New Blu-ray Reviews

For Those Who Think Young Blu-ray Movie  

Scorpion Releasing | 1964 | 97 min | Not rated | Jun 22, 2021 | Brian Orndorf

When the Silver Palms, a popular after school hangout for a group of surfing college kids, is threatened with closure, a group of teenagers will do anything to keep it open, even blackmail.

Comedy

Batman: The Long Halloween - Part Two Blu-ray Movie  

Blu-ray + Digital Copy

Warner Bros. | 2021 | 87 min | Rated R | Aug 10, 2021 | Randy Miller III

Inspired by the iconic mid-1990s DC story from Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two continues as the Holiday Killer is still at large and, with Bruce Wayne under the spell of the venomous Poison Ivy, Batman is nowhere to be found. Liberated by an unlikely ally, Bruce quickly uncovers the real culprit: Poison Ivy’s employer Carmine Falcone. The Roman, his ranks decimated by Holiday and his business spinning out of control, has been forced to bring on less desirable partners – Gotham City’s rogues’ gallery. In the meantime, Harvey Dent is confronting battles on two fronts: attempting to end the mob war while also dealing with a strained marriage. And, after an attack that leaves Harvey hideously disfigured, the District Attorney unleashes the duality of his psyche that he’s strived his entire life to suppress. Now, as Two-Face, Dent decides to take the law into his own hands and deliver judgment to those who’ve wronged him, his family and all of Gotham. Ultimately, the Dark Knight must put together the tragic pieces that converged to create Two-Face, the Holiday Killer, Batman and Gotham City itself.

Action / Animation / Crime / Mystery / Sci-Fi / Comic book

Mirror Blu-ray Movie  

Зеркало / Zerkalo

Criterion | 1975 | 107 min | Not rated | Jul 06, 2021 | Dr. Svet Atanasov

Writer-director Andrei Tarkovsky draws on episodes from his own life in this story of a dying man reflecting on his relationships with his parents, wife and son. The film includes a number of reflections on the Russian people and their history, using the life of one man to consider the Russian experience from the Second World War through to the end of the Stalinist period.

Biography / Drama / History / Foreign

Born for Hell Blu-ray Movie  

Naked Massacre / Die Hinrichtung

Severin Films | 1976 | 1 Movie, 2 Cuts | 92 min | Not rated | Jul 20, 2021 | Jeffrey Kauffman

Loosely based on the notorious Richard Speck murders, this is the grim tale of a disturbed Vietnam vet returning home via Belfast, who invades a house shared by eight nurses and proceeds to terrorize and murder them.

Drama / Thriller / Foreign

Annie Get Your Gun Blu-ray Movie  

Warner Archive Collection

Warner Bros. | 1950 | 108 min | Not rated | Apr 20, 2021 | Randy Miller III

The story of the great sharpshooter, Annie Oakley, who rises to fame while dealing with her love/professional rival, Frank Butler.

Biography / Comedy / Musical / Romance / Western

The Dead Zone Blu-ray Movie  

Remastered | Collector's Edition

Shout Factory | 1983 | 104 min | Rated R | Jul 27, 2021 | Dr. Stephen Larson

When Johnny Smith awakens from a coma caused by a car accident, he finds that years have passed, and he now has psychic abilities. Heartbroken that his girlfriend has moved on with her life, Johnny also must contend with his unsettling powers, which allow him to see a person's future with a mere touch.

Horror / Thriller / Supernatural

The House of Usher Blu-ray Movie  

Vinegar Syndrome Archive

Vinegar Syndrome | 1989 | 92 min | Rated R | Jan 26, 2021 | Brian Orndorf

Ryan Usher and his girlfriend Molly visit the remote estate of his uncle Roderick, who plots to get rid of his nephew and use Molly to carry on the family bloodline while at the same time keeping his deranged brother hidden in the attic.

Horror

Flight to Mars Blu-ray Movie  

The Film Detective | 1951 | 72 min | Not rated | Jul 20, 2021 | Jeffrey Kauffman

Four scientists and a newsman (Cameron Mitchell) crash-land on Mars and meet martians who act friendly.

Sci-Fi

Brotherhood of the Wolf Blu-ray Movie  

Le pacte des loups | Collector's Edition

Shout Factory | 2001 | 151 min | Unrated | Jul 27, 2021 | Brian Orndorf

Set in 1765, during the reign of Louis XV, an epic adventure based in part on a well-known French legend. In a rural province of France, a mysterious creature is leaving a trail of mutilated corpses across the countryside, savagely killing scores of women and children. Unseen, possessed of enormous strength and a seemingly near-human intelligence, the beast has eluded capture for years. Desperate to end the growing unrest of the populace, the King sends in a renowned scientist and his Haudenosaunee blood brother, an unconventional team whose combined methods and capabilities may finally bring the beast down. But what these men find, when finally confronted with the true nature of the beast, is more shocking than anyone could have anticipated.

Action / Adventure / History / Horror / Mystery / Thriller / Foreign / Melodrama

Hanger Blu-ray Movie  

2 Disc Collector's Edition

Unearthed Films | 2009 | 90 min | Not rated | Jun 22, 2021 | Jeffrey Kauffman

A pregnant prostitute is forced to have a brutal abortion in a dark back alley, an act of sheer violence that will eventually lead to a bloody revenge.

