Reflecting a country in the midst of a seismic cultural change, cinema of the 1960s attempted to address the ills of a nation. Following a trail set by psychedelic drug use and political upheaval, filmmakers set out to create eye-popping, feral pictures that would appeal to a younger audience, often transforming parental figures and the rest of the establishment into villains, demonizing their authority and commitment to greed. A lesser known entry in the "groovy, man" uprising is 1969's "Cult of the Damned" (a.k.a. "Angel, Angel, Down We Go"), a movie that doesn't have much in the way of dramatic firepower, but it's drenched with period-specific malaise and rock and roll influence, emerging as a musical crossed with a teen angst drama, with elements of horror, abstraction, and daredevil sports poured into the brew. It's exhaustively repetitive and brutally snail-paced, but for those who automatically embrace counterculture cinema generated during this particularly volatile era, "Cult of the Damned" is a lost entry in the freak-out subgenre. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Although it teases the presence of political debate with a hot potato subject, "Charlie Wilson's War" is more of a cocktail hour movie, treating significant world events as everyday business. Focusing on American influence during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s, the picture shies away from the grim details of the conflict, preferring to explore its rather unlikely genesis, with screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and director Mike Nichols (this being his last film in an amazing career) creating a sense of playfulness while juggling troubling facts, trying their best to keep the true-life tale approachable despite its substantial carnage, underhanded dealings, and eventual ties to American disaster. It's not entirely successful as a comedy, but "Charlie Wilson's War" has a certain spring in its step that keeps it appealing. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The world is changing, always evolving. "Earth: A New Wild" is a five-episode series dedicated to understanding how nature is coping with its future, sending host Dr. M. Sanjayan around to numerous continents to discover the secrets of planetary growth and how extremes as processed by animal life. Through "Home," "Plains," "Forests," "Oceans," and "Water," "A New Wild" takes time to study impending disaster and hope for a brighter tomorrow, focusing on human involvement to help ecosystems and creatures along, working diligently to correct many mistakes made along the way. It's an epic look at the corners of Earth and its mysterious ways, with Dr. Sanjayan excited to share his often remarkable findings with the viewer. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

I wouldn't plan for an elaborate dinner and exquisite dessert before screening the German film "Wetlands" at home. It's not a movie made to stoke appetites, it's a restless creation hoping to repulse in a myriad of ways, endeavoring to find beauty within the folds of unrepentant illness. Based on a novel by Charlotte Roche, "Wetlands" sets out to the capture the head rush of a broken adolescence, with all its impulses, curiosities, and emotional unrest, and the feature is certainly vivid enough to reach a few high points of frightfully detailed experience that are rarely explored on-screen. However, its visual intensity is tiring and incessant shock value tends to weaken already feeble emotionality present later in the picture. This is certainly unforgettable work, but often for the wrong reasons. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Not only is 1959's "Ten Seconds to Hell" a genuine nail-biter, but it manages to find another corner of WWII history to explore, pulling emphasis away from the Allied effort in Europe to explore tensions in Germany during the initial phases of reconstruction. Adapted from a Lawrence P. Bachmann book and directed by Robert Aldrich ("The Longest Yard," "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?"), the feature hands viewers a unique perspective, tracking the conflicts and confusion of six disgraced German soldiers who've accepted a bomb disposal detail that seldom permits a happy ending. It's a flipside of wartime honor and duty that isn't frequently explored, observing the shell-shocked reaction of traditional enemies now in charge of piecing together a shattered country. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Before the great Elmore Leonard adaptation explosion of the 1990s, bringing the likes of "Get Shorty," "Out of Sight," and "Jackie Brown" (based on his novel, "Rum Punch") to the big screen, there were slim pickings when it came to authoritative productions using the author's colorful and threatening literary world. 1986's "52 Pick-Up" makes a game attempt to commit Leonard's universe of tough guys and big problems to celluloid, even attracting John Frankenheimer as a director — perhaps the most leathery moviemaker working at the time. Even armed with surefire elements of sleaze and underworld chicanery, "52 Pick-Up" barely registers a heartbeat, stumbling through a confused narrative that strives to examine a man facing the biggest mistake of his life, but ends up detailing the actions of three impossibly idiotic thugs, which throws off the intensity of the effort. Select scenes crackle with tension, and star Roy Scheider does his professional duty to make his character appear together when he's actually falling apart, but this isn't steady work from Frankenheimer, who's lost in the particulars of porn and criminal buffoonery, never achieving necessary suspense. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The full title is "Love is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon," which might be a play for irony from writer/director John Maybury, who doesn't actually make sense of his subject despite having the cinematic tools to do so. A blizzard of images with the occasional blip of emotional clarity, "Love is the Devil" is more of a sensory experience, finding the viewer blasted with the mere idea of Bacon's intricate appetites in both art and sex, not necessarily gifted a concrete vision of creative stimulus and domestic intent. It's raw, unhinged work, but it's often caught servicing Maybury, not the needs of drama. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The American Slave experience on film tends to follow a set course of merciless violence and dramatic despair. "The Retrieval" makes a valiant effort to remove itself from customary images of plantations and seething white characters, electing for an intimate tale of connection between lost souls, taking the action to the forests and creeks of the country. It's a Civil War picture that's barely about combat, instead working to find other corners of history to mine as it builds a powerful relationship between its main players and explores their unique bond during a time of constant threat. Spare and heartfelt, "The Retrieval" is exceptional work from writer/director Chris Eska, who takes time with his script to extract as much self-examination as possible, deepening the personalities as they struggle with the reality of the changing nation, fighting for their lives along the way. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com