Village of the Giants (Blu-ray) by Stuart Galbraith IV Bert I. Gordon, "Mr. B.I.G.," and still with us at age 99, is a filmmaker best known for his preoccupation with matters of size. Seven of his first eight features, including The Amazing Colossal Man (1957) and Earth vs. The Spider (1958), feature oversized monsters, while Attack of the Puppet People (1958), made in response to The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), is structured around tiny teenagers. Though he dabbled in other kinds of movies, he returned to this well again and again: in 1965 he made Village of the Giants, supposedly based on H.G. Wells' The Food of the Gods, and a dozen years later directed two more Wells "adaptations": The Food of the Gods (1976) and Empire of the Ants (1977), both loosely based on Wells novels.None of his films are good and many are quite terrible, but the best ones are peculiarly likeable, like a smel...Read the entire review »

Lies and Deceit: Five Films by Claude Chabrol (5-Disc Limited Edition) (Blu-ray) by Ian Jane The Movie:Arrow Video's boxed set release of Lies And Deceit: Five Films By Claude Chabrol is, just as it sounds, a collection of five films from the filmmaker many consider to be the French Alfred Hitchcock. While many consider Chabrol's earlier films to be superior to the ones included in this collection, those willing to give this material a chance will find quite a bit to look in both the feature films it offers up, and the care that Arrow has put into the set.Chicken With Vinegar (a.k.a. Cop Au Ain a.k.a. Poulet au Vinaigre, 1985):The first film begins when a photographer covertly snaps pictures of the attendees at a birthday party being held for a wealthy socialite woman named Delphine (Josephine Chaplin). Various characters are introduced here, fairly quickly and without a whole lot of focus, after which we meet up with a postman named Lou...Read the entire review »

Clifford the Big Red Dog (Blu-ray) by Ryan Keefer The Movie: I remember reading the "Clifford the Big Red Dog" series of films when I was a wee lad many moons ago, having never thought about whether they would be adapted to another medium than Norman Bridwell's books. Sure enough they were made into television material and the call to turn the dog into a movie character was inevitable. I guess doing a CG dog next to live action people wasn't something I saw coming? Adapted by Jay Scherick, David Ronn and Blaise Hemingway and directed by Walt Becker (Wild Hogs), Emily (Darby Camp, Big Little Lies) is staying with her Uncle Casey (Jack Whitehall, Jungle Cruise) when she encounters an older man named Mr. Bridwell (John Cleese,