Big Trouble in Little China (Blu-ray) <small>by Stuart Galbraith IV</small><hr /> Shout! Factory's new release of John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China (1986) makes a spectacular Blu-ray, offering an outstanding transfer and many days' worth of extra features. I'd seen the film only once before, probably on cable or home video in the late-1980s, but not since. The Blu-ray, obviously, brings out its orgy of colorful sets, costumes, and special effects far better, but I'm still not sure quite what to make of it as a movie. On one hand, it's a very 80s Hollywood attempt to emulate certain aspects of Hong Kong-made martial arts movies of the previous decade, but also to bring to it an offbeat comic sensibility plus scads of state-of-the-art special effects. It's not entirely successful, with many amusing aspects always on the cusp of being overwhelmed by its barrage of visual and aural stimuli, but those good qualities are pretty entertaining, particularly star Kurt Ru...Read the entire review »

The Fearless Vampire Killers (Blu-ray) <small>by Ian Jane</small><hr /> The Movie: The Fearless Vampire Killers OR Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are In My Neck (to be referred to here on out in this review as simply The Fearless Vampire Killers purely for the sake of brevity, was directed by Roman Polanski in 1967 and released theatrically by MGM in a trimmed and altered version to American theaters. Warner Archive's Blu-ray release is the full length version of the film, just as their older DVD release was. This period film begins when Professor Abronsius (Jack MacGowran) and his assistant Alfred (Polanski himself), a pair of vampire hunters, arrive at a remote tavern in the winter mountains run by a man named Shagal (Alfie Bass) and his surely wife (Jessie Robins). Abronsius is frozen upon their arrival but they quickly get him thawed out and set right. Also inhabiting the tavern is Shagal's gorgeous daughter Sarah (Sharon Tate) and the vo...Read the entire review »

Mr. Nice Guy (Blu-ray) <small>by Ian Jane</small><hr /> The Movie: Mr. Nice Guy, directed by the mighty Sammo Hung and released in 1997, stars Jackie Chan as Jackie! He's co-hosts a cooking show in Australia with an older man named Baggio (Barry Otto) and lives a pretty swell life. All of this changes when, by chance, he's out shopping and stops to defend a woman named Diana (Gabrielle Fitzpatrick) who is under attack by some thugs. A fight ensues and the two escape, Diana leaving a tape in Jackie's car. Diana, see, is a journalist and she and her partner just did some covert surveillance of a crime lord named Giancarlo (Richard Norton) doing his crime lord thing. Later that same day, Jackie heads to Baggio's place to cook dinner for his friend, Baggio's cop son Romeo (Vince Poletto) and their personal assistant Lakisha (Karen McLymont). He leaves Diana's tape with them when he splits, assuming it's the latest episode of their ...Read the entire review »

The Kitchen (Blu-ray) <small>by Ryan Keefer</small><hr /> The Movie: On the surface, if you put together a movie with two comedic actresses in Melissa McCarthy and Tiffany Haddish, pair them to a third critically acclaimed actress (Elisabeth Moss), you're going to expect some sort of yuks to come from it, right? I'm guessing a few people did, which was why The Kitchen was a disappointment. Also, the fact that this appears to have come out the same approximate movie window as the superior Hustlers (which I also have seen recently) did them no favors either. Nevertheless, Andrea Berloff (Straight Outta Compton) adapted the comic books series into a screenplay that she also directed. McCarthy (The Heat), Haddish (Keanu) and Mo...Read the entire review »