Category: DVD/BLU-RAY

In 1976, director Michael Ritchie created "The Bad News Bears," which went on to become a comedy classic and a beloved sports-themed film. It dealt honestly and hilariously with the realities of team sports, capturing a refreshingly honest underdog movie experience. In 1986, Ritchie returns to the same concept with "Wildcats," this time joined by Goldie Hawn, who plays the coach of a struggling high school football team, tasked with whipping slackers into shape, a job the character isn't sure about. For his second time around, an older Ritchie doesn't have the same dedication to nailing the nuances of the sport or the team dynamic, put in charge of Hawn-branded entertainment, which was big business in the 1980s, finding the actress riding the success of "Private Benjamin" into several cheery knockoffs. "Wildcats" isn't nearly as sharp as it could be, with Ritchie and writer Ezra Sacks ("FM," "A Small Circle of Friends") playing it safe with the material, dealing with broad humor and cliched personal problems. The whole thing is meant to be held together by Hawn's charm, and there's plenty of that, but the production is missing a strong screenplay, giving the sport and its participants some needed Buttermaker-approved grit. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

During his interview for the Blu-ray release of 1991's "All-American Murder," actor Charlie Schlatter reveals that he initially met with director Ken Russell about the project, excited that the mastermind behind the psychedelic highs of "Tommy" would be in charge of a minor whodunit with surges of graphic violence. Whatever occurred behind the scenes isn't clear, but Russell eventually left the project, quickly replaced days before shooting by Anson Williams, who made a name for himself as Potsie Weber on classic show "Happy Days," spending a full decade making comedy for network television. Williams transitioned to T.V. direction after "Happy Days" ended, banging out episodes of shows like "L.A. Law," "Hooperman," and "Just the Ten of Us." "All-American Murder" is Williams's feature debut, and if there's anybody in the business who's the exact opposite of Ken Russell, it's Anson Williams. After watching the picture, one gets a sense of what the gonzo "Altered States" and "Crimes of Passion" moviemaker could've done with the material. Williams doesn't embarrass himself, but it quickly becomes clear this type of film is beyond his skill set, unable to sustain initial interest in the details of the central crime. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Making his first film since 2008's "Soi Cowboy," writer/director Thomas Clay pours everything he's got into "Fanny Lye Deliver'd," a 17th century drama that takes its time to get anywhere. Clay has constructed a true cinematic journey, creating a picture that's all about language and screen details, working to make this tale of Puritan living feel as authentic as possible. There's a rough side to the endeavor, which takes a significant amount of screen time to discover, as Clay is more interested in building tension gradually, eventually reaching a point of fury that's realistically motivated. A sort of period version of "Funny Games" is exposed, and Clay indulges himself with acts of sexual and physical violence. But there's something about "Fanny Lye Deliver'd" that suggests he'd rather shoot farm life routines and landscapes all day, with the limited story served up here almost becoming a burden to the moviemaker. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1983's "Summer Camp Girls" presents an odd take on the seasonal getaway, rethinking the pleasures of the open world with friends and counselors by turning the whole experience into a prison-lite event for a group of 18-year-old girls discarded by their elite families. Hope for a "Meatballs"-esque take on camp shenanigans isn't rewarded, but director Gary Graver and writer Harold Lime try to sustain something of a fun factor to the picture, which deals more with nutty seductions than juvenile pranks, trying to maintain some heat for adult cinema fans. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Producer Dino De Laurentiis wanted to make the big hit of 1976 with his remake of "King Kong," keeping publicity fires burning for a full year before the film's release. It was hype on a grand scale, only requiring a movie that could match such marketing fury. "King Kong" isn't quite the towering adventure promised by De Laurentiis, but the picture offers tremendous scale, with budgetary bucks spent to inspire awe with enormous sets and exotic locations. And then there's the eponymous ape, who's less impressive, emerging mostly as a man-in-suit, competing with the stop-motion animation miracles found in the original 1933 classic. "King Kong" strives to be a sincere retelling of the adventure tale, aiming for spectacle and updated villainy, and it works for the most part, always most compelling when digging into the mystery of King Kong, not showcasing full body displays of him. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"The Cellar" had a rocky ride to a release. Screenwriter John Woodward was initially hired to direct the feature, adapting a short story from author David Henry Keller. The job proved to be too much for him to handle, with Woodward fired after a few days on the set, replaced by Kevin Tenney, who previously helmed "Witchboard" and "Night of the Demons." Tenney's job involved reworking the script and managing a speedy shoot for the low- budget picture, emerging with his version of a tale involving a family's fight for survival against an evil Native American-bred entity living in the muck under their rural Texas house. Tenney tried to deliver something sellable, but the producers didn't trust his vision, eventually restructuring the story and adding scenes to beef up the mystical aspects of the endeavor, eventually getting the film out into the world on VHS to inspire sleepover rental choices everywhere. Now, with this Blu-ray release, viewers are invited to see Tenney's original version of "The Cellar," which isn't a satisfying genre offering, suggesting the material simply wasn't meant to be, no matter the edit. