New Blu-ray Reviews

The Harry Palmer Collection Blu-ray Movie    

The Ipcress File / Funeral in Berlin / Billion Dollar Brain | Imprint #75 #76 #77

Imprint | 1965-1967 | 3 Movies | 322 min | Rated ACB: M | Oct 27, 2021 | Dr. Svet Atanasov

Michael Caine gives a stylish and highly acclaimed performance as Harry Palmer, a man caught up in the ferocious high-stakes world of international espionage. For the first time, all three original 1960s films are brought together in one collection, with bonus features worthy of further investigation. THE IPCRESS FILE (1965) Based on Len Deighton’s bestselling novel, the realistic, landmark spy thriller of espionage and counter-espionage centres on Harry Palmer, an intelligence agent assigned to investigate fears over British security. Produced by 007’s Harry Saltzman, with music by John Barry, The Ipcress File provides a downbeat, yet realistic and exciting portrayal of 1960s espionage. FUNERAL IN BERLIN (1966) Harry Palmer is sent to Berlin where he is to extricate a Russian general who wants to defect. Director Guy Hamilton’s follow up to The Ipcress File is the second in the film series based on Len Deighton’s novels. BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN (1967) Harry Palmer is blackmailed into working for MI5 again on his wildest – and most dangerous – assignment yet as he pits hit wits against an insane billionaire and his super computer. From 007 producer Harry Saltzman, and acclaimed director Ken Russell comes the final film in the 1960s Palmer trilogy.

Adventure / Crime / Drama / Mystery / Thriller

RWBY: Volume 8 Blu-ray Movie  

Warner Bros. | 2020-2021 | 231 min | Not rated | Nov 23, 2021 | Jeffrey Kauffman

No synopsis for this title.

Action / Adventure / Animation / Comedy / Drama / Fantasy / Supernatural

Billion Dollar Brain Blu-ray Movie    

Imprint | 1967 | 108 min | No Release Date | Dr. Svet Atanasov

Antihero Harry Palmer having left the Secret Service, is now working as a private eye. He is soon sucked into a web of conspiracy involving a far-right American billionaire, General Midwinter, who plans to wipe out the Communist threat in Latvia using his highly sophisticated computer system.

Adventure / Drama / Thriller

Once Upon a Time in China: The Complete Films Blu-ray Movie  

Criterion | 1991-1997 | 6 Movies | 664 min | Not rated | Nov 16, 2021 | Jeffrey Kauffman

See individual titles for their synopses.

Action / Adventure / Biography / Drama / History / Romance / Western / Martial arts / Foreign / Period

Once Upon a Time in China Blu-ray Movie  

黃飛鴻 / Wong fei hung

Criterion | 1991 | 135 min | Not rated | No Release Date | Jeffrey Kauffman

Set in late 19th-century Canton, legendary martial arts hero Wong Fei-hung fights against foreign forces (English, French and U.S.) who are plundering China.

Action / Adventure / Biography / Drama / History / Martial arts / Foreign

Once Upon a Time in China II Blu-ray Movie  

黃飛鴻之二男兒當自強 / Wong fei hung II: Nam yee tung chi keung

Criterion | 1992 | 113 min | Not rated | No Release Date | Jeffrey Kauffman

In the sequel to the Tsui Hark classic, Wong Fei-Hung faces The White Lotus society, a fanatical cult seeking to drive the Europeans out of China through violence, even attacking Chinese who follow Western ways. Wong must also defend Dr. Sun Yat Sen, a revolutionary, from the military. With his friends, loved ones, and the future of China itself at stake, Wong must once again use his martial arts skills to defend the innocent.

