Minari (Blu-ray) by Justin Remer The Movie: Minari is a great film, upholding the informal tradition of intimacy in American indie cinema. Certain cinephiles like to armchair quarterback the Academy Awards and, being of that sort, I would eagerly join the crowd who would have given the most recent Best Picture Oscar to this quiet character study set in the underexposed middle of the United States. Not that the actual winner, Nomadland, is without merit, but the family story of Minari -- so brilliantly brought to life by the pitch-perfect cast -- is more immediate and, to this viewer, more resonant.Set in the 1980s, Minari is a semi-autobiographical remembrance by writer-director Lee Isaac Chung. Chung's stand-in is David (Alan Kim), a shy little ...Read the entire review »

Puzzle (Blu-ray) by Adam Tyner An alluring international backdrop. A spate of mysterious murders. A man caught in the middle, playing amateur sleuth while struggling to keep clear of the killer's crosshairs. Familiar a premise though that may sound, Duccio Tessari's Puzzle can hardly be mistaken as just another giallo.[click on the thumbnail to enlarge]For one, the person that Peter Smith (Torso's Luc Merenda) is most intensely investigating is...well, himse