New DVD release

23 Mar

Deep Water: Grace Jenkins’ Trixie Is the True Evil Genius

New DVD release

The breakout star of Adrian Lyne’s “erotic” thriller is a six-year-old girl who packs in more charisma than its leads put together. Grace Jenkins has just two IMDb credits to her name – Deep Water and a short called The New Nanny – but it’s safe to say she absolutely stole the show in a movie which also stars Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas. No mean feat. Jenkins is adorable and she’s very funny. But we can’t help but think there is another hidden reading to Trixie’s part in the story should you choose to examine it. Ostensibly, Deep…

Read More

22 Mar

Master and the Horror Hidden in ‘Safe Spaces’

New DVD release

Inspiration can be incidental. For filmmaker Mariama Diallo, the writer and director of the new allegorical horror movie, Master, it could be described as faintly insidious. That’s at least one way to think about the larger social implications of her chance encounter with an old professor from her days at Yale University. “I ran into my master out on the streets of New York a few years after I graduated,” Diallo explains now, referring to how faculty who live in the residential dormitories with Yale undergraduates are called ‘masters’ of their charges. “And I greeted him the way I always…

Read More

22 Mar

Best J-Horror Movies to Watch Before Playing Ghostwire: Tokyo

New DVD release

Ghostwire: Tokyo isn’t just developer Tango Gameworks’ long-awaited return to the horror genre after 2017’s underrated The Evil Within 2; it’s a pretty great excuse to check out some of the greatest J-horror movies ever made. While Japanese horror films enjoyed a global “boom period” in the late ’90s and early 2000s (and we’ll certainly be talking about some of the movies from that era very shortly), some of the best horror movies of the last 70+ years are J-Horror films. The long history of Japanese horror movies includes quite a few films that truly challenged viewers just as they…

Read More

22 Mar

Everything Everywhere Almost Starred Michelle Yeoh as Herself

New DVD release

The logline for Everything Everywhere All at Once, which opens the SXSW Film Festival, describes the movie as “a hilarious and big-hearted sci-fi action adventure about an exhausted Chinese American woman (Michelle Yeoh) who can’t seem to finish her taxes.” That’s being modest. Directors-writers Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, billed collectively as “the Daniels” (Swiss Army Man), have fashioned a movie that, yes, is about a Chinese American woman trying to get her taxes done—as well as keep her laundromat business afloat and hold her family together. Yet the effort to do so takes her on a dizzying journey through…

Read More

22 Mar

SXSW Film Festival 2022 Round-Up

New DVD release

Barely over two years ago, the Den of Geek staff was mere days away from heading to Austin when the inevitable happened: SXSW and all its strange and glorious intersections of film, music, technology, games, and more was canceled due to the then only dawning COVID-19 pandemic. A virtual alternative eventually went forward some months later, and there was a virtual SXSW in 2021 as well, but to concede things haven’t been the same in Austin is an understatement. Which is perhaps why nearly every face, and every person we spoke with, over the last several weeks in the Texas…

Read More

20 Mar

Deep Water: The Wildest Thriller Movies to Watch Next

New DVD release

The Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas-starring Deep Water definitely feels like a throwback to a different time – one that specifically hit its peak before erotic entertainment was easy to access online. Erotic thrillers used to be a dime a dozen in the 80s and 90s, and they would often make a significant amount of cash at the box office, as audiences filled seats upon the mere suggestion that they would get to see notable movie stars doing salacious things to each other onscreen. But this type of project is now a very rare event in the mid-budget arena,…

Read More

18 Mar

Deep Water Ending Explained and Differences From the Book

New DVD release

This Deep Water article contains spoilers. Ben Affleck! Ana de Armas! Based on a book by Patricia Highsmith (who wrote The Talented Mr. Ripley and Strangers on a Train)! The first film in 20 years from the master of marital strife thrillers, Adrian Lyne (who made Fatal Attraction and Indecent Proposal)! Deep Water should really have been a steamy romp, but instead it’s a bit of a wet fish. But wet fish can be fun too, and Deep Water at least contains twists, murders, and a “huh” ending (which is a bit different from the one in the novel –…