Action / Adventure / Biography / History / Romance / Martial arts / Foreign / Period

Once Upon a Time in China III Blu-ray Movie  

黃飛鴻之三獅王爭霸 / Wong fei hung III: Si wong jaang ba

Criterion | 1993 | 112 min | Not rated | No Release Date | Jeffrey Kauffman

When Wong Fei-Hung and sidekick Chung arrives in Peking, they're just in time for the Empress-sponsored Lion King martial arts contest. But first, Wong-Fei Hung must win back his secret love Yee, his young, Westernized aunt-by-adoption from the nefarious Russian diplot-turned spy Tumanovsky, who has a secret plan to assassinate the President. Wong-Fei-Hung will try to foil the assassination attempt, defeat his awesome rival, Thunder Foot, triumph over the untrustworthy Leung Fun and win the Lion King contest.

Action / History / Martial arts / Foreign

Once Upon a Time in China IV Blu-ray Movie  

黃飛鴻之四王者之風 / Wong fei hung IV: Wong je ji fung

Criterion | 1993 | 102 min | Not rated | No Release Date | Jeffrey Kauffman

Once Upon a Time in China IV introduces a new director, action choreographer Yuen Bun, and star, Vincent Zhao, who takes over the role of Wong Fei-hung from Jet Li. Once again, foreign skulduggery and a violent nationalist group—in the form of the fierce women warriors known as the Red Lantern Sect—swirl around a magnificent lion-dance competition, with Wong caught in the fray. Toning down the comedic and romantic elements of the first three films in favor of almost wall-to-wall kung-fu action, the fourth entry is the leanest and meanest of the series, highlighted by a gravity-defying fight atop a field of collapsing, domino-like planks.

Action / Martial arts / Foreign

Once Upon a Time in China V Blu-ray Movie  

黃飛鴻之五龍城殲霸 / Wong Fei Hung chi neung: Lung shing chim pa

Criterion | 1994 | 102 min | Not rated | No Release Date | Jeffrey Kauffman

Indomitable hero Wong Fei-hung (Vincent Zhao) tangles with a band of ruthless, finger-removing pirates who are exploiting the political chaos created by the invasion of foreigners in order to terrorize the Chinese coast.

Action / Martial arts / Foreign

Once Upon a Time in China and America Blu-ray Movie  

黃飛鴻之西域雄獅 / Wong fei hung VI: Sai wik hung see

Criterion | 1997 | 100 min | Not rated | No Release Date | Jeffrey Kauffman

Hong Kong action comes West as Wong Fei-hung does battle with cowboys and Indians.

Action / Adventure / History / Western / Foreign

Invasion of the Body Snatchers 4K Blu-ray Movie  

4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

Kino Lorber | 1978 | 115 min | Rated PG | Nov 23, 2021 | Dr. Svet Atanasov

San Francisco residents are slowly being replaced by replicas, and it's up to a handful of humans to stop the invasion!

Horror / Sci-Fi

Steel and Lace Blu-ray Movie  

Vinegar Syndrome | 1991 | 94 min | Rated R | Nov 26, 2021 | Brian Orndorf

After her attackers go free, Gaily Morton, the victim of a vicious assault, commits suicide. Her vengeful brother, brilliant robotics engineer and scientist, Dr. Albert Morton, decides to use his skills to exact vengeance, transplanting his sisters's brain into a humanoid cyborg. With bone-crushing strength and an array of built-in torture devices, Albert begins sending Gaily on a series of missions to violently do away with the men who wronged her.

Action / Horror / Sci-Fi

TC 2000 Blu-ray Movie  

Vinegar Syndrome Archive / Sold Out

Vinegar Syndrome | 1993 | 95 min | Not rated | Nov 26, 2021 | Brian Orndorf

Somewhere in the future the environmental overkill had come. Many people had died. The rich were able to build the underworld, the poor had to stay on the surface building gangs to survive. Jason Storm, an underworld guard gets knowledge of a conspiracy to kill all people on the surface. He needs to flee to the surface, and wins Sumai, a respected martial arts master, as his ally to stop the dirty plot.

