The first feature film produced by Aardman Animations, creators of the beloved series of Wallace and Gromit shorts, Chicken Run was a fairly significant box office hit in 2000 and, remarkably, still holds the record as the highest-grossing stop-motion animated film of all time. Even that being the case, I feel that the movie didn’t… Read More Poultry in Motion | Chicken Run (2000)
The new Netflix film Leave the World Behind presents a vision of the apocalypse perhaps a little more disturbingly plausible than most. It has no zombies, alien invasions, giant monsters, asteroid collisions, or coordinated global fungal pandemics. Instead, the movie shows how rapidly modern civilization will crumble when… shudder to even consider the possibility… the… Read More No Going Back to Normal | Leave the World Behind (2023) on Netflix
Before leaving his native Hong Kong, John Woo had already established an international reputation as one of the most exciting action film directors in world cinema. Naturally, Hollywood eventually came calling, luring him westward with the promise of bigger projects and bigger paydays. It would take a few attempts to get there. First, he’d make… Read More The Most Van Dammerous Game | Hard Target (1993) 4K Ultra HD
Intended as his final movie for the Hong Kong film industry before leaving for the bigger paydays awaiting him in Hollywood, 1992’s Hard-Boiled was also something of a Greatest Hits package for director John Woo. Featuring his frequent leading man Chow Yun-Fat, the film playfully recycles many of the themes and tropes the two of… Read More Tequila Straight Up | Hard-Boiled (1992) Hong Kong Rescue Blu-ray
If the financial failure of Blade Runner in 1982 posed a serious setback for the director, his next feature project, Legend, was the film that broke Ridley Scott. Although his career would recover and he’d go on to be nominated for several Oscars over time (some of dubious merit, if you ask me), the film’s… Read More No Light without Darkness | Legend (1985) Arrow Video Limited Edition Blu-ray
In the decade between its disastrous theatrical failure in 1982 and the more triumphant reception of its 1992 Director’s Cut, Ridley Scott’s science-fiction masterwork Blade Runner endured as a cult item with a small but loyal fandom. The film’s fortunes started to turn around with the accidental discovery of an unfinished workprint version screened as… Read More You Were Made As Well As We Could Make You | Blade Runner: Workprint Cut (1982) Blu-ray
Released on Max streaming over the past month with little fanfare and I’m sure little attention paid, the animated science fiction survival adventure drama Scavengers Reign is one of the most fascinating, creative, at times frustrating, and very often downright baffling new television series to come along in ages. After watching the first few episodes,… Read More This Place, It’s Like a Puzzle | Scavengers Reign Season 1 (2023) on Max
The corporate zeal to turn every piece of remotely valuable I.P. into a shared cinematic universe will eventually have to hit a tipping point where the gambit simply no longer works anymore. I’m not sure that we’ve gotten there yet, but I think we’re close. The latest in the cycle comes with the premiere of… Read More Godzilla without Much Godzilla | Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (2023) Apple TV+ Series Premiere
Despite inexplicably failing at the box office during its original release in its native Hong Kong, director John Woo’s 1989 action thriller The Killer became a major hit throughout the rest of the world during international distribution, and even decades later is still regarded as one of the greatest action movies ever made. You’d think… Read More A Ballet of Bullets | The Killer (1989) Hong Kong Rescue Blu-ray
Following a brief and frankly uneventful theatrical release a few weeks ago, the latest feature from acclaimed filmmaker David Fincher arrives at what was always intended to be its true home on Netflix. Based on a French graphic novel series from 1998 that the director had been circling for adaptation at least as far back… Read More Stick to the Plan | The Killer (2023) on Netflix
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