form, though the jubilant
nonsense of such an endeavor is often muted by the movie's absurd
construction, with the no-budget seams of the effort exposed in a most
severe manner. A ludicrous production that's stunningly earnest, "Punk
Vacation" is best appreciated as a bottom-shelf treasure with mistakes
galore, making it amusing on multiple levels of engagement, especially
those who prize examples of punk's influence on pop culture as it neared
its expiration date. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Most horror films are content to manufacture a single menace, concocting
a spirit, demon, or monster to terrorize innocents, using the run time
to expand on the motivation of the otherworldly antagonist. The
Malaysian fright fest "23:59" somehow settles on at least five different
directions of torment, allowing itself only 75 minutes to establish and
figure out the design of doom. It's a messy, unconvincing picture
emerging from a knowing place of experience, with monotonous barrack
life in military service the setting for Gilbert Chan's effort, pouring
his history with ghost stories and urban legends into a movie that
should really only take on a single evil entity at a time. Overwhelmed
and undercooked, "23:59" is earnestly acted, helping to ease obvious
directorial discomfort, but there's too much going in this small-scale
endeavor, which loses coherency the longer it engages in constant
gear-shifting when approaching the formation of an engrossing paranormal
villain. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Mental" is mental, living up to the potential of its title with a
wild, uninhibited display of psychological fractures and grotesque
comedy. The picture marks the return of writer/director P.J. Hogan to
the screen, who long ago helmed the cult hit "Muriel's Wedding" before
embarking on a deflating Hollywood career that included "My Best
Friend's Wedding," 2003's "Peter Pan," and "Confessions of a
Shopaholic." Revisiting his Australian roots, Hogan summons a tidal wave
of mischief and manic activity with "Mental," straddling a thin line
between insanity and compassion. Hilarious but a tonal bucking bronco,
the effort is perhaps best reserved for viewers in the mood for a
runaway mine cart viewing experience, willing to absorb all the chaos
Hogan happily provides. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

If "About Cherry" actually contained a story concerning the leading lady
known as Cherry, it would be a far more enlightening picture. Possibly
even great. Instead, the movie is a drippy, incomplete effort from
first-time director Stephen Elliot, who has a functional idea to drill
deep inside the scattered mind of an aspiring adult film actress
battling the desperate reality of her life, yet he lacks the
concentration required to shape these acidic experiences into a cohesive
tale of panty-dropping enlightenment. The feature is all over the
place, spending valuable screen time with vague, feeble characters and
implausible personal exchanges, resulting in a muddled, frustratingly
inconsequential journey of a surprisingly unsympathetic character and
her hazy ride to the slippery top of the porno food chain. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Although positioned as a blockbuster release in 1976, "Midway" is more
of a unique experiment in war film construction. While budget
considerations obviously factored into the decision, famed producer
Walter Mirisch decided to use archival footage and scenes from other
movies to help generate the necessary expanse to this World War II
effort, mixing the modern with the past, introducing the feature with
the proclamation: "This is the way it was." Well, technically, some of
it wasn't, but that doesn't stop "Midway" from rolling forward as a
movie primarily interested in naval stratagem, aiming for a balanced
portrait of intelligence and instinct as the U.S. and Japan moved their
animosity to the heart of the Pacific Ocean, treating the empty space as
a chess board, embarking on a pivotal moment in WWII history. To hedge
his bet, Mirisch hires an exceptional ensemble of famous faces who sink
their teeth into the opportunity to play historical dress-up, keeping
what's actually a very deliberate picture alert with well-oiled thespian
confidence. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Dr. Richard Smith is a scientist craving an opportunity to share his
beloved home continent of Australia with the viewing audience. A
jubilant Aussie with profound knowledge of the natural world, Dr. Smith
isn't looking explore recent developments in the land, but desires to
whisk the audience back over four billion years to witness Australia's
birth and development into a land of fascinating creatures and
unimaginable beauty and wonder. And how does one travel back in time
these days? By a magical GPS device that guides Dr. Smith down a rocky
road of existence, watching the terrain transform right in front of his
eyes as he details changes encountered while his jeep rockets into the
past. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Perhaps experimental sex comedies were a dime a dozen in the early
1970s, but I fail to see a reason why anyone would get all worked up
over "The Telephone Book." About as arousing as a tax audit and funny as
jury duty, the picture is a surreal journey into random confessions and
pig-masked monologuing, imagining itself to be a wonderland of carnal
delights and cutting satire, wafting over its audience like a wave of
marijuana smoke. For the clean and impatient in 2013, "The Telephone
