Category: DVD/BLU-RAY

In the future, old men will be robots, and they will all wear ascots. That's the promise made by "Cyborg 2087," a 1966 time travel adventure directed by Franklin Adreon, who attempts to stretch roughly 30 minutes of story into an 86-minute-long film. He's not exactly a miraculous architect of suspense, with the feature enduring incredible padding just to make it to a release-worthy length, but there's a certain tone of super-serious no- budget sci-fi that keeps the effort entertaining, even when it isn't doing anything onscreen. "Cyborg 2087" isn't a genre classic, that's for sure, but it retains some appeal due to committed performances and Adreon's B-movie hustle, often doing anything he can to keep the picture on the move.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

On the Mount Rushmore of glitter-thwacked, cocaine-dusted cinematic camp from the late 1970s and early '80s, there's "Xanadu," "Can't Stop the Music," "The Apple," and 1978's "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." I'm sure the production marched into battle with a sincerity, striving to redefine an iconic album from The Beatles for a new generation, offering a loose narrative and legendary tunes to The Bee Gees, Peter Frampton, Aerosmith, Billy Preston, Alice Cooper, Steve Martin, and a host of additional musicians and comedians. Assuming the jukebox musical form, "Sgt. Pepper" means to be a good time with familiar music, but producer Robert Stigwood can't help himself, with the feature bizarre and excessive; it's an iffy idea that's out of control, endeavoring to define classics, but ending up a garish curiosity. However, it's no trainwreck, boasting many fine production achievements during its presumptuous run time. It's an easy film to dismiss, and perhaps it should be, but director Michael Schultz is after something memorable, doing his best to marry classic Hollywood spectacle to the soft rock sounds of the 1970s.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Hubris. If there's a single word that defines The Vietnam War, it's hubris. It's a conflict that's been covered from a thousand different angles, depicted in all forms of media over the last 50 years, with film being a particularly evocative meditation on an era of political folly, innocence lost, and a various nations thrown into chaos. Think "Coming Home," "Platoon," and "Born on the Fourth of July" — vivid tales of psychological erosion, but personal ones as well, using the particulars of combat and self-destruction to inspire riveting drama. Directors Ken Burns and Lynn Novick elect to forgo corners of the conflict to wrap their arms around the whole event, creating "The Vietnam War," a ten-part documentary that endeavors to make sense of almost everything connected to the shocking experience, from origin to aftermath. Coming from a creative team that's already dissected The Civil War, World War I, and World War II, there's expected greatness with "The Vietnam War," an assurance of quality. And yet, Burns and Novick manage to surprise with their balance between detail and expanse, capturing finer points of mental illness and shame as they track the progress of global horror, born from sheer political arrogance.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There's no way to accurately describe "Baby Bump," which takes an experimental art look at the pains of puberty from the perspective of a particularly confused boy. It's a scattergun effort from writer/director Kuba Czekaj, who gives the endeavor his all on a visual level, playing with editing, split-screen, animation, and abstraction to make his comedy(?) aggressively playful. Whatever this is, it handles itself with remarkable attention to detail, giving underground cinema cowboys a true bucking bronco viewing experience.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The real question of 1963's "Love with the Proper Stranger" isn't a will they/won't they situation concerning marriage, but are the filmmakers capable of making a feature that highlights extended conversations about abortion seem warm and cuddly by the end credits? The answer is no, but there's plenty of charm to enjoy and two strong lead performances from Steve McQueen and Natalie Wood, who supply vivid takes on young opposites forced to make critical decisions about their lives when a one-night stand makes plans to bond them forever. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Atomic Age cinema offers one for the kiddies with 1954's "Tobor the Great." It's a giant robot picture, but instead of inducing paranoia and posing a threat, the titular creation is more of a pal to all, especially to a special boy who needs a mechanical buddy. Dropping an intimidation factor, "Tobor the Great" is mischief in a minor key, gradually softening period fears of metal destruction to play a lukewarm spy game with mediocre characters and plenty of padding.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

