Clive Barker’s stylish, creepy Hellraiser made such a splash in 1987 that studio New World Pictures moved quickly to cash in with a sequel ready for release less than one year later. With Barker himself and most of the original cast still attached, Hellbound: Hellraiser II is often regarded as the best of the many… Read More Your Suffering Will Be Legendary | Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988) Blu-ray
The feature filmmaking debut for up-and-coming author Clive Barker, Hellraiser represented an attempt to produce what we might now call an elevated slasher movie. That was a risky proposition to deliver into a cinema landscape dominated by jokey genre schlock at the time. Amazingly, despite initially mixed reviews and modest box office returns, the little… Read More Demons to Some, Angels to Others | Hellraiser (1987) Blu-ray
Batman Returns, the immediate sequel to the 1989 smash hit, is redeemed mainly by association with its predecessor. It’s a Batman movie directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton, one of only two. Those aspects give it a certain cachet among fans who continue to hold it in some high regard, even if, to… Read More The Cat, the Bat, and All That | Batman Returns (1992) 4K Ultra HD
Based on a wildly popular bestseller, directed by a filmmaker hot off his buzzy breakthrough, and starring a mega-wattage cast headlined by a certified superstar, the film adaptation of Interview with the Vampire was one of the splashiest movie releases at the tail end of 1994, seemingly preordained to be a monster blockbuster and the… Read More Tom Cruise Sucks | Interview with the Vampire (1994) Blu-ray
Looking back to my teenage youth in the summer of 1989, I remember talking to my friends about the upcoming Batman movie with some skepticism. Hard though it may be to fathom now, comic book superhero movies were actually out of fashion at that time. Batman in particular was mostly remembered for the campy 1960s… Read More Those Wonderful Toys | Batman (1989) 4K Ultra HD
As modern interpretations of the Batman character grow increasingly dark and grim and morose, I find myself drawn back toward older adaptations of the comic book hero, especially those that didn’t take the idea of a guy who dresses up in a bat costume to fight a clown so damn seriously. The 1966 Batman: The… Read More Holy Unholy Alliances! | Batman: The Movie (1966) Blu-ray
A convergence of several recent events put me in the mood to start a Batman marathon. I’m not sure exactly how far I expect to go with this, as DC Comics’ famed Caped Crusader has of course been the subject of numerous movies, TV shows, cartoons, video games, and more over the decades (not to… Read More The Batathon Begins | Batman (1943)
Somehow, I’d never previously given much thought to the fact that Richard Gere starred into two very different (yet both iconic in their own ways, rightly or wrongly) movies about prostitution a decade apart. The earlier film, Paul Schrader’s 1980 American Gigolo, is currently serving as inspiration for a new TV series on the Showtime… Read More Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere, Any Way | American Gigolo (1980)
Following two previous attempts that performed acceptably at the box office but were little loved among fans of the original property, Hasbro and Paramount framed their third live-action G.I. Joe movie as a solo outing for the franchise’s most popular character. Unfortunately, Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins has little in its 121-minute length recognizable as… Read More Strident Interlude | Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins (2021) 4K Ultra HD
I’ve been a movie collector for close to thirty years, and have seen the evolution of the home theater hobby across multiple video formats. During that time, I have bought into every new state-of-the-art format as it came along, and regularly upgraded my favorite movies hoping to gain some measurable improvement in quality. As a… Read More From DVD to Blu-ray, 4K, and More – Is “Good Enough” Ever Good Enough?