Book" emerges as an oddity from 1971, but not a particularly compelling
one. With its outlandishness napping and its sense of humor missing,
this X-rated relic is best served to fans of obscure exploitation
cinema, those brave souls able to somehow appreciate the feature's
idiosyncrasies and its Vietnam-era taboo-smashing tastes. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Great Zebra Exodus" (an episode of the PBS program "Nature") sets out
to communicate the hardship of the titular animal as it strives to
survive in a harsh world of starvation and roving predators. We visit
Botswana, Africa to greet the zebras, who embark on a monumental
migration every year across the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, an area where
rain and food are scarce, forcing the zebras to march for over 2,500
miles on the hunt for sustenance. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Straight A's" has elements of emotion and meaning, yet it's nearly
impossible to understand exactly what screenwriter David Cole had in
mind originally for this baffling tale of soulful rehabilitation.
There's little here worth recommending to viewers, as director James Cox
(making a return to filmmaking after 2003's similarly mangled
"Wonderland") is lost in the details of craftsmanship, losing sight of
the dramatic power that's supposedly meant to fuel the picture to its
searing, poetic conclusion. "Straight A's" is messy and undernourished,
struggling to make sense of itself while issuing sizable moments of
confrontation and introspection, hanging limited actors out to dry as
the production spends more time perfecting the lighting than connecting
the players in this limp game of family dysfunction and temptation. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

They are considered to be the most elegant, balletic horses around, yet
this grace doesn't come easily. The "Nature" episode "Legendary White
Stallions" explores the world of the Lipizzaners, the regal horses that
populate the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, Austria, where they are
born and bred to become champions of movement and personality, extending
a premium bloodline that's celebrated around the globe. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

My education in the work of director Fernando Di Leo has primarily
consisted of watching stoic men go about the daily business of murder,
punctuated with the occasional feminine distraction and staring contests
between antagonists. The ominously titled "Shoot First, Die Later"
contains many of the same elements as before, happily showing off the
hardness of character Di Leo built a reputation on. Heck, this movie opens
with one of the villains ordering a mass murder of local dim-wits, with
the camera enjoying the view of a gunman blasting away at the
vulnerable legs of his victims. However, this 1974 feature is perhaps
the strongest, most penetrative effort from the maestro I've seen to
date, revealing an unexpectedly potent emotional core and richly defined
moral struggle, giving the harsh violence and chest-puffing genuine
meaning. It's a marvelous picture, spotlighting roughhouse action and a
leather-jacket score, while reinforcing Di Leo's iconic status as a
crime film craftsman tackling a challenging study of duality and honor.
Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"K-11" marks the directorial debut for longtime script supervisor Jules
Stewart, though she's probably best known as the mother of "Twilight"
superstar and famed stammer queen Kristin Stewart. Only able to talk her
kid into a voice cameo for her first helming gig, Stewart is left
without star power and a decent budget to bring her prison epic to life,
with only a few tricks, some unusual sexual tension, and an
overabundance of quirk and chaos to help sell her vision to the
audience. "K-11" is an odd feature and it's rarely a successful one,
sweating up a storm to come off edgy and unconventional. Tonally
unsteady and dramatically asthmatic, the picture is only moderately
tolerable due to few technical strengths and a key role played by Kate
del Castillo, who manages to make a slight supporting turn into a grand
display of camp, menace, and cockeyed sex appeal Stewart should've made
the focus of the entire film. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"The Bletchley Circle" has an irresistible hook for crime-solving
entertainment, following the actions of four brilliant codebreakers from
WWII as they reteam to track down a serial killer in their hometown
nearly a decade later. I'm surprised this isn't a Hollywood blockbuster,
as the premise is ripe for maximum genre exposure. Instead of overblown
theatrics, we have this humble ITV production that's made its way to
America via PBS in an effort to show the audience there's a little more
bite to public television than one might expect. Sensible with a few
outrageous touches and smashingly acted by the four leading ladies, "The
Bletchley Circle" is addictive and fulfilling, carrying on like a
traditional British procedural, only with a delightful push of
empowerment to give it identity and a spirit to celebrate. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Dead Sushi" hits a note of insanity that's wholly entertaining and
frequently uproarious. It's a Japanese production that manages to merge
the madcap and the macabre with a defined sense of humor, making sure to
remind those horrified by the geysers of blood and peels of filleted
skin that, in the end, it's all about having a good time at the movies.
