New DVD release

25 May

Return of the Jedi Deleted Scenes Give a Forgotten Star Wars Villain a Bigger Role

New DVD release

We all know the major bad guys in Return of the Jedi: you’ve got Darth Vader, you’ve got Emperor Palpatine, you’ve got Moff Jerjerrod… oh, you don’t remember Moff Jerjerrod? Well, it is true that no one in the movie actually says the name of the Imperial officer heading up the construction of the Death Star II, but he has a few important moments. Viewers probably best recognize him as the officer who gets the “unexpected pleasure”of Vader’s visit to the space station and reacts with fear when he learns that the Emperor will be coming to oversee the completion…

Read More

25 May

The Sexiest Movie Vampires

New DVD release

This article contains some spoilers for the 1985 movie, Lifeforce Vampires! They seduce, they enrapture, they hunger for us, and sometimes that’s not 100 percent horrifying, even if it might mean our imminent demise. We humans are a complex sort in that way. Though vampires are typically depicted as being smart, powerful, sexy, and slick, there are definitely some onscreen bloodsuckers who are just incredibly gross. These are not them. Santanico Pandemonium – From Dusk Till Dawn From Dusk Till Dawn has a lot going on. Half crime spree movie and half vampire carnage spectacular, you’re either onboard for the…

Read More

25 May

Fast X Spoilers: Ending, Deaths, Cameos, and What This Means for Part 2

New DVD release

This article contains major FAST X SPOILERS. For a franchise where no one seems to ever stay dead, things sure look deadly serious at the end of Fast X. Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto and his young son sit beneath a Portuguese dam with mere seconds to think before its massive waters and debris crash on their heads; the B-team of Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Ludacris), Han (Sung Kang), and Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) appear to have almost certainly perished in a car wreck; and even the return of Gal Gadot’s Gisele does little to soften the sting of Uncle Jakob’s (John…

Read More

25 May

The Flash Will Finally Bring an Unproduced Superman Movie to Life

New DVD release

This post contains spoilers for The Flash. In our universe, the first Superman movie after the Cannon Films flop Superman IV: The Quest for Peace was Superman Returns, the pseudo II sequel starring Brandon Routh. But in in other realities, the J.J. Abrams and McG project Superman Flyby was next to bring the Man of Steel back to the screen, or the Wolfgang Petersen-directed Batman v Superman, featuring Johnny Depp as Batman. But in the greatest of all realities, Superman returned in Superman Lives, an adaptation of the Death of Superman story directed by Tim Burton and starring Nicolas Cage…

Read More

16 May

X2’s Nightcrawler Opening Is Still a Standout Superhero Movie Scene

New DVD release

Beginning an X-Men movie by quoting Abraham Lincoln can sound like a loaded choice. It can also be sublime, as was the case in X2, which 20 years ago opened on a solemn recitation of Lincoln’s closing remarks during his first inaugural address in 1861: “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.” So starts one of the best sequences in any superhero movie: Nightcrawler’s less-than-sanguine visit to what is almost assuredly the George W. Bush White House. X2 landed like a thunderbolt after…

Read More

16 May

Star Wars Movies and TV Series Affected by the Writers Strike

New DVD release

The Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) went on strike on May 2 after the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) failed to meet the union’s reasonable terms. With the AMPTP refusing to negotiate further, the strike could last for a while and put a number of projects on hold, including the many Star Wars movies and TV shows that are currently in production.  Ahsoka is out in August, while Skeleton Crew is presumably safe from delay given how far along it is in the production process — filming wrapped in January — barring any necessary reshoots, of course.…

Read More

16 May

Captain America 4 Set Pics and Footage Reveal Sam Wilson’s New Suit

New DVD release

Legacy has been part of superhero storytelling, almost from the beginning. When one character can no longer maintain their super-moniker, they pass it on to another, creating a chain of heroes with different takes on the same identity. Traditionally, legacy heroes have been more of a DC Comics thing than a Marvel thing, resulting in more Flashes than Thors. But with its ever-expanding live-action universe, the MCU is embracing the legacy concept as new actors take on established names. We’ve already seen glimpses of this with Jane Foster becoming Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder and Shuri stepping in as…

