New Blu-ray Reviews

Moment by Moment Blu-ray Movie  

Kino Lorber | 1978 | 102 min | Rated R | Aug 24, 2021 | Dr. Svet Atanasov

One year after "Saturday Night Fever," John Travolta starred in this love story between a young drifter and an older woman - Lily Tomlin. The characters are savagely portrayed, and the story is set against a backdrop of shrink-riddled and over-privileged society.

Drama / Romance

My Heart Can't Beat Unless You Tell It To Blu-ray Movie  

MPI Media Group | 2020 | 89 min | Not rated | Aug 10, 2021 | Randy Miller III

Two mysterious siblings find themselves at odds over care for their frail and sickly younger brother.

Drama / Horror

God of War II Blu-ray Movie  

Legend of Lv Bu / 斗破乱世情

Well Go USA | 2020 | 101 min | Not rated | Sep 21, 2021 | Jeffrey Kauffman

In times of war, the traitor Dou Zhun was in power and used poisonous poison to domesticate the medicine people. Yao Ren 19 escaped after a trial of the body and escaped by chance. By chance, she was rescued by the girl Cicada Clothing and named "Yizhibu". The two became more and more sorrowful. On the other side, Dou Jun sent someone to chase 19, the villagers were innocently killed, cicadas fell off the cliff, a piece of cloth was caught and the memory was tampered with ... Three years later, it was a great disaster Cicada recommended to assassinate Dou Jun, reunite with a piece of cloth that lost memory and became Dou Junyi. Full of hatred turned into grief, one side is home country, the other side is love, where should they go in the chaotic world.

Action / Fantasy / Romance / Foreign

The Signifyin' Works of Marlon Riggs Blu-ray Movie  

Criterion | 1986-1995 | 7 Movies | 339 min | Not rated | Jun 22, 2021 | Neil Lumbard

See individual titles for their synopses.

Documentary / Music / Short

Black Is... Black Ain't Blu-ray Movie  

Criterion | 1995 | 88 min | Not rated | No Release Date | Neil Lumbard

Made with an urgency imparted by the knowledge that he was nearing the end of his life, Marlon Riggs's final film—completed after his death of AIDS by a group of his devoted collaborators—is a wide-ranging consideration of a question that had long been central to his work: What does it mean to be Black? Using his mother's gumbo recipe as a metaphor for the diversity of the African American experience, Riggs travels the country, seeking insights from leading thinkers like Angela Davis, Henry Louis Gates Jr., bell hooks, and Barbara Smith as well as ordinary people—young and old, rich and poor, rural and urban, gay and straight—all grappling with the numerous, often contested definitions of Blackness that have shaped their lives.

Documentary

Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien (No Regret) Blu-ray Movie  

Criterion | 1993 | 38 min | Not rated | No Release Date | Neil Lumbard

Through music, poetry, and courageous self-disclosure, five HIV-positive gay Black men (among them poet and performance artist Assotto Saint) discuss their individual confrontations with AIDS, illuminating their journeys through the fear, shame, and stigma that accompanied the disease at the height of the epidemic toward healing, acceptance, and truth.

Documentary / Short

Color Adjustment Blu-ray Movie  

Criterion | 1992 | 80 min | Not rated | No Release Date | Neil Lumbard

Picking up where the groundbreaking Ethnic Notions left off, this pioneering work of media studies by Marlon Riggs presents a complicated, challenging, and nuanced view of evolving racial attitudes as reflected in popular programs such as Amos 'n' Andy, Julia, All in the Family, Good Times, Roots, and The Cosby Show.

Documentary

Anthem Blu-ray Movie  

Criterion | 1991 | 9 min | Not rated | No Release Date | Neil Lumbard

Made at a time when Marlon Riggs was three years into living with HIV and the motto "Silence=Death" was the queer community's defiant response to the antigay policies of the Reagan era, this experimental music video employs a mix of poetry, African beats, and provocative imagery—sexual, political, and religious—in order to challenge and redefine prevailing images of Black masculinity.

Documentary / Music / Short

Affirmations Blu-ray Movie  

Criterion | 1990 | 11 min | Not rated | No Release Date | Neil Lumbard

Built around outtakes of interview and protest footage from Tongues Untied, Affirmations begins as a candid, sex-positive confessional about first-time penetration and evolves into a rousing chorus of calls for freedom, recognition, and inclusion.

Documentary / Short

Tongues Untied Blu-ray Movie  

Criterion | 1989 | 55 min | Not rated | No Release Date | Neil Lumbard

Through music and dance, words and poetry by such pathbreaking writers as Essex Hemphill and Joseph Beam—and by turns candid, humorous, and heartbreaking interviews with queer African American men—Tongues Untied gives voice to what it means to live as an outsider in both a Black community rife with homophobia and a largely white gay subculture poisoned by racism.