It's a difficult tonal tightrope walk, yet writer/director Noboru Iguchi
manages to construct an outlandish feature that never overstays its
welcome and offers some true originality as it mines the monster madness
of old. After all, it's nearly impossible to dislike a film that
highlights flying sushi, a man-sized tuna antagonist (wielding an ax,
natch), and offers a song performed by a friendly portion of tamago.
"Dead Sushi" is nuts, but its absurdity is most appetizing. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Earth is an extremely complex planet, and we don't always have the best
perspective when it comes to assessing its sophisticated performance. Up
high in the sky is a network of satellites (some reaching up to 25,000
miles above Earth) tasked with studying the meteorological systems of
the planet, helping to create useful graphics that provide a deeper
understanding of routines and changes in the atmosphere. "Earth from
Space" is a "Nova" episode that details the work of this eye-in-the-sky
team as it isolates planetary habits and sudden changes, helping
scientists understand significant threats facing the continents, while
solving a few mysteries along the way. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

With "The Central Park Five," Sarah Burns enters the filmmaking scene,
accepting the challenge of a documentary concentrating on a monumental
perversion of justice. Of course, Burns has a few aces up her sleeve,
bringing in husband David McMahon and father Ken Burns (the man behind
such iconic programming as "The Civil War," "Baseball," and the recent
"The Dust Bowl") to co-direct, joining the family business as a seeker
of truth and an admirer of history. Those already in step with the Burns
way won't be surprised by the look and feel of "The Central Park Five,"
but the story is unforgettable, detailing a nightmare scenario for five
Harlem teenagers facing hard prison time and the condemnation of
America for a crime they didn't commit. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After the rampaging worldwide success of "Downton Abbey," it was
inevitable that a knockoff would emerge, cut from the same elegant
cloth. With "Mr. Selfridge," a game of rumor, disaster, and manners
returns to the small screen, though it's miles away from countryside
opulence and aristocratic concerns, turning to the inner workings of a
department store to embark on a multi-character odyssey of melodrama.
It's tart, expansive material, yet the endeavor is weighed down by a
significant case of déjà vu. Hoping to satisfy ravenous "Downton" fans
between seasons, "Mr. Selfridge" comes across as a soggy carbon copy,
laboring to cook up the same regality and ridiculousness that defined
the smash Julian Fellowes show, only here the results are uneven,
uninteresting, and anchored by an actor who's physically and
psychologically uncomfortable in the leading role. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While I didn't find myself overwhelmed with the insanity of the 2011
hit, "Bridesmaids," its absurd length and dramatic decline is a
Caribbean vacation compared to the forced acid bath of "Bachelorette."
Shockingly unlikable and unfunny, this latest round of women behaving
badly is crippled by unnecessary excess, botched characterizations, and a
calculated round of 1990s nostalgia to appeal to the core demographic.
Aching to be irreverent and insightful when it comes to the flattened
soul of the thirtysomething party girl facing the cell clank of
adulthood, "Bachelorette" would be better off as a soulless farce, not
the noxious semi-melodrama it eventually becomes. It's a movie that
doesn't know whether to hug its characters or push them off a bridge. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com