New Blu-ray Reviews

Drop Dead Gorgeous Blu-ray Movie  

Warner Archive Collection

Warner Bros. | 1999 | 98 min | Rated PG-13 | Oct 06, 2020 | Randy Miller III

A small town beauty pageant turns deadly as it becomes clear that someone will go to any lengths to win.

Comedy / Romance / Dark humor

Pitch Black 4K Blu-ray Movie  

Special Edition / 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

Arrow | 2000 | 1 Movie, 2 Cuts | 112 min | Unrated | Sep 01, 2020 | Jeffrey Kauffman

In the not-too-distant future, a docking pilot makes a forced crash-landing of her spacecraft on a distant planet. As the survivors explore the uncomfortably hot planet, they must band together. The planet is eerie, arid, and lifeless. But as the sun sets and the planet plunges into total darkness, other inhabitants emerge -- including a fiendish murderer with a nose for blood.

Action / Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller

The Rolling Stones: Steel Wheels - Live Blu-ray Movie  

Blu-ray + CD

Eagle Rock Entertainment | 1989 | 152 min | Not rated | Sep 25, 2020 | Jeffrey Kauffman

Live concert December, 19 1989 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Music

Teknolust Blu-ray Movie  

Strand Releasing | 2002 | 83 min | Rated R | Oct 06, 2020 | Brian Orndorf

Academy-Award winner Tilda Swinton plays four roles in this award-winning Sci-Fi film about Rosetta Stone and her three Self-Replicating Automatons, (S.R.A.'s) which she cloned from her own DNA.

Comedy / Drama / Romance

Baba Yaga: Terror of the Dark Forest Blu-ray Movie  

Яга. Кошмар тёмного леса / Yaga. Koshmar tyomnogo lesa

Shout Factory | 2020 | 97 min | Not rated | Sep 01, 2020 | Brian Orndorf

A young family move into a new apartment on the edge of town and hire a nanny to look after their newborn daughter. After gaining the trust of the young parents, the nanny begins scaring their young daughter and older son, Yegor, at night. Yegor tells his parents about their nanny’s strange exploits but they don’t believe him. One day Yegor comes home to find that his little sister has disappeared along with the nanny. His parents are in a strange trance-like state and don’t remember ever having a daughter. All her toys and clothes have vanished along with her, as if she was never there. Yegor sets out with his friends to look for her. They are convinced that the nanny is actually an ancient Slavic demon that once went by the name Yaga. And if the kids don’t succeed in their quest, their parents will forget them too.

Horror / Supernatural / Foreign

Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project, No. 3 Blu-ray Movie  

Blu-ray + DVD

Criterion | 1934-1980 | 6 Movies | 694 min | Not rated | Sep 29, 2020 | Jeffrey Kauffman

See individual titles for their synopses.

Crime / Drama / History / Foreign

Lucía Blu-ray Movie  

Blu-ray + DVD

Criterion | 1968 | 160 min | Not rated | No Release Date | Jeffrey Kauffman

The story of a changing country through the eyes of three women, each named Lucía.

Drama / History / Foreign

After the Curfew Blu-ray Movie  

Lewat Djam Malam / Blu-ray + DVD

Criterion | 1954 | 101 min | Not rated | No Release Date | Jeffrey Kauffman

Iskandar is a former freedom fighter unable to readjust to civilian life following the revolution that ended centuries of colonial rule. When he discovers that the ideals he fought for have been betrayed by a corrupt former commander, Iskandar is pushed to the breaking point.

Drama / Foreign

Pixote Blu-ray Movie  

Pixote: A Lei do Mais Fraco / Blu-ray + DVD

Criterion | 1980 | 128 min | Not rated | No Release Date | Jeffrey Kauffman

A preteen runaway escapes a nightmarish juvenile detention center only to descend into a life of increasingly violent crime alongside a makeshift family of fellow outcasts.

Crime / Drama / Foreign

Dos Monjes Blu-ray Movie  

Two Monks / Blu-ray + DVD

Criterion | 1934 | 85 min | Not rated | No Release Date | Jeffrey Kauffman

When the ailing monk Javier recognizes a brother newly arrived at his cloister, he inexplicably becomes deranged and attacks him. What causes his madness?

Drama / Foreign

Soleil Ô Blu-ray Movie  

Oh, Sun / Blu-ray + DVD

Criterion | 1967 | 98 min | Not rated | No Release Date | Jeffrey Kauffman

A starry-eyed immigrant leaves West Africa and journeys to Paris in search of a job and cultural enrichment—but soon discovers a hostile society in which his very presence elicits fear and resentment.

Drama / Foreign

Downpour Blu-ray Movie  

رگبار‎ / Ragbar / Blu-ray + DVD

Criterion | 1972 | 122 min | Not rated | No Release Date | Jeffrey Kauffman

When he takes a job as a schoolteacher in a new neighborhood, the hapless intellectual Hekmati finds that he is a fish out of water in a place where everybody’s business—including his tentative flirtation with an engaged seamstress—is subject to the prying eyes of adults and children alike.

Drama / Foreign

The Last Wave Blu-ray Movie    

Sunburnt Screens #01

Umbrella Entertainment | 1977 | 105 min | Rated ACB: PG | Sep 02, 2020 | Dr. Svet Atanasov

Richard Chamberlain stars as Australian lawyer David Burton, who takes on the defense of a group of aborigines accused of killing one of their own. He suspects the victim has been killed for violating a tribal taboo, but the defendants deny any tribal association. Burton, plagued by apocalyptic visions of war, slowly realized his own involvement with the aborigines...and their prophecies.

