TheMovieman

Domino (2005) — This is a movie I previously watched 15+ years ago, didn't like it then; still don't like it today. Tony Soctt's style, which leaned much more toward gritty oversaturation in his latter films, was a bit too much for me, as was the frenetic direction and editing which failed in keeping me entertained or caring for any of these characters, and this coming from someone who loves Keira Knightley. On the plus side, at least the video and audio still hold up, shame the rest of film, and its good cast, never came together. **/*****

JeffTheAlpaca

A good drama about a young man struggling after leaving foster care and shows their real struggles after they leave the system.


Ty Sheridan one of the more underrated actors and he and Imogen Poots are in it.

JeffTheAlpaca

Epix


Jessica Biel plays a yoga instructor

mwbmis

The Night of the Hunter - Mitchum is effective as the ex-con preacher looking for money that his deceased cell mate hid before his arrest. Like I said, Mitchum is entertaining, and I enjoyed Lillian Gish as the old biddy, but the ending didn't entirely work for me. (VUDU)

Boondock Saint

The Trial of the Chicago 7

Boondock Saint

Nomadland

ravenus

Saw Crash (1996) on the Arrow blu-ray. Like many of David Cronenberg's best films, Crash is an acquired taste. It is based on nihilistic speculative fiction author JG Ballard's novel about a group of fetishists that find sexual arousal in watching or being part of automobile accidents.

Crash created a furor at the 1996 Cannes festival when it was nominated for the Golden Palm (for Best Picture) but finally awarded the Special Jury Prize. According to Cronenberg, jury president Francis Coppola was against the film, and the other members bypassed Coppola with the Special Jury Award for Crash as a compensation for not being able to give it the official prize. I don't so much regard Crash as a 'meditation on the human condition' or any kind of critique of modern civilization. I take the film for what it is upfront, a fetishistic film, and in that regard it is a very sincere and unsurprisingly brilliant feature.

The actors (James Spader, Holly Hunter, Rosanna Arquette, Deborah Unger, Elias Koteas) always feel like characters in a book rather then credible people, but they sell the heightened fantasy of the story with some rather daring sexual moves for people pursuing a mainstream acting career. Peter Suschitzky's moody cinematography and Howard Shore's astounding atonal guitar score make the film an unforgettable sensory experience.

Arrow's blu features a fantastic transfer of the film. Their UHD may be even better, since caps-a-holic comparisons indicate that it at least bests the Criterion blu-ray in terms of contrast and shadow detail. The 5.1 surround track is potent, although I did have some trouble understanding the whispered dialog from Deborah Unger and had to use the subs for her scenes. The music sounds amazing. There's a boatload of new and archival extras that should satiate any fan of the film, the only serious deficiency is the Cronenberg commentary, exclusive to the Criterion release (Arrow has a commentary from critic Adrian Martin).

ravenus

Not Quite Hollywood is a terrific entertaining documentary by Mark Hartley on Australian Exploitation cinema aka Ozploitation. Roughly dividing its attention between the "Confessions..." series inspired raunchy comedies, gory horror and crazy-ass action films, NQH gives an overarching view of the audience-pleasing exploitation movie scene Down Under. While not as widely publicized globally as the prestige pictures (Picnic at Hanging Rock, Walkabout), the exploitation movie scene was unsurprisingly what kept the box-office registers ringing and the Aussie film movement alive outside of subsidies. Quentin Tarantino was one of the major supporters for the docu getting made and is in full-on blabbermouth mode, but there are also a lot of contributions from people who made that scene including directors like Tim Burstall (Alvin Purple), Richard Franklin (Patrick, Road Games) Brian Trenchard-Smith (BMX Bandits, Dead End Drive-in), and of course, Mad Max's George Miller. Actors/actresses and critics are also given their spotlight, and the general tone is (ha!) cheeky fun. In a 100 min, the documentary covers a huge amount of ground. Highly recommended for anyone that likes genre cinema and doesn't mind going low-brow.

The blu-ray from Umbrella presents the docu 1080i with lossy 5.1 and stereo options. Since the contemporary footage is mainly talking heads and the archival footage dependent on quality of available sources, the interlacing and lack of a lossless track is not a major drawback IMO. Apart from the docu, the disc is PACKED with several hours of extras. Heck the deleted/extended footage itself accounts for another 75 min. Then there's 3 hours(!) of Ozploitation trailers and separate nearly hour-long featurettes on individual franchises like Barry Mckenzie and Alvin Purple. Talk about a stacked package. I've also bagged Hartley's documentaries on the Cannon bros (Electric Boogaloo) and Philippines shot exploitation movie industry (Machete Maidens), and expect them to be engaging too.

JANK

Nomadland

asianxcore

Mortal Kombat (2021)

Enjoyed this film quite a bit more than the 90s films, though it's not perfect by any means, with a lot of the issues stemming from an uneven script and underdeveloped characters.