Read More

16 May

Cult Director Richard Elfman Sinks His Teeth into Vampires Again with Bloody Bridget

New DVD release

Richard Elfman redefined underground cinema with his barely-categorizable 1980 film Forbidden Zone, a vehicle for his musical unit The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. He re-energized absurdist cinema with the musically-propelled sci-fi comedy Aliens, Clowns &- Geeks (2021). Directed and written by Elfman, the upcoming Bloody Bridget is another music-driven piece with a score by Ego Plum (Cuphead, SpongeBob SquarePants, Pee-Wee’s Playhouse) and Richard’s brother Danny Elfman (The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Simpsons). For Bloody Bridget, Elfman is infusing new blood, and plenty of heart, into the vampire genre he thought he’d staked with the 1998 cult horror movie…

Read More

16 May

Guardians of the Galaxy 3 Proves Making Better Movies Can Stop Superhero Fatigue

New DVD release

When James Gunn’s third and final adventure with Star-Lord, Gamora, Rocket Raccoon, and the rest of the gang hit cinemas last weekend, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 opened to a respectable if unspectacular $118.4 million across three days in the U.S. This was a healthy number, but one noticeably down from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which opened at $146.5 million in 2017. Hence early concern within the industry (and among ourselves) about what this could mean for Marvel and the superhero genre as a whole. Opening weekends dropping by nearly 20 percent between installments is never something…

Read More

15 May

15 Popular Movies With Surprisingly Low Rotten Tomatoes Scores

New DVD release

We all have a list of films we’ll always sit down to watch when we see them playing on cable or available on streaming. These can be critical darlings or cult classics or twisty thrillers or simply our go-to comfort food movies. They don’t even necessarily need to be considered good but to us they’re special. Unsurprisingly, not all of our sentimental favorites earned the positive critical recognition we feel they deserved upon release. Here are 15 popcorn classics whose Rotten Tomatoes scores are surprisingly lower than you’d expect. Event Horizon It’s probably not a huge surprise to learn that…

Read More

15 May

Subspecies V: Bloodrise Brings Back Radu and Classic Vampire Gore

New DVD release

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema should offer a special brew spiked with drippings from the Bloodstone to celebrate their newest infernal partnership. After 25 years of dormancy, Full Moon Features is pulling the Sword of Laertes out from the chests of the vampires of Subspecies for a limited theatrical release of its newest open wound. And make no mistake about it, director Ted Nicolaou’s prequel Subspecies V: Bloodrise is a must-watch for Subspecies fans, and a should-see for horror fans in general. Beginning with Subspecies (1991) and running through Subspecies 4: Bloodstorm (1998), this movie series remained unique, without having to veil…

Read More

15 May

The Most Confusing Sci-Fi Movie Endings

New DVD release

This article contains spoilers for various sci-fi movies “In the end? Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends.” If you’re a geek reading Den of Geek, you probably recognize those words as the final ones between Dr. Manhattan and Adrian Veidt in Alan Moore and David Gibbons’s Watchmen. Manhattan’s statement comes as a warning to Veidt, who tried to save humanity from itself by manufacturing an alien invasion at the cost of nearly half of the world’s population. Viedt, of course, wants to know if it’s over, if he did truly save the world. But for Manhattan, who exists at all…

Read More

15 May

Marvel Boss Confirms Surprising First Choice for Iron Man

New DVD release

By now, the final line of the first MCU movie is iconic: “I am Iron Man.” And not only do we all know that the line was delivered by Robert Downey Jr., many of us also know that it was improvised, one of the many instances of the cast taking an improv approach to the film. But it almost never happened, as MCU chief Kevin Feige originally had someone else in mind to don the stylish facial hair of reformed weaponeer Tony Stark. During the commencement address to graduates of the University of Southern California (via The Direct), Feige sought…

