New Blu-ray Reviews

Porco Rosso Blu-ray Movie  

紅の豚 / Kurenai no Buta / Blu-ray + DVD

Shout Factory | 1992 | 93 min | Rated PG | Sep 21, 2021 | Neil Lumbard

During the beginning years of the Great Depression, life in the Mediterranean has become difficult. Aerial pirate raids are gaining in frequency, thus requiring the need for capable "bodyguards". One of the best is a pig known as Porco Rosso. Once a human and an ace pilot during World War I, he now freelances his services to those in distress. The fascist regime that has taken over the Italian Air Force has grown tiresome of his exploits and places a bounty on his head. On top of that, a hotshot flyer from the United States arrives and not only wants to steal Porco Rosso's glory, but also the woman he loves so dearly.

Action / Adventure / Anime / Comedy / Family / Fantasy / History / Romance / Foreign

Filmworker Blu-ray Movie  

Kino Lorber | 2018 | 94 min | Not rated | Feb 16, 2021 | Neil Lumbard

It's a rare person who would give up fame and fortune to toil in obscurity for someone else's creative vision. Yet, that's exactly what Leon Vitali did after his acclaimed performance as Lord Bullingdon in Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon.

Documentary

This Is Francis X. Bushman Blu-ray Movie  

Flicker Alley | 2021 | 60 min | Not rated | Sep 21, 2021 | Neil Lumbard

No synopsis for this title.

Documentary

Silo Blu-ray Movie  

Oscilloscope Pictures | 2019 | 77 min | Not rated | Sep 07, 2021 | Randy Miller III

Disaster strikes in the small Iowa farm town of New Hope when asthmatic teenager Kody Rose becomes the victim of a grain entrapment accident. As corn becomes quicksand inside of a 50-foot tall silo, the town locals must put aside their differences to save Kody from drowning in the crop they harvest.

Drama / Thriller

Death Screams Blu-ray Movie  

House of Death

Arrow | 1982 | 88 min | Not rated | Sep 14, 2021 | Jeffrey Kauffman

Locals are celebrating the last night of carnival, such as newly in-love couple Bob and Kathy, coach, Neil Marshall, waitresses, timid blonde Lily and comely, nubile Ramona, their boss Jackson and learning difficulties teenage peeping tom Casey who's dad Avery is the town sheriff. Several them decide to spend the night down at the river, where a unknown double homicide climaxed there some nights before. But among the fairgoers is the one responsible for the deaths and as he/she lurks in the shadow troubled over a tragic past (or just about one thing or another) deciding to take his/her frustrations out with a machete on those he/she blames for all the misfortunes in his/her life. Following the group back to his/her riverside stamping grounds he/she sets about ensuring no one leaves the area alive.

Horror

Percy Blu-ray Movie  

Code Red | 1971 | 101 min | Rated R | Aug 17, 2021 | Brian Orndorf

The ultimate organ transplant is out of control and in one man's pants. Its name is Percy. After a freak accident dismembers his member, Edwin Anthony (Hywel Bennett) becomes the first man to receive the world's first successful penis transplant which he names Percy. But when Edwin begins to experience identity problems, he decides to investigate the life and loves of Percy's former owner. Can a sincere young man find love among the world's most beautiful women when guided by an organ with a mind of its own? Britt Ekland, Elke Sommer and Denholm Elliot co-star in this 1971 British cult comedy that also features a classic soundtrack of original songs written by Ray Davies and performed by The Kinks, including the hit God's Children.

Comedy

Fool for Love Blu-ray Movie  

Scorpion Releasing | 1985 | 107 min | Rated R | Jun 22, 2021 | Brian Orndorf

May is waiting for her boyfriend in a run-down American motel, when an old flame turns up and threatens to undermine her efforts and drag her back into the life that she was running away from.

Drama

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