Wonka (2023) [4K UHD/Digital]

Now Streaming on Digital and Available on Physical Media.

What made the 1971 screen version of Willy Wonka so entertaining was that while he was an idealist, he was also a well-worn cynic who hated people as much as he loved them. While he made candy for people, he also understood how ravenous and cut throat they could be. He approached everyone entering his factory with a sense of caution and quiet observation. Even with Charlie he saw something special in the boy but was quick to write him off at a moment’s notice. What’s missing from Timothée Chalamet’s Wonka is that sense of misanthropy; that sense that deep down while he likes people, he understands how nasty that they can be.

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The Shaolin Plot (1977) [Arrow Video Limited Edition] 

Coming to Blu-ray on February 13th from Arrow Video   

Wanting ultimate power, a prince endeavors to steal every martial arts manual to collect their powers. The last two are under protection in a shaolin temple where the prince attempts to get them. Facing him to protect the books, a group of students and Little Tiger team up and show what they are made of. 

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Darkman (1990): Collector’s Edition [4K UHD/Blu-ray]

The one thing about Sam Raimi’s movies is that good or bad, very few of them age poorly. Even for a movie made in the early nineties at an age where every studio were seeking to duplicate the success of “Batman,” Raimi makes “Darkman” his own movie. It’s a superhero movie in the horror vein where our masked dark avenger is also a deformed an unhinged Frankenstein monster. Something in the vein of Brundlefly, Liam Neeson really does offer up a wildly unique and off the rails performance.

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The Conan Chronicles [Limited Edition Arrow Video Box Set]

Out on Blu Ray and 4K January 30th, 2024 

By now, most film fans are at the very least aware of the Conan films starring Arnold Schwarzenegger from the 1980s. Here, Arrow Video gives both films, Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer, the luxury release treatment. So, how does it look and is it worth picking up? 

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Seven Great Boutique Physical Media Labels

Most recently big chains like Target, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart have decided to stop distributing physical media like DVD and Blu-Rays both in store and online. This is all a part of the fallacious propaganda that Hollywood has been pushing that Digital media is so much more superior while Physical Media is a defunct media format. It’s been proven that digital titles don’t really belong to those that garner digital film libraries due to a plethora of legal and licensing issues.

But it’s a part of the movement Hollywood has had since the eighties to phase out physical media and ultimately take control of all of their content. Nevertheless while the big chains have fallen in to this mind set, there are still a wide array of various outlets online that specialize in physical media, from mainstream, cult, underground, horror, box sets and the like.

As an ardent proponent of physical media and its inherent value, I’m recommending seven great boutique movie labels that still sell physical media, while a few practice both digital and physical releases. These are only a few of the great labels you can seek out. 

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The Warriors (1979): 2-Disc Limited Edition [4K UHD]

Now Available from Arrow Video.

It’s no secret that I Love “The Warriors.” I’ve loved it for years, and I talk about it constantly. I own a massive poster, the vinyl soundtrack the entire funko pop wave, the PS2 video game, and most of the editions on DVD and Blu-Ray. It’s a movie that’s had an interesting genesis starting out as a novel, transformed in to a notorious feature film, which then became fodder for video stores and was played quite often in syndication on cable and network television. It then evolved in to a cult classic and now a more widely celebrated cult masterpiece. And rightly so.

It’s a movie that works on so many levels as a streamlined, sleek, gritty, and exciting gang picture that Walter Hill directs with pitch perfect efficiency, and it’s garnered another well deserved special release from Arrow Video.

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