As many publications have already mentioned, the volcanic island of Krakatoa is actually west of Java. Oops. It's the first of many mistakes encountered during "Krakatoa: East of Java," a strangely titled disaster effort from 1969 that was reportedly built backwards, with producers completing work on special effects before they had a script, requiring the writing to fit the needs of spectacle. The strain of such creative madness shows throughout the feature, which is incredibly dull when it isn't blowing things up, unable to connect as a melodrama despite a fine cast trying their best to look vaguely interested in their characters.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

These days, it's impossible to go a season without the release of a comic book movie. They're big business these days, perhaps the one sure thing in Hollywood right now, and the industry shows no signs of slowing down the productions, endeavoring to dazzle fans with big-budgeted, snugly costumed fury, often scripted with plans to generate entire "universes" to fully milk source materials for everything they've got. In this day and age of three "Spider-Man" franchises created and released in 15 years, it's hard to consider a time when moguls had no idea what to do with the heroic antics of ink and paint titans. 1941's "Adventures of Captain Marvel" is largely credited as the first big screen attempt to do something significant with a comic book creation, using the serial format (12 chapters in total) to detail feats of strength, survival, and sleuthing, with emphasis on broad fantasy to supply proper weekly escapism and trigger ongoing interest in the fate of a beefy superhero in a tiny cape.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"The Birthday Party" is the play that reportedly changed the career of writer Harold Pinter, who finally found his voice in this particularly strange offering of kitchen sink abstraction. In the hands of director William Friedkin, the 1968 picture is pulled from the stage to the claustrophobia of cinema, finding the helmer respectful of the source material, but working to make it come alive on the screen, delivering a lively version of an impenetrable play. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In the long and distinguished career of director Sydney Pollack, a few classics emerged. Think "Three Days of the Condor," "Tootsie," and "Jeremiah Johnson." Perhaps his most interesting effort is 1969's "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?", which immerses viewers into the world of a marathon dance contest during the Great Depression, delivering a vivid depiction of personal need and exhaustion as a simple game for a cash prize turns into a gladiatorial battle among desperate people. An adaptation of Horace McCoy's 1935 novel, "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" is a commanding, harrowing movie, showcasing Pollack's gifts with actors and his ability to visually communicate the physical toil of the contest, which carries on for months, and the helmer is prepared to make the audience feel every single hour of every single day, generating a frightfully precise viewing experience.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1960 was a big year for Jerry Lewis, welcoming the release of "Cinderfella" and "The Bellboy," which was the comedian's directorial debut, inspiring greater control over his movies. Arriving earlier in the year was "Visit to a Small Planet," which has the distinction of being a silly Jerry Lewis comedy that originated as a Gore Vidal play. The Vidal-ness of it all has been scrubbed away, but the theatrical presentation remains, with the sci-fi comedy very static and exaggerated. The production itself wants to compete with Lewis's rubbery performance, making this oddball romp with a literally untouchable alien more loud than funny, though the star can always be counted on to make a satisfying mess of scenes.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In the legacy of Ozploitation, it's difficult to understand what "Snapshot" represents to the cinematic tradition. Coming from the makers of "Patrick," which went far to establish the popularity of Australian chillers, "Snapshot" doesn't register with the same level of creepiness, emerging as more of a character drama than something intending to rile up audiences. It's an unusually reserved effort which trusts in the possibilities of patience, never really pursuing a defined plot until most of the movie is already over. Director Simon Wincer and screenwriters Everett and Chris De Roche trust in quieter, conversational moments, and it gives the feature a different approach to unsettling behavior. It lacks most overt surprises, but the nightmare summoned here appears to be psychological in design, tracking the ruin of a young woman who only wanted quick cash and a little taste of independence. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Exploitation goes pure and uncut for 1985's "Tenement," a film that takes great pleasure in being incredibly violent, with particular attention to the massacre of its characters. The effort comes from Roberta Findlay, a practiced helmer of sleaze, and she's in a particular mood to deliver a truly uneasy viewing experience detailing the horrors of urban living, taking on the nightmare of the Bronx with full attention to B-movie suffering, sold under the guise of a siege picture. Because of its '80s creation date, some of this aggression hasn't aged particularly well, but sections of "Tenement" still manage to summon their intended noise, with Findlay making sure to linger on unsavory business for as long as she can — a fixation that inspired the MPAA to slap the endeavor with an X rating for its initial theatrical release, making it even more irresistible to admirers of low-budget hellraising.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After creating a moviegoing phenomenon with 1939's "Gone with the Wind," producer David O. Selznick understandably craved a return to such cultural domination. It took him seven years, but Selznick reunited with epic filmmaking for "Duel in the Sun," an adaptation of novel by Niven Busch, getting him out of the south and into the west, finding a cowboy tale that brimming with volatile personalities and boiling emotions. Sadly, "Duel in the Sun" is not as patient as "Gone with the Wind" when it comes to heated confrontations and tangled relationships, with this need to revive the alchemy of the earlier effort screwing with the timing and emphasis of the new production.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

