New DVD release

29 Nov

Dexter: New Blood Episode 4 Review – H is for Hero

New DVD release

This Dexter: New Blood review contains spoilers. Dexter: New Blood Episode 4 No one is ever who they say they are on Dexter. The quirky, socially awkward blood splatter guy? He’s a murderer. The Assistant District Attorney? He may be harboring murderous fantasies just waiting for an excuse to come out. The successful self-help guru? He’s fronting a human trafficking ring. We all hide parts of ourselves from the world, but in the world of Dexter, the sides that folks keep hidden are typically monstrous. It looks more and more as if Harrison and Kurt are fostering monsters, or in…

Read More

28 Nov

Doctor Who: Flux Episode 5 Review – Survivors of the Flux

New DVD release

Doctor Who Series 13 Episode 5 Review Warning: this Doctor Who review contains spoilers. If there’s one thing you can say about Flux, it’s that no two episodes have felt quite the same. For better or worse, each chapter has worked to establish its own tone and tempo, which has helped add to the sense of scale the story possesses. It also means members of the audience will appreciate some episodes more than others, depending on which flavour of Doctor Who they prefer. A selection box rather than a king-sized Toblerone, in other words. This week, we’ve gone from the…

Read More

28 Nov

Why Hawkeye Is The MCU’s First Christmas Story In Years

New DVD release

One of the first things you notice when watching the new Marvel series Hawkeye is the time and place in which it is set. The show is located in New York City, and the time is some point after the events of Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far from Home — meaning it’s taking place at the end of either 2024 or 2025, since the former took place in 2023 and the latter in the summer of 2024. And yes, we said “the end” of whichever year it’s in, because as one can glean pretty quickly, Hawkeye takes place just a…

Read More

28 Nov

The Uncanny Parallels Between The Beatles: Get Back and A Hard Day’s Night

New DVD release

During the period of Peter Jackson’s The Beatles: Get Back, John Lennon and Yoko Ono made many experimental films. One of the techniques they pioneered was film speed. They showed the erection of a building, from scratch, fit into a few minutes of screentime by shooting a few frames per day. Jackson does the opposite in his new documentary, creating a slow-mo cinema verité version of director Richard Lester’s A Hard Day’s Night. In the greatest jukebox musical ever made, the band has to retrieve an errant band member in time to make a show, and when they make that…

Read More

28 Nov

MST3K Season 13: All The Movies, Details, and Release Date

New DVD release

Mystery Science Theater 3000’s Turkey Day isn’t just an annual marathon of classic episodes to sit back and watch on Thanksgiving. Depending on the timing, fans watch it hoping to see some kind of news. In this era when MST3K’s always in flux, viewers have their fingers crossed that we’re going to see some kind of look into the future of the franchise. Luckily, Turkey Day 2021 gave us plenty to sink our teeth into. To get us back up to speed, after years of being off TV, a Kickstarter campaign started up in 2015 and successfully brought MST3K back…

Read More

27 Nov

The Masters of the Universe: Revelation Line Kevin Smith Never Thought He Could Get Away With

Netflix, New DVD release

This Masters of the Universe: Revelation article contains spoilers for the first episode of Part 2.  All hope seems lost for the good guys in the first episode of Masters of the Universe: Revelation Part 2. Adam and Teela have returned home but Skeletor isn’t far behind. The sky turns a horrific purple and he appears out of it, empowered by He-Man’s stolen sword. The heroes that were left at the palace realize their time without their most evil foe is at an end. The heroic Eternian known as Fisto steps forth, raises his fist toward Skeletor and says, dead…

Read More

27 Nov

15 NES Games That Deserve a Sequel

New DVD release

In the 35+ years since the NES changed the video game industry, we’ve celebrated pretty much every aspect of the revolutionary console (including that strange time when we all thought blowing air into an NES cartridge could fix them). However, it’s truly remarkable to look back at the NES’ incredible library of all-time great titles and realize that so many of them haven’t gotten a proper sequel.  While it’s amazing to think that the video game industry has refrained from making sequels to some of these games given the sequel/reboot/remake culture that we live in, the fact of the matter…

Read More

27 Nov

Netflix’s Hellbound: Best Shows To Watch Next From The Leftovers To Jirisan

Netflix, New DVD release

Hellbound is the most recent Korean-language hit to make it into the U.S. Netflix Top Ten, and to top Netflix’s global (self-reported) charts. If you’ve already binged all six episodes of the ultra-violent celestial fantasy and are thirsting for more shows in a similar vein, then we’ve hand-picked a selection of supernatural fantasy series that could make the perfect follow-up. Prepare yourself for heaven-and-hell dramas, existential questions, terrifying monsters, human dilemmas, angels, demons and much, much more. The Leftovers  Where to watch: HBO Max Like Hellbound, The Leftovers is an existential drama that starts with an incomprehensible, potentially divine metaphysical…

Read More

27 Nov

The Beatles: Get Back – Do Beatlemaniacs Get What They’re Looking For?