Read More

13 May

The Fast X First Reactions Are In

New DVD release

Even the greatest family reunions have to eventually come to an end, and that final turn in the road is within sight. While next week’s hotly anticipated Fast X will not be the actual conclusion to the epic Fast & Furious saga, it will lead directly into the 11th mainline film—aka the supposed last ride with Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto behind the wheel. It’s been a long and winding trip, beginning nearly a quarter-century ago with quarter-mile races paid for by the theft of DVD players. No really, go back and watch The Fast and the Furious (2001), preferably on…

Read More

12 May

Let Michael Keaton’s Beetlejuice Be Scary Again

New DVD release

There is a scene late in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice where Michael Keaton emerges from beneath the floor of a Connecticut farmhouse with batwings attached to his ears and a carousel riding around his forehead. Even as a child, I knew it was spectacular. With a disarmingly crass accent and pallid makeup design in the shade of rot, Keaton’s titular Beetlejuice (or “Beatleguese” as it’s actually spelled within the film) is nothing if not the most amusing of carnival hucksters. He promises rides and surprises to his marks, which include Robert Goulet, and even sprinkles in some twinkling neon lights. It’s…

Read More

12 May

Emma Stone’s New Movie Gives the Bride of Frankenstein Her Feminist Due

New DVD release

Poor Elsa Lanchester and poor Bride of Frankenstein. Despite being the title character of James Whale’s 1935 horror-comedy masterpiece, this ghoulish undead creature only gets about five minutes of proper screen time. Whale’s camera certainly basks in her visage, which by design is far more glamorous than makeup artist Jack Pierce’s other creature feature designs for the Universal Monsters. Nonetheless, after finally being brought to life, the character, who is almost insultingly dubbed “the Monster’s Mate” in the credits, gets to walk once or twice around the lab and is then obliterated—burned to a cinder because she had the audacity…

Read More

11 May

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Hides Marvel’s Biggest Underdog Success Story

New DVD release

This article contains Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 spoilers. As the Marvel Cinematic Universe churns on, one part of the saga has now ended with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Not only have the ragtag space outlaws gone through three of their own movies, but also three major guest appearances, a holiday special, and two non-canon Disney theme park attractions. We’ve spent a lot of time watching the adventures and growth of these heroes, their grief, and their laughter. The series has mostly focused on seven Guardians (and two variations of them) and their journeys to figure themselves…

Read More

11 May

The Marvel Crossover Movies That Almost Happened

New DVD release

The Marvel Cinematic Universe really gives us a novelty that took forever for comic book movies to fully embrace. The idea of superhero properties crossing over and building to a much wider world is something that’s in the DNA of the source material. Outside of the Lou Ferrigno Hulk rubbing elbows with half-realized versions of Thor and Daredevil, it’s something that we never truly got to see until Nick Fury stopped by Tony Stark’s house after the Iron Man credits. Before that, the closest thing we had was J. Jonah Jameson referencing the existence of Doctor Strange. Even their rivals…

Read More

10 May

Batman Begins Broke a Batman Movie Villain Rule

New DVD release

There once was a moment when playing the villain in a Batman movie was a status symbol in Hollywood. Jack Nicholson famously was paid in the ballpark of $80 to $90 million after his back-end deal to do the original Batman movie of 1989; Jim Carrey was officially marked as an A-lister when he got cast as the Riddler opposite Tommy Lee Jones, who was fresh off his Oscar win for The Fugitive (1993), in Batman Forever (1995); and Pulp Fiction’s Uma Thurman beat out Julia Roberts at the peak of her America’s Sweetheart superstardom to be Poison Ivy to…

Read More

10 May

Guardians of the Galaxy 3 Star Reveals the Most Emotional Scene to Shoot

New DVD release

Back in the dark days of July 2018, when writer-director James Gunn was fired from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 after right-wing scoundrels unearthed old, wildly offensive jokes that Gunn had tweeted years earlier (and later removed and apologized for), there seemed to be little hope for either MCU fans or the core members of the cast that the Guardians trilogy would successfully stick the landing. Perhaps the one slight consolation for the cast – if any – was that, according to the Hollywood Reporter, Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige had committed to still using Gunn’s script for Vol.…

Read More