As a director, John Huston has enjoyed an incredible career, dating back to his very first outing, 1941's "The Maltese Falcon." 1985's "Prizzi's Honor" is Huston's penultimate picture, but more importantly, it was the last work that connected with a large audience, becoming a sleeper hit during the "Rambo: First Blood Part II"/"Back to the Future" summer, and eventually going on to collect numerous awards, including an Oscar for co-star Anjelica Huston, his very own daughter. Certainly the movie charmed audiences unprepared for a twisty mafia endeavor with a sly sense of humor, but "Prizzi's Honor" also acquired attention due to Huston's participation, acting as sort of a career capper for a helmer who had a little trouble navigating the late 1970s and early '80s. On its own, the film is mostly just fine, never remarkable, coasting on the abilities of its tremendously talented ensemble, which is teeming with character actors and toplined by then-titans, Kathleen Turner and Jack Nicholson. The Huston touch is there with cultural details and bluntness, but the feature falls a little flat when it gets caught up in plot mechanics. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

Joel and Ethan Coen rarely take it easy on audiences, but 1991's "Barton Fink" is one of their most puzzling, internalized creations. It's a tough nut to crack, and perhaps it's never meant to be, deliberately playing with enigmas and limited information to create an unsettling atmosphere of personal and creative disintegration. It's pure Coen in many aspects, showcasing a tight sense of style and intimidation, but it also offers a few stretches of dark high jinks to preserve the viewing experience. Coming off arguably their finest effort, 1990's "Miller's Crossing," "Barton Fink" plays like an impish purge of creative frustrations and distractions, with the Coen Brothers, tired of managing a lush period piece, electing to plunge within, crafting the most personal psychological drill job of their careers. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

Reuniting with star Bob Hope after their work on "The Paleface" and "The Lemon Drop Kid," director Frank Tashlin, a veteran of animated entertainment, goes full cartoon with 1952's "Son of Paleface." Technically, it's a sequel, but Tashlin and Hope treat the production as their own rocket ride to the moon and back, going insanely broad to keep audience attention, staging a highly bizarre romp that's truly unpredictable and utterly exhausting. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Joseph Sarno was a filmmaker not known for taking it easy. With over 100 directorial credits during his career, Sarno was happy to try anything to keep working, mostly sticking to sexploitation to inspire quickie productions. Sarno devotees largely consider 1966's "Red Roses of Passion" to be one of his best, offering a familiar no-budget look with the addition of a slightly sinister tale of demonic influence and sexual chaos, using salacious content wisely, helping to distract from the picture's obvious shortcomings.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In the aftermath of "Jaws" and its startling success at the box office, there was a horde of rip-offs lining up to feast on audience interest in aquatic horror. 1979's "The Great Alligator" isn't a decent lift, but the Italian production has the right idea when it comes to staging underwater mayhem, especially with a limited budget. Director Sergio Martino has a plan to frighten audiences with direct shots of alligator aggression, but he's much better off with the feature's loose sense of native mysticism, which doesn't require the services of a rubber monster.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Throat…12 Years After" is careful to note that it's not a sequel to "Deep Throat," but a semi-similar exploration of inhibition from directed Gerard Damiano, who clearly wants to capitalize on his earlier fame, but doesn't want to risk the legal woes.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com