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1979's "Frat House" was created to capitalize on the raging success of 1978's "Animal House." The adult film industry wasn't about to let a collegiate setting for tomfoolery and bedroom antics go to waste, inspiring the production to generate its own sense of playfulness, with the full title of the endeavor being "Natural Lamporn's "Frat House." See what they did there? Writer/director "Sven Conrad" (aka David Worth, who would go on to helm "Kickboxer") doesn't have the time or money to really give the Universal Pictures release a proper pantsing, but he organizes a lighthearted effort that's more in love with silent comedies than National Lampoon, dealing with pure zaniness between scenes of sexual gymnastics and disco fantasies. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1979's "Heavenly Desire" isn't a remake of 1978's "Heaven Can Wait," but the production certainly wouldn't mind if the Warren Beatty hit came to mind during the viewing experience. It offers a return to limbo for two characters caught between places of eternal rest, only here the goal for the duo is entrance to a place called "Hooker Heaven," which is actually Hell. There are many unanswered questions found in the picture, but director Jaacov Jaacovi doesn't offer much more than lighthearted adult entertainment with a slight spiritual twist, working in as much slapstick as possible while aiming to deliver a film with some noticeable heat. There's strangeness all around "Heavenly Desire," which tends to find its rhythm with nonsense, keeping things peculiar without blocking the bedroom view. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1979's "Taxi Girls" takes viewers into a heated battle between cab companies working the streets of Hollywood. However, only the ladies of Pink Taxi have previous experience with streetwalking. "Taxi Girls" is a semi-comedy about the lives of prostitutes who decide to make their illegal business passably legitimate to outsiders, with the screenplay detailing the lives of employees who spend their days driving around, picking up customers for some quick action before dropping them off at their destination. It's the ideal scenario for adult entertainment, exploring the formation and commencement of a ridiculous plan for employment, and it's all quite amusing before a third act turn into violence dampens the cheery spirit of the endeavor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Movie producers love a hit, especially when success belongs to another feature. The urgency to replicate an impressive box office take is found in 1983's "Ironmaster," which makes an attempt to become the next "Quest for Fire." The 1981 Jean-Jacques Annaud picture surprised a lot of people when it found an audience, and "Ironmaster" is here to sustain such excitement, only without the "science fantasy" angle that made the original prehistoric adventure endeavor so memorable. Director Umberto Lenzi keeps the cavemen and the mystery of the time period, but generally drops everything else, working to make more of an actioner instead, and one that details the formation of metal-based combat. There are more conversations in "Ironmaster," and a lot more ridiculous behavior, with Lenzi overseeing a repetitive effort that launches with enthusiasm but gradually runs out of things to do. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Blastfighter" is an odd title for a picture about a man who's armed with a super gun, but doesn't even use the thing until the final ten minutes of the movie. Director Lamberto Bava sets up a potent revenge story in the opening moments of the feature, but soon transitions to something of a "Deliverance" homage with the 1984 release, putting star Michael Sopkiw through survival challenges near the Chattooga River in Georgia, even recruiting original "banjo man" Billy Redden for a cameo to keep up the comparisons. Unfortunately, Bava is no John Boorman, and while "Blastfighter" has select moments of compelling violence and steely performances, it's not a cohesive celebration of good vs. evil, dealing with undefined storytelling and blurred areas of heroism, and there's the long delay to the inevitable, keeping the endeavor more about breathlessness and bad dubbing than a rousing display of backwoods vengeance. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Robert Patrick has experienced an erratic career of highs and lows, and he spent most of the 1990s trying to find his place in the industry after scoring the role of a lifetime, portraying in unstoppable T-1000 in James Cameron's "Terminator 2: Judgment Day." After reaching such a career triumph, Patrick became a working actor in need of employment, eventually finding his way to "Last Gasp," a strange 1995 DTV offering that blends indigenous tribal violence with a detective story, and one that also takes time to add some softcore sex scenes. Patrick puts in some effort, portraying a ruthless businessman undergoing a supernatural change, and he's the big draw of the endeavor, which often struggles to work up excitement over the lunacy it's selling. "Last Gasp" isn't a hoot, but it provides a few decent turns of plot to keep things passably interesting. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In a slightly more playful mood, director Alain Payet strives to have a little fun with the oddities of the sex industry in 1975's "Prostitution Clandestine." Perhaps describing the endeavor as fun is overstating things slightly, but there's slightly less heaviness than "Furies Sexuelles," with Payet taking more of an episodic route with the feature, examining the experiences of photo models who also work as prostitutes, using this special cover to prevent exposure to authorities, leaving them at the mercy of the legal system. It's not exactly silly, but the Payet tries to keep things moving along, loading the effort with plenty of kinky connections and bedroom encounters, and its semi-lightness is welcoming. