If not quite as satisfying (to old-school Generation 1 fans like myself, at least) as the 2018 Bumblebee prequel movie, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts works well enough in broad terms to prove that the franchise remains better off without Michael Bay at the helm. Sadly, the film continued the series’ downward trajectory at the… Read More Going Primal | Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023) 4K Ultra HD
After more than a decade exploring other subjects and genres that interested him, filmmaker David Cronenberg returned to the so-called “body horror” cycle of his early career with the 1999 thriller eXistenZ. While the director himself has argued that this particular movie was more science-fiction than horror, the connective tissue (in multiple senses) with his… Read More Death to Realism | eXistenZ (1999) Vinegar Syndrome 4K Ultra HD
Nostalgia is a trap that Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny both comments upon and falls victim to. The fifth entry in the venerable franchise arrives fifteen years after the last one, which was itself already nineteen years after everybody already assumed that the Indiana Jones Trilogy had satisfactorily concluded. Coming so late, the… Read More Yesterday Belongs to Us | Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) 4K Ultra HD
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
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
Many of the bestselling spy novels by John le Carré have made popular fodder for film and television adaptations over the years, some more successfully than others. Often regarded among the best of them is the 1979 BBC miniseries version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Even four decades later, the show maintains a reputation as… Read More Who Can Spy on the Spies? | Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979) Blu-ray
Despite having once again sworn that he was done with Transformers and ready to hand the directing reins over to somebody else after the very successful Age of Extinction, Michael Bay wasted almost no time jumping right back in to helm the next sequel himself anyway. Unfortunately, by this point, even longtime fans had enough.… Read More Shit’s Getting Out of Control | Transformers: The Last Knight (2017) 4K Ultra HD
The Video File Blog 