Read More

18 Mar

X: Ti West Finds Link Between Horror and Porn

New DVD release

It’s been almost a decade since Ti West last helmed a feature-length horror movie, which makes his return to the SXSW Film Festival in 2022 special. It was at the same fest that he premiered his first film in the genre, The Roost, in 2005, launching what would be a string of seven chillers that included more than a few cult classics: The House of the Devil (2009), The Innkeepers (2011), V/H/S (2012). But nine years is a long time to be out of a game. And in that interim, horror has changed and changed again, earning more critical acclaim…

Read More

18 Mar

Windfall Is the Latest Netflix Movie You Wish You Could Forget

New DVD release

Is this Bad Movie Week at all the big streaming platforms? We haven’t checked in with Prime Video or HBO Max yet, but after struggling through Hulu’s Deep Water a few days ago we now find ourselves faced with this week’s soon-to-be-forgotten Netflix offering, Windfall. Windfall was directed by Charlie McDowell, who gave us the interesting, quirky, and eerie The One I Love a few years back and the numbingly dull The Discovery after that. Windfall — which needed four writers to come up with the story and screenplay for this 86-minute affair, including McDowell himself and Seven scribe Andrew…

Read More

17 Mar

Spider-Man: No Way Home Cast – Where Will They Go Next?

New DVD release

This article contains some spoilers for SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jacob Batalon have just made one of the highest-grossing movies of all time! What are they going to do next? Well, the answer probably isn’t “Go to Disneyland,” because Disney has likely already brought their biggest money-makers to the happiest place on earth. But the talents behind 2021’s most popular movie Spider-Man: No Way Home certainly have a lot of good work ahead of them! Tom Holland Before swinging into Captain America: Civil War as Spider-Man, Tom Holland impressed viewers by playing Billy Elliot on stage and…

Read More

17 Mar

Why Pink Flamingos Remains the Gross-Out Comedy Standard

New DVD release

TW: This article contains references to fictional depictions of sexual assault and animal cruelty that some readers may find disturbing. Social commentary in motion pictures implies high art. Pink Flamingos, which premiered on a single screen in a rented theater in Baltimore 50 years ago, is an antisocial commentary. It goes in the other direction. Written, directed, produced, shot, edited, and narrated by counterculture icon John Waters, the film features singing assholes, chicken-crushing sexcapades, and dog-doo finger foods. It changed movies forever. Pink Flamingos was the first of Waters’ “Trash Trilogy,” which would go on to include Female Trouble (1974)…

Read More

17 Mar

Best Free Movies to Stream on Plex in March

New DVD release

This article is sponsored by: Spring is almost here, but as we wait inside for the season to truly bloom, there are a ton of fantastic movies and documentaries just waiting to be discovered. If you’re looking to save a little coin, luckily Plex TV is a free option that will keep you entertained without breaking the bank. Spring into Plex for the best entertainment options streaming today! Plex is a globally available one-stop-shop streaming service offering 50,000+ free titles and 200+ free-to-stream live TV channels, from the biggest names in entertainment, including Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM), Warner Bros. Domestic…

Read More

16 Mar

Morbius: Jared Leto’s Method Acting Worried Co-star

New DVD release

Jared Leto’s been at it again. The actor developed a reputation for extreme method acting while playing the Joker in 2016’s Suicide Squad. As was widely reported at the time, Leto harassed castmates to become the clown prince of crime, giving Margot Robbie a dead rat and showing others a bullet-riddled pig corpse. So when Leto recently described his process for playing the titular role in Morbius, readers surely raised an eyebrow. The vampiric anti-hero first appeared in 1971’s Amazing Spider-Man #101, in a story written by Gil Kane and penciled by Gil Kane. Dr. Michael Morbius is a brilliant…

Read More

16 Mar

Deep Water Review: Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas Erotic Thriller Sinks

New DVD release

Gonna let you know right up front: Deep Water is not for me. But it’s not for you either, and it’s not for anyone who likes a well-written, well-directed, well-cast motion picture. Yet like that proverbial car crash we’re always hearing about, it’s hard not to keep looking at it. Just 10 minutes in, it’s all too clear why this turgid “erotic” thriller — based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith, no less (The Talented Mr. Ripley) — was shoved off a theatrical release by 20th Century Studios and shuffled onto a Hulu premiere berth instead. Ben Affleck plays Vic…

Read More

15 Mar

Will Star Wars and Damon Lindelof Be a Good Match or a Bad Batch?