Action / Sci-Fi

Creature Blu-ray Movie  

Titan Find | Slipcover Edition Limited to 8,000

Vinegar Syndrome | 1985 | 1 Movie, 2 Cuts | 101 min | Rated R | Nov 26, 2021 | Brian Orndorf

It’s been sleeping peacefully for 2000 centuries… until now! A team of American scientists land on Saturn’s moon Titan to find their competing German counterparts mysteriously slaughtered. Now, one by one the remaining scientists are hunted by an alien Creature that can control its undead victims.

Horror / Sci-Fi

Trauma Blu-ray Movie  

Slipcover Edition Limited to 10,000 | Dario Argento's Trauma

Vinegar Syndrome | 1993 | 1 Movie, 2 Cuts | 110 min | Not rated | Nov 26, 2021 | Brian Orndorf

From the acclaimed Italian horror master Dario Argento comes an eerie, unforgettable tale of terror. Aura (Dario's daughter, Asia), a suicidal anorexic preparing to jump off a bridge, is rescued by David (Christopher Rydell) an artist whom takes an interest in the beautiful girl, and makes it his personal mission to help her. When Aura's mother (Piper Laurie), a psychic, dies just as she is about to divulge the identity of a vicious psychopath, David decides to help Aura find the killer. The pair work to protect one another while embarking on a dangerous search for a murderer who's been slaughtering innocent people with a homemade decapitation device...

Horror

Flesh for Frankenstein 4K + 3D Blu-ray Movie  

Andy Warhol's Frankenstein / Old UPC / 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + Anaglyph 3D

Vinegar Syndrome | 1973 | 1 Movie, 2 Cuts | 95 min | Not rated | Nov 26, 2021 | Brian Orndorf

Maverick filmmaker Paul Morrissey's Flesh for Frankenstein reevaluates the horror film, infusing it with satiric wit and sexuality. Morrissey's tale of the mad Baron Frankenstein and his perverse creative urges.

Horror

Funeral in Berlin Blu-ray Movie    

Imprint | 1966 | 102 min | Not rated | No Release Date | Dr. Svet Atanasov

Spy Harry Palmer is sent to East Berlin, where he is to extricate a Russian general who wants to defect. But the true situation turns out to be rather more complicated.

Drama / Thriller

The Assassination Bureau Blu-ray Movie    

Imprint #86

Imprint | 1969 | 110 min | Rated ACB: PG | Oct 27, 2021 | Dr. Svet Atanasov

Oliver Reed and Diana Rigg head an impeccable cast in The Assassination Bureau, a spirited caper inspired by a book co-written by Jack London. Reed plays Ivan, the self-confident chief of an association of hitmen for hire, who will refuse no well-paid offer --especially the lucrative challenge of an aspiring reporter (Rigg). Reasoning that a running cat-and-mouse duel with his henchmen will rid the organization of incompetents, Ivan agrees to become the object of a nonstop hunt. The game is afoot...and Europe is the playground!

Action / Adventure / Comedy / Crime / Thriller

Mary Stevens, M.D. Blu-ray Movie  

Warner Archive Collection

Warner Bros. | 1933 | 75 min | Not rated | Oct 26, 2021 | Randy Miller III

Mary and Don graduate from medical school together, and, while Mary has a crush on Don, he has eyes for only Lois, the daughter of a prominent politician. While Mary devotes herself to her medical practice, Don wastes his talents in favor of booze and high society. When the two meet again some time later, they have an affair, and Don promises to leave his wife. After Mary discovers she is pregnant and Don finds that divorce is not simple, tragedy occurs.

Drama

What Lies Beneath Blu-ray Movie  

Paramount Pictures | 2000 | 130 min | Rated PG-13 | Oct 05, 2021 | Martin Liebman

It had been a year since Dr. Norman Spencer betrayed his beautiful wife Claire. But with Claire oblivious to the truth and the affair over, Norman's life and marriage seem perfect—so perfect that when Claire tells him of hearing mysterious voices and seeing a young woman's ghostly image in their home, he dismisses her mounting terror as a delusion.

Horror / Mystery / Thriller / Psychological thriller / Supernatural