Drama / Mystery / Sci-Fi / Thriller

Private Parts Blu-ray Movie  

Paramount Pictures | 1997 | 110 min | Rated R | Sep 15, 2020 | Martin Liebman

The auto-biographical story of Howard Stern, the radio-rebel who is now also a TV-personality, an author and a movie star.

Biography / Comedy

Gotcha! Blu-ray Movie  

Kino Lorber | 1985 | 101 min | Rated PG-13 | Sep 29, 2020 | Dr. Svet Atanasov

Jonathan Moore is a shy UCLA veterinary student and the reigning champion at "Gotcha," a campus-wide paintball game. While on vacation in West Germany, he's seduced by an older woman, the sexy and mysterious Sasha who turns out to be an international spy. When he returns home to LA, there's a strange canister of film in his backpack and a team of KGB agents on his back. Suddenly he's in the middle of a real life-or-death game of "Gotcha," and every turn brings a brand new and often hilarious twist.

Action / Comedy / Mystery / Romance

Out on a Limb Blu-ray Movie  

Universal Studios | 1992 | 83 min | Rated PG | Aug 18, 2020 | Martin Liebman

When hotshot Manhattan stockbroker Bill Campbell receives a call for help from his younger sister, who is convinced her stepfather is up to no good, he gets mixed up in a kidnapping and loses his wallet containing a phone number worth $140 million! His attempt to retrieve the wallet and save his sister lead him to bizarre encounters with two simple-minded backwoods brothers, two inexperienced and insecure policemen, and his sister’s nearsighted stepfather whose evil twin brother is out to get him.

Comedy

Ghost in the Shell 4K Blu-ray Movie  

攻殻機動隊 / Kôkaku Kidôtai / 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital Copy

Lionsgate Films | 1995 | 83 min | Not rated | Sep 08, 2020 | Randy Miller III

Set in the year 2029 and following World Wars III and IV, a Japanese-led Asian block dominates world affairs. The alliance maintains its international supremacy through its elite security force whose cybernetically enhanced operatives tackle an array of hi-tech terrorists and other threats to international security. These augmented agents can "ghost hack" (i.e., download their consciousness) via the now omnipresent internet into other machines and human/machine cross breeds. Major Motoko Kusanagi, a cybernetically augmented female agent, has been tracking a virtual entity known as the Puppet Master with her crack squad of security agents. The shape-shifting Puppet Master, a rogue creation of a rival agency of the security apparatus, has concluded that it is a life form in its own right, "born in sea of information," and requested political asylum and true physical existence in defiance of its creators.

Action / Anime / Mystery / Sci-Fi / Thriller / Comic book / Foreign

Mad Max: Fury Road 4K Blu-ray Movie  

4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital Copy

Warner Bros. | 2015 | 120 min | Rated R | Sep 29, 2020 | Randy Miller III

An apocalyptic story set in a stark desert landscape, where humanity is broken and everyone is fighting for the necessities of life. Two rebels might be able to restore order: Max, a man of action and few words, haunted by the memory of a tragic loss; and Furiosa, a woman of action, who believes her path to salvation lies beyond the desert.

Action / Adventure / Sci-Fi / Thriller

Star Trek: Picard - Season One Blu-ray Movie  

Paramount Pictures | 2020 | 489 min | Rated TV-MA | Oct 06, 2020 | Martin Liebman

14 years after Captain Jean-Luc Picard retired from Starfleet, Patrick Stewart is back to reprise his iconic role. After the destruction of the Planet Romulus, we follow Picard as he tracks down a series of mysteries about his past. From co-creators Alex Kurtzman, Kirsten Beyer, Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael Chabon, and Academy Award winner Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind), Picard sets out on a new adventure against a legion of dangerous foes, with the help from a few returning characters–Data, Riker, and Seven of Nine–and a whole new crew.

Adventure / Sci-Fi

Ultraman Ginga/Ultraman Ginga S Series + Movie/Ultra Fight Victory Blu-ray Movie  

Ultraman Ginga ウルトラマンギンガ, Urutoraman Ginga / Ultraman Ginga S ウルトラマンギンガS, Urutoraman Ginga Esu / Ultraman Ginga S The Movie: Showdown! The 10 Ultra Warriors! 劇場版 ウルトラマンギンガS 決戦! ウルトラ10勇士!!, Gekijōban Urutoraman Ginga Esu Kessen! Urutora Jū Yūshi!! / Ultra Fight Victory ウルトラファイトビクトリー, Urutora Faito Bikutorī / Blu-ray + Digital Copy

Mill Creek Entertainment | 2013-2015 | 4 Seasons | 802 min | Not rated | Sep 15, 2020 | Martin Liebman

All of the Ultramen and monsters have been turned into figures known as Spark Dolls (スパークドールズ Supāku Dōruzu?) and became scattered throughout the universe. A young man named Hikaru Raidō finds an item called the Ginga Spark (ギンガスパーク Ginga Supāku?) which not only allows him to become Ultraman Ginga, but also allows him to go Ultraive (ウルトライブ Urutoraibu?)[2] with the figures to change them to their rightful size and become one with them. Hikaru fights with his friends to uncover the darkness behind the Spark Dolls. Alien Nackie drops a clue that the wielder of darkness resides in their very elementary school.

Action / Adventure / Comedy / Sci-Fi / Foreign