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1976's "Furies Sexuelles" is not a movie for a casual evening of adult entertainment. Director Alain Payet attempts to bring darkness to the picture, which concerns the psychological and physical destruction of a woman turning to prostitution to solve her financial problems, getting in too deep with distorted male sexuality and all the violence it contains. Payet endeavors to make a film that follows certain adult cinema demands, but he's also interested in creating a rough ride of kink play and disturbing behavior, offering more of a dramatic feature than one focused solely on titillation. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Tom Paton has spent the last few years attempting to find his way through the film business with small-scale action and sci-fi endeavors ("Black Site," "G-Loc"), working with technology and small spaces to create escapism that favors some degree of excitement. With "400 Bullets," Paton (who also scripts) tries to remain earthbound, turning his attention to a double-cross story set during wartime troubles. The helmer wisely whittles down narrative complications to just a handful of pressure points, leaving the rest of the feature to mano a mano battles, shootouts, and light conversation. "400 Bullets" doesn't do anything new, but Paton handles familiar business with enthusiasm, looking to jazz up the norm with raw violence, eschewing tightly choreographed mayhem for screen hostility that reflects the urgent, confusing survival situation at hand. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Co-writer/director Josh Becker aims to take his Hitchcock fandom to the next level in 1997's "Running Time," which attempts the same illusion of a long, single-take feature that was found in 1948's "Rope" (and various imitators). Instead of offering a dramatic examination of a crime, Becker and co-writer Peter Choi decide to put the audience into the middle of dangerous business, launching a real-time heist movie that follows star Bruce Campbell around the Los Angeles area, portraying a man with a plan facing an hour of his life where everything goes wrong. "Running Time" has an enticing gimmick, and it's superbly executed by Becker, who really sells the feeling of unbroken screen activity. It helps to have a supercharged premise filled with thinning patience and hostile characters, and when it's locked in suspense mode, the endeavor is riveting. Becker and Choi can't maintain such pace, even for a scant run time of 69 minutes, but they get the effort moving in a major way, earning viewer interest in the unfolding nightmare of mishaps. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1977's "Death Promise" is a martial arts-infused revenge story that might come across as very familiar to anyone who happens to be a fan of Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill." Perhaps the feature was a direct influence on the 2003 action bonanza, offering a similar tale of vengeance featuring an episodic climb to justice and a to-do list of targets, with the bad guys connected in a secretive chain of evildoing. It's easy to see how Tarantino improved on the idea, but "Death Promise" has a unique perspective of its own, examining the frustrations of life in New York City tenement buildings, where the poor live in squalor while rich landlords toy with the properties and the inhabitants. It's a terrific foundation for a ferocious thriller, and while the production can't exactly wind up all the way due to lack of filmmaking finesse and a lean budget, it does reasonably well as a B-movie offering of karate authority and inventive kills, giving the whole shebang some interesting enthusiasm. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The worlds of "Animal House" and slasher cinema collide in 1989's "Rush Week," which hopes to throw a big screen party while still tending to the slaughter of young characters. Screenwriters Russell V. Manzatt and Michael W. Leighton aren't invested in originality, dealing with sameness of suspects and a killer on the loose, but they have enthusiasm for genre filmmaking, creating a collection of odd personalities and professional drives, while Bralver (a longtime stunt man who worked on "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," "Road House," and "Battlestar Galactica") tries to make his feature-length directing debut something different, investing in as much style and physical activity as the limited budget allows. There's some genuine moviemaking hustle going on in "Rush Week," which isn't the norm for this type of entertainment, giving it a little extra emphasis while it manages horror formula. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After trying his luck with a more spectacle-oriented tale of a submarine disaster with 2018's "The Command" (a.k.a. "Kursk"), director Thomas Vinterberg returns to his indie roots with "Another Round." The filmmaker goes bleak with a story concerning four men and their abuse of alcohol for therapeutic purposes, creating a screenplay (with Tobias Lindholm) that examines the state of emotional stasis facing some middle-aged men, who play an extended game of justification just to feel again. Vinterberg make a semi-return to his Dogme 95 roots with the endeavor, going raw and real with the feature, which touches on a few areas of dark comedy before returning to the messiness of people dealing with personal issues and troubled relationships. In a career full of interesting movies, "Another Round" emerges as one of Vinterberg's finest efforts. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Honor Killing" is a triple threat offering from Mercedes the Muse, who takes on directing, acting, and screenwriting duties, endeavoring to pay tribute to the underground cinema scene of the 1960s and '70s. She dreams up a revenge story to follow, and works with digital tinkering to create a "grindhouse" look to the film, which is meant to resemble a battered print. There's ambition to celebrate the power of feminist might in cult cinema, but Mercedes the Muse has no discernable artistic ability, content to make viewers suffer through the longest 67 minutes of their lives as she cooks up a dreary, incoherent, and amateurish picture about one woman's quest to kill all predatory men. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com