48 Hrs.: Paramount Presents (Blu-ray) by Justin Remer The Movie: Walter Hill's comedic buddy action flick 48 Hrs. (1982) is such an archetypal example of its genre that it's hard now to parse exactly what was standard-issue and what was pioneered by Hill and his gang of credited screenwriters (including Hill's partner Larry Gross, future Die Hard writer Steven E. de Souza, and journeyman action guy Roger Spottiswoode). Surely, the funny bickering and free-floating racial epithets of Freebie and the Bean are a kind of precursor, but Hill definitely put a (relatively) harder-edged stamp on the subgenre.The mismatched partners at the center of Hill's flick are gruff cowboy co...Read the entire review »

The Last Man on Earth (Special Edition) (Blu-ray) by Ian Jane The Movie:Based on Richard Matheson's classic novel I Am Legend, 1964's The Last Man On Earth stars Price as a man named Doctor Robert Morgan. When we meet him, it seems he is the only survivor left on Earth after a plague whipped out much of the population and turned everyone else into nocturnal vampire/zombie like creatures. In order to survive he's had to become quite resourceful, placing mirrors in opportune locations (they do not like to see their own reflection, his narration tells us) and hanging cloves of garlic near entrances to his home. By day he disposes of new bodies by burning them in a giant pit and looks for supplies while by night he does what he can to defend his home when the hordes inevitably come for him.Things change for him when he comes across a contaminated woman named Ruth Collins (France Bettoia) he uses his own blood to save her ...Read the entire review »