Megan Is Missing
‘Megan’ is annoying
Girls, Guns and G-Strings: The Andy Sidaris Collection
Super-cheap, super-great set of 12 films blending T&A and TNT
Hansel & Gretel: Warriors of Witchcraft
With utterly Grimm results.
National Lampoon’s Dirty Movie
Well, at least they tried something different.
Beneath the Dark
Mildly spellbinding, well-made indie thriller
I Spit on Your Grave (1978/2010)
If it doesn't bother you, there's something wrong with you
Big Tits Zombie
Shot in Japan, but you probably knew that.
Scream / Scream 2 / Scream 3
The younger are they are, the worse off
The Sentiment of the Flesh
What’s French for ‘Your spleen is cute’?
Galaxina / The Crater Lake Monster
Two totally unexpected Blu-ray remasters
Thursday 23 May
OKG Newsletter
DVDs
ID:A
One tasty Danish.
Who’s Minding the Mint?
This comedy’s in ‘Mint’ condition.
Comedy
Rod Lott
Who's Minding the Mint? is the kind of comedy they don't make anymore: all-star and mad, mad, mad, madcap. It was released in 1967, which is the year that such old-Hollywood projects were put out to pasture by such edgy fare as The Graduate and Bonnie and Clyde. I'd argue Mint — while pure, cotton-candy fluff compared to those prestige pictures — has aged every bit as well.
Police Story / Police Story 2
Cop a feel.
Action
Rod Lott
Like many, my first exposure to Jackie Chan was through 1981’s The Cannonball Run. That doesn’t count.
FBI Code 98
It's about a bomb, but isn't one.
Thriller
Rod Lott
Despite how Warner Archive has branded it, 1963’s FBI Code 98 is not — repeat: not — film noir. All film noir is crime, but not all crime is film noir. That vaulted subgenre requires darkness, whereas this feature is so light and breezy, it’s practically a recruiting tool for the federal agency. It even has its own marching music.
The Big Boss / Fist of Fury / The Way of the Dragon / Game of Death
Bruce is loose ... again!
Action
Rod Lott
Let us now praise a giant of action cinema: Bruce Lee. It seems like a good time, given Shout! Factory’s reissuing of four of the man’s marital-arts titles via a pair of double-feature DVDs: one with 1971’s The Big Boss and 1972’s Fist of Fury, the other with 1972’s The Way of the Dragon and 1978’s partly posthumous Game of Death. In total, that’s three-point-two-five good movies.
Flash Gordon: The Complete Series
Can he still save every one of us?
Television series
Rod Lott
Until Warehouse 13 and Haven came along, Syfy’s idea of an original series was a largely frightening prospect, and for good reason. I’d been led to believe that its short-lived Flash Gordon update (2007-08), carrying bad buzz before it aired, was one of those train wrecks.
Manborg
Part man. Part machine. All really funny.
Dragon
Starring the ever-valuable Yen.
Action
Rod Lott
Ignore the Weinsteins’ needless re-christening of the Hong Kong film Wu Xia as the ever-generic Dragon. The important thing is that director Peter Chan (The Love Letter) has made not only one of the better martial-arts pictures of the new millennium thus far, but one that holds appeal to audiences not attuned to the genre.
Revenge for Jolly!
‘Revenge’ is a dish best ignored.
Comedy
Rod Lott
Your first sign that Revenge for Jolly! may not be for you: the dead dog hanging in the protagonist’s living room.
There are more.
The Bowery Boys: Volume Two
Comedy
Rod Lott
In the span of a decade, post-World War II, the comedy team known as The Bowery Boys (née The East Side Kids, née The Dead End Kids) made 48 movies. Up until now, I’d seen exactly zero of them.
Fast Company / Fast and Loose / Fast and Furious
We detect a book-smart mystery series.
The Wicked
Will leave you not spellbound, but spellbored.
Horror
Rod Lott
When you put a little kid in danger in your first scene, as The Wicked does, I'm in. That’s a fairly bold move, and it signals that the film is going to — pardon my French — have some balls and do something different.
Gangster Squad
Speaking ‘Confidential’ly ...
Action
Rod Lott
Gangster Squad takes place in 1949 Los Angeles, a time when the Hollywood sign still sported “LAND” at the end, and a time that looks like L.A. Confidential — a lot like L.A. Confidential.
K-11
Bar none, a one-of-a-kind kick.
Drama
Rod Lott
How weird that in its brief theatrical run, K-11 attracted more attention for who the director is (the mother of Twilight starlet Kristen Stewart) than for its outlandish subject matter (transgendered inmates). That oversight is as insane as this movie, which is new to Blu-ray.
Terminator Anthology
Get it before Skynet takes over.
Sci-Fi
Rod Lott
Quoth the cyborg, “I’ll be back.” And he was. And now again, this time in the form of Terminator Anthology, Warner Home Video’s Blu-ray box set of the four franchise films to date. It could be argued that the movies stopped being good when James Cameron stopped directing them. After revisiting the quartet, I don't agree — I strongly agree.