New DVD release

Feel a movement in the force? That sense may come from new rumors about a development in the Star Wars universe. According to Hollywood insider Jeff Sneider, Damon Lindelof may be working on a Star Wars movie for Lucasfilm. Now, Sneider is quick to clarify that this is very much speculation at this point, as no rep has yet confirmed or denied the rumor. But in his newsletter The Ankler, Sneider lays out a compelling case for considering Lindelof as a potential writer, linking to a 2020 Fandom interview in which the writer admits that he’d like to try a Disney tentpole.…

Read More

15 Mar

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent: The Love Letter Nicolas Cage Deserves

New DVD release

Nicolas Cage is doing just fine.  The energetic actor, movie star, and meme muse is coming off one of the most lauded performances of his career in Michael Sarnoski’s Pig. He’s by all appearances a healthy and thriving 58-year-old man with nothing but sunny days to look forward to. And yet, his latest and most distinctly Cage-ian film, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, operates as a sort of midpoint career eulogy. This ambitious action-comedy, which just debuted at SXSW, casts Nicolas Cage in his boldest role yet: himself. Sort of. The Nicolas Cage of Tom Gormican’s film is an…

Read More

15 Mar

How a New Picard Adventure Proves Star Trek Books Are Canon

New DVD release

Star Trek’s relationship with tie-in media, specifically books and comics, is one of the largest and most expansive in the history of science fiction. Before the explosion of the Star Wars “expanded universe” of novels in 1991, Star Trek had been putting out at least four novels every year since 1980. This output hasn’t really changed much since the ‘80s, and though the official canonicity of Trek novels remains intentionally vague, there’s a long tradition of the writers of books and comics making every effort to make what tie-in media match with what you see on screen. But hardcore fans…

Read More

15 Mar

Resident Evil at 20: A Good or Bad Zombie Movie?

New DVD release

Is it really 20 years since Milla Jovovich’s Alice first kicked zombie ass in a red dress? The movie inspired by the much loved video game series spawned five sequels and a 2021 reboot and has become a significant entry in movie zombie lore. And lots of people think the films are rubbish. As Wikipedia puts it: “Despite all the installments receiving generally negative reviews from critics, the Resident Evil film series has grossed over $1.2 billion.” Well someone must like those films, surely?  Two decades on, Den of Geek has decided to revisit the original to work out once…

Read More

14 Mar

How Dunkirk Inverts Classic WW2 Movie Moments

New DVD release

This Dunkirk article contains spoilers. Christopher Nolan’s films have always been otherworldly, from dream heists to time travelling spy thrillers, to space adventures, to superhero trilogies. Even if he does a detective story, he does it backwards. At first glance, Dunkirk seems a departure from this. No sci-fi, no time warps, no dreamscapes, Dunkirk looks like a straight up war film. But if you look a bit deeper, it’s clear that Dunkirk has much less in common with the likes of Saving Private Ryan and 1917. From the beginning, you can recognize Nolan’s fingerprints. The color palette is immediately familiar…

Read More

14 Mar

Spider-Man: No Way Home – Where to Watch and Stream

New DVD release

This article contains some spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home Despite what its title promised, Spider-Man: No Way Home has found a way home. Your home, specifically. Ahead of Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness coming to theaters on May 6, Marvel Studios is bringing home the final entry in the first MCU Spider-Man trilogy. No Way Home finds Peter Parker (Tom Holland) fighting to help his friends MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon) after fumbling a spell from Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and bringing to his world villains from other dimensions, including Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina) and Electro (Jamie Foxx).…

Read More