Category: DVD/BLU-RAY

Assembled in the shadow of "The Wild Bunch," 1971's "The Hunting Party" plays with industry trends, merging the strangeness of spaghetti westerns with more direct offerings of punishment. It's an unappetizing feature, but it certainly isn't lazy, watching director Don Medford work diligently to make characters suffer or torment one another during every frame of the picture, practically getting off on the agony "The Hunting Party" provides. Perhaps to some, all this aggression carries meaning or reflects genre study, but in the actual endeavor, it's pure excess without the narrative substance to support its obsession with the grotesque.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Perhaps the most fascinating bit of trivia associated with 1951's "The Lemon Drop Kid" (adapted from the short story by Damon Runyon) is the debut of "Silver Bells," a Christmas song that started here and grew to become a holiday perennial, covered by a multitude of artists, most famously conquered by star Bob Hope's frequent screen partner, Bing Crosby. Of course, there's an entire movie here as well, with seasonal cheer put into hands of Hope, who tries on a thin layer of Capra for this con man tale of semi-redemption, with the production making the most of his special brand of comedy. "Silver Bells" is merely icing on the cake.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After scoring a hit with the 1980 disco-infused slasher film, "Prom Night," director Paul Lynch remains with the genre that gave him a career, returning to scary business with 1982's "Humongous." While formula remains, putting young people against a shadowy evil, the setting has changed radically, with Lynch moving to a remote island to stage his chiller, using empty forests and houses to help with ambiance has he works to communicate a slightly more sophisticated motivation for a massacre. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1966's "Who's Crazy?" is a filmed project for The Living Theater, an experimental theater group co-founded by Julian Beck, who starred as Kane in "Poltergeist II: The Other Side" (surely not his finest hour, but his most recognizable turn). Keeping up with the group's mission to explore the inner and outer space of life through performance, "Who's Crazy?" is an explosion of imagery, symbolism, and musical performance, offering a buzzing, swirling, swooping jazz soundtrack to support the endeavor, created by Ornette Coleman, David Izenzon, and Charles Moffett (with vocals by Marianne Faithfull).  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Bob Hope is generally known as a rascal, often employing a sardonic wit to best his challengers on television, film, and radio. Always armed with an ace one-liner and complete comfort with any situation, it's somewhat bizarre to watch Hope in 1947's "My Favorite Brunette," which asks the comedy legend to play unhinged for 90 minutes, always stuck in losing situations, caught in the middle of complicated problems. While it's far from fresh ground for the performer, it's a nice change of pace, working to bend his big screen persona in unusual directions with "My Favorite Brunette," which keeps him busy for nearly every frame of the feature. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Taking an extended break from collaboration after 1947's "Road to Rio," Bob Hope and Bing Crosby return to franchise duty with 1952's "Road to Bali," which marks a Technicolor debut for the series. Director Hal Walker takes the visual challenge seriously, working to pack in as many dazzling views as possible for the sixth installment of the comedy travelogue, giving his stars a brighter big screen playground to work with. "Road to Bali" also introduces a more manic approach to humor, with the production working in gags whenever they possibly can, turning what was once simple jesting into an occasionally bizarre farce that's guided by well-rehearsed shenanigans from Hope and Crosby.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

For their fifth "Road" picture, 1947's "Road to Rio" doesn't actually make much time for terra firma, keeping stars Bob Hope (playing trumpeter Hot Lips Barton) and Bing Crosby (as nightclub singer Scat Sweeney) on a boat, with Rio more of a destination than a playground for their latest adventure. Keeping up with their customary charms and wit, along with plenty of musical numbers to help win over audiences, "Road to Rio" is a largely successful installment of the comedy series, keeping Hope and Crosby busy with shenanigans that make the most of their individual gifts, while keeping things relatively casual to encourage the franchise's cocktail hour ambiance. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

1977's "Kingdom of the Spiders" is not a particularly original film, but it does have specificity of threat, selecting one of the more powerful phobias shared by millions. Sure, sharks and birds don't provide the most peaceful imagery, but there's something about spiders that hits right at the heart of horror. Director John Cardos doesn't have much of a budget to do something epic with "Kingdom of the Spiders," but he values his tiny stars, keeping crawly things motoring along as the cast and a substantial number of extras explore levels of panic. It's not polished work, but it's mostly fun and filled with cheap thrills.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Returning for duty with his "Point Blank" star Lee Marvin, director John Boorman cuts to the heart of war in 1968's "Hell in the Pacific," which boils down World War II conflict to the adventures of two soldiers (one American, one Japanese) stranded on a remote island. Boorman ditches dialogue and throttles incident with "Hell in the Pacific," wisely investing in pure physicality to communicate ideas both large and small, allowing Marvin and co-star Toshiro Mifune to play out their scenes in a feral manner, which makes for riveting cinema. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Gay Dillingham wants to accomplish a few goals with the documentary "Dying to Know: Ram Dass & Timothy Leary." Part of the picture delivers a biography of its subjects, tracking their life experiences, especially the ones that helped to shape their future as gurus of sort, with both men taking command of the psychedelics movement of the 1960s, finding Leary's more radical vision for brain-altering odysseys matching well with Dass's spiritual hug. "Dying to Know" also explores the mystery of death, asking fascinating questions about the journey to the other side, with both men seeking out ways to comfort those who refuse to embrace the finality of life. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