Comedy / Horror

High School Fantasies Blu-ray Movie  

Slipcover Edition | Limited to 2,000

Vinegar Syndrome | 1974 | 70 min | Rated X | Dec 29, 2020 | Brian Orndorf

Freddie is the school nerd and can’t seem to score a date with any of the girls, let alone with heartthrob Mary-Lou, who would rather go out with class clown and bad boy Buddy, who himself is more interested in playing practical jokes with his best friend Moose. But their "harmless" pranks only get them into perpetual trouble with their stern teacher, who has her own special way of dishing out corporal punishment. With senior prom around the corner, Freddie decides that he needs to get a date with Mary-Lou and becomes determined to win her affection at any cost.

Comedy / Erotic

Streetwise / Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell Blu-ray Movie  

Criterion | 1984-2016 | 2 Movies | 179 min | Not rated | Jun 15, 2021 | Brian Orndorf

See individual titles for their synopses.

Documentary

Streetwise Blu-ray Movie  

Criterion | 1984 | 91 min | Not rated | No Release Date | Brian Orndorf

Seattle, 1983. Taking their camera to the streets of what was supposedly America's most livable city, filmmaker Martin Bell, photographer Mary Ellen Mark, and journalist Cheryl McCall set out to tell the stories of those society had left behind: homeless and runaway teenagers living on the city's margins. Born from a Life magazine exposé by Mark and McCall, Streetwise follows an unforgettable group of at-risk children—including iron-willed fourteen-year-old Tiny, who would become the project's most haunting and enduring face, along with the pugnacious yet resourceful Rat and the affable drifter DeWayne—who, driven from their broken homes, survive by hustling, panhandling, and dumpster diving. Granted remarkable access to their world, the filmmakers craft a devastatingly frank, nonjudgmental portrait of lost youth growing up far too soon in a world that has failed them.

Documentary

Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell Blu-ray Movie  

Criterion | 2016 | 88 min | Not rated | No Release Date | Brian Orndorf

Thirty years in the making, Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell continues to follow one of the most indelible subjects of Streetwise, a groundbreaking documentary on homeless and runaway teenagers. Erin Blackwell, a.k.a. Tiny, was introduced in filmmaker Martin Bell, photographer Mary Ellen Mark, and journalist Cheryl McCall's earlier film as a brash fourteen-year-old living precariously on the margins in Seattle. Now a forty-four year-old mother of ten, Blackwell reflects with Mark on the journey they've experienced together, from Blackwell's struggles with addiction to her regrets to her dreams for her own children, even as she sees them being pulled down the same path of drugs and desperation. Interweaving three decades' worth of Mark's photographs and footage that includes previously unseen outtakes from Streetwise, this is a heartrending, deeply empathetic portrait of a family struggling to break free of the cycle of trauma, as well as a summation of the life's work of Mark, an irreplaceable artistic voice.

Documentary

Initiation Blu-ray Movie  

Blu-ray + Digital Copy

Lionsgate Films | 2020 | 98 min | Rated R | Jul 20, 2021 | Jeffrey Kauffman

Whiton University unravels the night a star-athlete is murdered, kicking off a spree of social media slayings that force students to uncover the truth behind the school's hidden secrets and the horrifying meaning of an exclamation point.

Crime / Horror / Mystery

Beyond the Boundary Blu-ray Movie  

境界の彼方 / Kyokai no Kanata | Collector's Edition

Sentai Filmworks | 2013-2015 | 3 Movies | 480 min | Rated TV-14 | Aug 18, 2020 | Neil Lumbard

One day high-school student Akihito Kanbara instinctively goes to save his fellow schoolmate, Mirai Kuriyama from committing suicide. Annoyed by his attempt, Mirai stabs Akihito from a sword formed out of her own blood and is shocked to discover that Akihito is an immortal "half-youmu"¡ªthe offspring of a supernatural creature called a youmu and a human. After learning that Mirai is a Spirit World Warrior and the last surviving member of her spirit hunting clan, their lives become intertwined as Akihito seeks to help Mirai gain the confidence to kill youmu so that she may stop attempting to kill him as practice.

Action / Anime / Drama / Fantasy / Romance / Foreign

Go West Young Man Blu-ray Movie  

Kino Lorber | 1936 | 82 min | Not rated | Jun 29, 2021 | Neil Lumbard

A movie star, stranded in the country, trifles with a young man's affections.

Belle of the Nineties Blu-ray Movie  

Kino Lorber | 1934 | 73 min | Not rated | Jun 29, 2021 | Neil Lumbard

Western comedy starring Mae West. Ruby Carter (West) is a cabaret singer working in Mississippi. In a man's world, Ruby has little trouble surviving on her own terms, resisting the attentions of a deluge of lecherous men. Instead, she reserves her affections for a boxer called The Tiger Kid (Roger Pryor).

Comedy / Musical / Western

A Stranger Is Watching Blu-ray Movie  

Shout Factory | 1982 | 92 min | Rated R | Jul 20, 2021 | Dr. Stephen Larson

The 11-year old daughter and girlfriend of a man whose wife had been raped and killed in front of his daughter three years earlier are kidnapped by the same killer. Held captive in a bunker below Grand Central Station, the two plot their escape while the police try to track the kidnaper.

Crime / Horror / Thriller

PTU Blu-ray Movie    

Police Tactical Unit / Masters of Cinema

Eureka Entertainment | 2003 | 88 min | Rated BBFC: 15 | Jun 21, 2021 | Dr. Svet Atanasov

Over the course of one night, a team of cops frantically search for their colleague's missing gun.

Action / Crime / Drama / Martial arts / Foreign