After years on the market being pretty hard to find Mill Creek Entertainment are making many of the films from director Andy Sidaris available on Blu-Ray. That may be a good thing to some, and an awful thing to others. I’m right there in the middle, as Andy Sidaris’ films are somewhat similar to Russ Meyer’s. They’re cheaply made, exploitative, and pretty much just softcore porn, all with the vaguest facsimiles of a narrative that unfolds somewhere. And there’s an escaped killer snake, for some reason.
Tag Archives: Crime
Dolorosa Gioia (Sweet Pain) (2019)
A modern day telling of music composer Carlo Gesualdo’s life, from falling in love, finding a muse to betrayal of the utmost, Dolorosa Gioia is a fictional take on a biography that plays with music as a language, emotions as a means of expression, and images as art.
Showdown (1993): Special Collector’s Edition [Blu-Ray]
Billy Blanks was one of the archetypal straight to video action stars of the nineties, he was one of those men with a ton of charisma and appeal who never quite found his niche in American cinema. He managed to be pushed in to the gallery of people like Jeff Speakman, Roddy Piper, and Don “The Dragon” Wilson (no disrespect to those gentlemen), but always deserved so much more. He was relegated to a ton of straight to video action and genre titles eventually becoming a fitness guru for his Tae Bo program. It’s a shame because Blanks does have a very good on screen presence and could have likely launched in to the blockbuster fold alongside contemporaries like Wesley Snipes.
Justice League vs. The Fatal Five (2019)
After what’s been a mixed bag of titles in the DC Universe animation library, DC and Warner has suddenly decided to re-visit the classic Bruce Timm animation universe they retired so long ago. Not that I’m complaining, as it’s been a pretty awesome experience re-visiting the style that helped usher in much of what we know from DC Animation from the nineties in to pop culture. “Justice League vs. The Fatal Five” is thankfully a fun re-visit to this property that works as a semi-sequel to the “Justice League” animated series that also seems to be testing the platform for “The Legion of Superheroes,” again.
Shazam! (2019)
David Sanberg makes the leap from solid horror chillers to blockbusters with what is surprisingly one of DC/Warner’s most modest superhero movie to date. While “Wonder Woman” and “Aquaman” had massive epic plots about world wars and societies in peril, “Shazam!” is a more personal and down to Earth tale with very relevant overtones about bullies and the damage they can inflict on the people they victimize, as well as the environment around them. Sure, “Shazam!” is a superhero movie, but it’s also one worth watching for its positive ideas, and fantastic energy.
Get Shorty (1995): Collector’s Edition [Blu-Ray]
I’m one of those people that always saw many of the Elmore Leonard cinematic adaptations very dull and often painfully smug in their cooler than thou attitudes (“Jackie Brown” excluded). “Get Shorty” attempts to mix gangster cinema, with Hollywood satire and neither of it is ever quite as interesting as its think it is. “Get Shorty,” even at its darkest, is never quite as clever or immensely cynical about filmmaking as Robert Altman’s “The Player.” It proves it with a climax that’s more of an ending based on a more comedic look at the filmmaking process rather than the dark world void of creativity it can be and often is.
Ben is Back (2018)
With America’s opioid crisis, much of the most acclaimed dramas involved stories about family, and two of the most interesting involved drug addiction. While “Ben is Back” completely drifted under the radar, it’s an interesting and often compelling drama about drug abuse, and how often times drug abusers can drag much of their personal demons and past in to the lives of those that they love. I won’t say that I completely loved “Ben is Back,” but I appreciated its inherent tale of a mother racing to help her son, in spite of the odds being stacked against her over and over.