Nightmare Alley (The Criterion Collection) (Blu-ray) by Stuart Galbraith IV It was during a binge-watch of myriad film noir that I first encountered Nightmare Alley (1947). After dozens of other good-to-great noir, Nightmare Alley, directed by Edmond Goulding, proved a real shocker on many levels; its basic plot, reminiscent of Tod Browning's notorious Freaks (1932), has supernatural and even horror film elements. It's a film best viewed cold, without any knowledge of what it's about (If you haven't seen it yet, you'll want to stop reading here), and while seeing it again all these years later was minus all its surprises (while noticing a lot of Production Code-era compromises), it's a film that still impresses. When it was new, it had to have left movie audiences shell-shocked, especially fans of Fox star Tyrone Power, who gives one of his very best performances playing a character light years removed his usual screen persona.

Super 8 (4K UHD + Digital) (Ultra HD Blu-ray) by Ian Jane The Movie:Super 8 opens in February 1979 where a woman named Elizabeth Lamb (Caitriona Balfe) is killed in a tragic accident at the steel mill that is the primary employer of the population of Lillian, Ohio. Louis Dainard (Ron Eldard) shows up at the Lamb house to offer condolences where her husband, Deputy Jackson Lamb (Kyle Chandler), blames Louis her death and leaving him alone to raise their son Joe (Joel Courtney).Months pass and summer arrives. Joe and his friend Charles (Riley Griffiths) are working on a super 8mm film they hope to enter in a film festival and Joe is excited that Charles recruited Alice Dainard (Elle Fanning) to act in it. Jackson, however, wants Joe to head off to softball camp for the summer. Regardless, Joe heads out to work on the movie with his friends and get their low budget zombie/detective story finished. During the shoot, they witnes...Read the entire review »

Body Slam (Blu-ray) by Ryan Keefer The Movie: In 1986 the pro wrestling marriage of pop music was something that was red meat for this kid. I loved Hulk Hogan, hated Captain Lou Albano and Roddy Piper (whom folks would recognize from the John Carpenter film They Live), and wanted Hogan to rule the day. Little did I know! But "rock and wrestling" was a flashpoint that elevated pro wrestling to a ground higher than it had seen before, and Body Slam was an attempt to capitalize on that. Steve Burkow wrote the screenplay that Hal Needham (Cannonball Run) directed, and stars Dirk Benedict (Battlestar Galactica) as Harry Smilac, a struggling music promoter who stumbles into trying to promote "Quick" Rick Roberts (Piper), thinking tha...Read the entire review »