Documentary

Ethnic Notions Blu-ray Movie  

Criterion | 1986 | 58 min | Not rated | No Release Date | Neil Lumbard

Through razor-sharp historical analysis including interviews with historians and folklore scholars, powerfully deployed imagery, and narration by actor Esther Rolle, Ethnic Notions illuminates, with devastating clarity, how dehumanizing caricatures of Black people—seen everywhere from children's books to films to household products—have been used to uphold white supremacy and to justify slavery, segregation, and the continuing oppression of African Americans.

Documentary

High Sierra Blu-ray Movie  

includes "Colorado Territory" (1949)

Criterion | 1941-1949 | 2 Movies | 100 min | Not rated | Oct 12, 2021 | Dr. Svet Atanasov

Gangster Roy Earle is paroled after a lengthy prison term. However, Earle has no intention of giving up his criminal life. In fact, his parole has been arranged by Big Mac, so that Earle can mastermind a big-time heist at a California resort hotel.

Crime / Drama / Film-Noir / Thriller / Western

The Human Condition Blu-ray Movie  

人間の條件 / Ningen no jôken

Criterion | 1959-1961 | 3 Movies | 575 min | Not rated | Jun 08, 2021 | Neil Lumbard

See individual titles for their synopses.

Drama / History / War / Foreign / Epic / Period

The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer Blu-ray Movie  

人間の條件 / Ningen no jôken / Parts 5 and 6

Criterion | 1961 | 191 min | Not rated | No Release Date | Neil Lumbard

After the Japanese defeat to the Russians in the last episode, Kaji, the Japanese soldier and humanist protagonist, leads the last remaining men through Manchuria. Intent on returning to his dear wife and his old life, Kaji faces great odds in a variety of different harrowing circumstances as he and his fellow men sneak behind enemy lines. Ultimately, he finds himself in the exact opposite position he held in the first episode: then a labor manager, Kaji is now a prisoner of war, forced to work for the Russians, whom do not seem to hold to the Communist ideals in which Kaji himself had put his faith.

Drama / History / War / Foreign

The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity Blu-ray Movie  

人間の條件 / Ningen no jôken / Parts 3 and 4

Criterion | 1959 | 178 min | Not rated | No Release Date | Neil Lumbard

As a conscript in war-time Japan's military, a pacifist struggles to maintain his determination to keep his ideals.

Drama / War / Foreign / Epic / Period

The Human Condition I: No Greater Love Blu-ray Movie  

人間の條件 / Ningen no jôken / Parts 1 and 2

Criterion | 1959 | 207 min | Not rated | No Release Date | Neil Lumbard

A Japanese pacifist, unable to face the dire consequences of conscientious objection, is transformed by his attempts to compromise with the demands of war-time Japan.

Drama / War / Foreign / Epic / Period

Céline and Julie Go Boating Blu-ray Movie  

Céline et Julie vont en bateau: Phantom Ladies Over Paris

Criterion | 1974 | 194 min | Not rated | Mar 16, 2021 | Neil Lumbard

A mysteriously linked pair of young women find their daily lives preempted by a strange boudoir melodrama that plays itself out in a hallucinatory parallel reality.

Comedy / Drama / Fantasy / Mystery / Foreign

International Lady Blu-ray Movie  

ClassicFlix | 1941 | 102 min | Not rated | Sep 21, 2021 | Jeffrey Kauffman

An American operative in Great Britain (George Brent) and his counterpart from Scotland Yard (Basil Rathbone) suspect the beautiful singer Carla Nillson (Ilona Massey) of espionage. As they cleverly unravel her technique of singing in code over the radio, they track her from London, to Lisbon, to New York

Action / Adventure / Drama / Romance / Thriller / War

Jumanji: The Next Level 3D Blu-ray Movie    

Random Space Media Exclusive / Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray

Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment | 2019 | 123 min | Rated ACB: PG | Jul 28, 2021 | Neil Lumbard

A team of friends return to Jumanji to rescue one of their own but discover that nothing is as they expect. The players need to brave parts unknown, from arid deserts to snowy mountains, in order to escape the world's most dangerous game.

Action / Adventure / Comedy / Family

Iron Man Trilogy 4K Blu-ray Movie    

Stark Industries Ammo Crate Gift Set / 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

Disney / Buena Vista | 2008-2013 | Rated PG-13 | No Release Date | Neil Lumbard

The Iron Man trilogy on 4K UHD: Iron Man, Iron Man 2, and Iron Man 3 in a collectible Zavvi exclusive Ammo Crate gift-set.

Action / Adventure / Sci-Fi / Comic book