If there was anyone capable of doing something with a shot at becoming the next Inspector Clouseau, it's Roberto Benigni. While he wasn't a household name in the U.S. in 1993, Benigni was making his way to global recognition with films like "Johnny Stecchino," "Down by Law," and "Night on Earth," earning raves for his special sense of humor, with emphasis on slapstick. That co-writer/director Blake Edwards cast Benigni in "The Son of the Pink Panther," his second attempt to revive a dead franchise, is not a surprise. What is amazing about the production is how little comedy it gives its star, who's often out there on his own, working to make weak jokes work with help from his special way with broken English and physical endurance, hoping to live up to Peter Sellers standards with his take on Clouseau-ian tomfoolery. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

By 1983, the "Pink Panther" franchise was big business for co-writer/director Blake Edwards, who was eventually stuck without his all-important star after the death of Peter Sellers in 1980. Edwards wasn't ready to slaughter the golden goose, concocting a "tribute" with 1982's "The Trail of the Pink Panther," which utilized old footage to resurrect Sellers for one final victory lap as Inspector Clouseau. Edward waltzed into reboot territory with "The Curse of the Pink Panther," which debuted less than a year later, submitting a new bumbling detective in Sleigh, played by Ted Wass. Trying to keep the heart pumping on a dying series, Edwards bends over backwards to make "Curse of the Pink Panther" work, but all it takes is two minutes of Wass in the starring role to understand how badly miscalculated the refreshing is, stumbling through old jokes with man who just doesn't possess the proper insanity to carry the brand name forward.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After collaborating on 1963's "The Pink Panther" and 1964's "A Shot in the Dark," director Blake Edwards and star Peter Sellers were interested in taking a break, moving on to different creative endeavors, switching their attention to 1968's "The Party." Producer Walter Mirisch had other plans, determined to bring back Sellers's bumbling detective Inspector Clouseau even if he couldn't persuade Sellers to return to the job. Enter Alan Arkin, who takes over the role for "Inspector Clouseau," with the respected and practiced actor tasked with replicating Sellers in many ways to sustain the franchise, which was growing in popularity with audiences. However, as talented as Arkin is, he does have his thespian limitations, and imitating Sellers-as-Clouseau is one of them.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"One Dark Night" is a horror film originally released in 1983. It is not R-rated. During a time when nearly every genre picture was trying to be the most gore-rific, angriest production around, this little movie plays it relatively calm, joining the likes of "Poltergeist" as a chiller that's mostly chill, only raising hell periodically. It's the first feature from co-writer/director Tom McLoughlin, who would go on to rated R shenanigans with 1986's "Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives," but here, in his debut, he hopes to channel the world of Roger Corman, trying to create something creepy with a limited budget, setting the effort inside a single location for most of the run time. "One Dark Night" takes an eternity to get where it needs to go, but it's worth the wait, finding McLoughlin inventive with escalation, getting in a few genuinely eerie moments along the way.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Cartel violence in Mexico is vividly rendered in 2013's "Heli," which takes elements of violence fairly far to make a point about the brutality of gangs and corrupt law enforcement. Co-writer/director Amat Escalante has a vision for his feature, playing it spare to emphasize unease, working to understand the plight of the impoverished and emasculated in Mexico, under siege from all sides, but when does example become excess? It's a fine line "Heli" has trouble walking, often caught enjoying its horrors instead of using them to make a larger point about menace in the middle of nowhere. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1978's "Nurse Sherri" was marketed as the next horror sensation, following "Carrie" and "Ruby" in the ongoing saga of meek women coming into contact with unusual, destructive powers. It's a bit of a stretch to position the effort next to more respected genre offerings, but when it stands up straight and goes for chills, "Nurse Sherri" can be entertaining, working to generate a level of dread and horror as evil erupts from unexpected sources. Director Al Adamson isn't known for quality work ("Carnival Magic," "Dracula vs. Frankenstein"), and his streak continues here, but with lowered expectations, the weird highlights of the feature provide a reasonably successful distraction. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

Perhaps there are a few people out there who secretly would like to see Woody Allen in his prime make an adult movie. 1974's "A Touch of Genie" is as close to granting that wish as possible, finding director Joseph W. Sarno mounting a sex comedy that favors Jewish stereotypes and New York City anxiety, playing up nebbish behavior and domineering mothers, all the while slipping into hardcore entertainment now and again, to remind viewers they're not watching an Allen-style production.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The 1970s were a creatively fertile period for writer/director Hal Ashby, who commanded such classics as "The Last Detail," "Harold and Maude," "Shampoo," and "Being There." The 1980s weren't as kind, finding Ashby unable to sustain past inspiration for films such as "The Slugger's Wife" and "Second-Hand Hearts." 1986's "8 Million Ways to Die" represents Ashby's final effort before his death two years later, and it's arguably his worst picture, though not for traditional reasons of bad choices and misplaced ambition, but for legal issues, with the helmer badgered during production and eventually removed from the project altogether after a dispute with the suits. Someone else cut "8 Million Ways to Die" together, and lord almighty, they did a terrible job.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The director of "La Sapienza," Eugene Green creates highly specific films for certain, more adventurous audiences. He's cheeky but dry, taking on the enormity of emotion through stillness, keeping his framing tight and symmetrical, while performances are deceptively robotic, retaining distance as a way to articulate urgency. Green is an eccentric, but he's capable of constructing motivations and escalations, with his latest, "The Son of Joseph," pulling inspiration from art and biblical studies to inspire a tale of paternity. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Julie Taymor is a highly respected director who gained a reputation for imaginative, challenging work with triumphs such as the stage version of "The Lion King," also rattling movie theaters with effort such as "Titus" and "Across the Universe." Joining this list of accomplishments is 2014's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," which finds Taymor returning to Shakespeare for inspiration, transforming a relatively small space on the stage into a dreamscape free fall starring known characters and host of artistic surprises.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com