With that said, I absolutely loved how violent the film was at points, as well as all the fun Easter Eggs sprinkled throughout.

Boondock Saint

TheMovieman

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) — Solid western, which generally isn't a favorite genre of mine, with great performances and some well shot scenes and landscapes. Been a long time since I saw A Fistful of Dollars or For a Few Dollars More, but this is a great entry in the "Man With No Name" Trilogy. ****/*****

JANK

Synchonic (Netflix)

TheMovieman

Conspiracy Theory (1997) — Overly long but amiable suspense-thriller thanks to the charms of Mel Gibson (re-teaming with Lethal Weapon franchise director Richard Donner) and Julia Roberts with Patrick Stewart making for an okay villain. This is one I've seen a couple times and each viewing has pretty much been the same: entertaining but also unremarkable. ***/*****

Boondock Saint

Boondock Saint

TheMovieman

A Lovely Way to Die (1968) — This comedic-thriller is neither funny nor very suspense-filled. The dialogue is stilted and characters not entirely likable, but worse it's just all around dull, uninteresting and forgettable. By the end my mind was drifting off elsewhere. **/*****

Cellar Door

Wow, thank you, ravenus, for the in-depth review of this and the Crash bluray. I saw Crash back when it was new on video and found it compelling, though that is definitely not my fetish! I have considered revisiting it for a while now. And that Ozploitation doc sounds fascinating--I'll definitely be checking it out.

And welcome to the DVDtalk forums!

asianxcore

Trauma (2017)

Shot well with fantastic use of practical & digital FX, though the script still shows an unevenness that is fairly common for films of this sub-genre.

Director Lucio A. Rojas' film will ultimately be compared to A Serbian Film (2010) for an endless amount of reasons, yet the film's overall message is a bit more clear than the latter, even sifting past the endless piles of gore & sexualized violence.

asianxcore

The Queen of Black Magic (2019)

Loose remake of the 1981 Indonesian Horror film of the same name.

I absolutely love Indonesian Horror films and the current crop of new Indonesian Horror Filmmakers is killing it right now.

This film marks Director Kimo Stamboel's first solo-directed effort in about 15-years, though he's known under the directing moniker The Mo Brothers, in which he teams up with fellow Indonesian Director Timo Tjahjanto.

Loved this film as it has all the marking of what I've enjoyed about modern Indonesian Horror films thus far. Shot well, solid acting, consistent use of Indonesian Folklore and a heavy-hand when it comes to blood & gore.

TheMovieman

The Medallion (2003) — This action-fantasy-comedy has bad dialogue and a half-baked and uneven plot where even some Chan's martial arts/stuntwork isn't nearly enough to save it, and besides, half of the movie uses some shoddy special effects so his stunts aren't nearly as impressive. On the plus side, the movie is a reminder on Claire Forlani's beauty (acting was only so-so at best). The Medallion has so many hallmarks of the early 2000s style of filmmaking with the choppy editing and lame humor. *¾/*****

ravenus

Thanks dude, although I'm afraid I can't stay long now because the blu-ray.com website and forums are back, and I can only devote so much time to online forums. Take care y'all

Cellar Door

Dune (1984) - in anticipation of the upcoming remake, I decided to give Lynch's film a rewatch. I probably haven't watched it all the way through since the 80s. I've never read the novel(s), nor have I seen the television miniseries. Such a weird (no pun intended) movie. It looks great--the costumes and makeup are well done and the overall design is visually striking and memorable. The use of the inner dialogue of various characters comes across as a little corny. Also, the dubbing over the little sister's voice is so poorly done it pulls me out of the story when she speaks. Thankfully she is only in the final scenes, but she does, I believe, have the last line in the movie and it's a shame to go out on that. The story is epic but therefore feels rushed. The cast is amazing--at least in retrospect--many of them went on to become bigger stars. And there's that scene with Sting in his space underwear that is just completely and awesomely gratuitous.

DWilson

The Groundstar Conspiracy Kino Lorber
George Peppard, Michael Sarrazin
A government investigator tries to find out the truth behind the break-in at a top secret research facility.
Excellent little thriller from The '70s, though it ends a bit abruptly.

Airport '77 Tubi (Streaming)
Jack Lemmon, James Stewart, Christopher Lee and a whole host of familiar faces if you watched Television during The '70s.
Art thieves hijack a 747, hit fog and crash into the ocean, trapping them and the passengers under one hundred feet of water.

Not a bad Disaster Film, -it manages to keep things on a Human, believable level (which I doubt would be the case if it were made Today). Still, it's more of a "middle of the road" entertainment. Surprising good picture quality for a streaming app (free w/ ads).

TheMovieman

The Night of the Following Day (1969) — Slow burn of a crime-thriller has a solid performance from Marlon Brando, though, as usual for him, was extremely difficult to work with, butting heads with the director and even showed up on location for a scene drunk. Anyway, the final 15-minutes were well done but it does take a bit of patience to get through the middle section. ***/*****