New DVD release

There’s no mania like Beatlemania, and Peter Jackson’s The Beatles: Get Back is both proof of that, and a direct consequence of it. A lot of the reviews said it was an overlong and unnecessary affair. Well, Disney+ let Jackson include swearing in the documentary, so, fuck them. He prefers his own 18-hour cut to this just-under-eight-hour documentary series, and he’s “right and will be proved right,” to paraphrase John Lennon.  Is it an important document? Yes. Does it give Beatlemaniacs everything they want? Of course not, nothing will. For one thing, he doesn’t give us a full version of …

Read More

26 Nov

The Wheel of Time Episode 4 Finally Meets the Show’s True Potential

New DVD release

This article contains The Wheel of Time spoilers. Being familiar with the books upon which a television adaptation is based already sets up even the most optimistic viewer for disappointment, but this is particularly true for readers who watch The Wheel of Time. The Eye of the World, the first book in the Robert Jordan series, is told from the point of view of the one who is quickly recognized as a candidate for the Dragon Reborn. The show, on the other hand, has managed to dig itself out from its deficient narrative through one major change: hiding the identity…

Read More

26 Nov

How Hawkeye Handles Clint Barton’s Hearing Loss

New DVD release

Clint Barton, a.k.a. the Avenger known as Hawkeye, is a normal human being. He has many skills, several of them involving weapons and quite lethal, but he does not have any superpowers. So perhaps more than his other superfriends, he is quite susceptible to injury or even death. The Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Barton (Jeremy Renner) has taken his share of licks over the years — that’s what happens when you battle armies of invading Chitauri or legions of Ultron robots — and as a result of being around massive explosions and catastrophic battles, we discover in the new…

Read More

26 Nov

The Nightmare Before Christmas’ Sally Was Almost Very Different

New DVD release

This Halloween, pop star Billie Eilish wore a patchwork dress and painted stitch scars to sing in front of a sold-out crowd at LA’s Banc of California stadium. The song wasn’t hers, but a Danny Elfman composition from the 1993 soundtrack to animated feature Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. ‘Sally’s Song’ is a broken-hearted lament written for a broken character – a Frankensteinian stitched-together rag doll brought to life by an evil scientist in the town of Halloween. In 2021, Sally really needs no introduction. From October to December each year, she and paramour Jack Skellington are everywhere, from…

Read More

26 Nov

Lethal Weapon Is the Action Christmas Movie Die Hard Wishes It Was

New DVD release

Guns firing, blood flying, goons dying, and an unlikely hero quipping before bringing down the big bad. Just your standard action movie, right? Now replace the blaring guitar or thunderous orchestra with “Jingle Bell Rock,” “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” and “The First Noel.” Wait… is this a holiday movie or Lethal Weapon? Every year, the debate rages on. Bruce Willis, spraying machine gun fire. Hans, nonplussed, killing the world’s worst yuppie scumbag Ellis. Al, the redeemed killer cop, gunning down Karl in a surprise display of heroics. Sure, John McTiernan, Jeb Stuart, and Steven E. de Souza’s Die Hard…

Read More

26 Nov

What GTA 6 Should Learn From Vice City

New DVD release

The recently released Grand Theft Auto: Definitive Edition remasters may be a bit of a disaster, but even in a mostly broken form, it’s hard not to appreciate the brilliance of GTA: Vice City. Released in October 2002 (only a year after the revolutionary GTA 3), Vice City hit a generation of gamers like a lighting bolt. Even though Vice City was developed and released in a shockingly short amount of time (especially by modern GTA development timeline standards) it felt like such an incredible leap forward in so many ways. There are times when that game’s reputation almost elevates…

Read More

26 Nov

Could She-Ra Come to Masters of the Universe: Revelation Season 2?

Netflix, New DVD release

This article contains spoilers for Masters of the Universe: Revelation part 2. The end of Masters of the Universe: Revelation Part 2 dropped a huge bomb on the audience. Skeletor was overpowered by none other than someone seemingly working for Hordak, the main villain of the original 1985 She-Ra series. It blew open the doors of the world of MoTU: Revelation and made it seem like elements of She-Ra could be a major part of any potential second season. However, MoTU: Revelation executive producer Kevin Smith tells us that isn’t for certain. “The only thing that I’ve been told over…

Read More

26 Nov

Taskmaster Series 13 Line-Up Confirmed: Ardal O’Hanlon, Bridget Christie, Judi Love and more

New DVD release

Ding ding, everybody off the Taskmaster bus! New passengers incoming! Series 12 – which taught us that Victoria Coren-Mitchell never learned how to ride a bike, Guz Khan owns more framed portraits of himself than is sensible, Desiree Burch can’t burst a balloon with a fork to save her life, Morgana Robinson is able to get goose bumps at will and Alan Davies still has a Jonathan Creek wig in his loft – has reached its climax. One lucky winner has skipped away merrily with the Taskmaster’s gleaming head as a prize and plenty of time to prepare for the…

Read More

25 Nov

Is Young Justice Ending After Season 4?

New DVD release

This Young Justice: Phantoms review contains spoilers. Young Justice Season 4 Episode 8 A series that once ended prematurely and was resurrected by fan passion should not spend so much time on maudlin navel gazing. And yet, here we are with Young Justice: Phantoms, where “I Know Why the Caged Cat Sings” spends most of its run time on infodumps that hint at a MUCH more interesting series of events and characters than the ones put on screen. There are two highlights. The episode picks up more or less where the last left off – with a flashback to Artemis…

Read More

25 Nov

Star Wars: Adam Driver Won’t Rule Out Kylo Ren Return

New DVD release

This article contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Time heals all wounds, they say, and Star Wars fans know that just about as well as anyone. Though George Lucas’ Star Wars Prequel Trilogy was lambasted by much of the fandom when it was released from 1999-2005, the films have seen a slow rise of appreciation and forgiveness in the ensuing years, with stars Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor now set to return for an upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney+ next year. But what of the Sequel Trilogy cast of characters and the actors who played them?…

Read More

25 Nov

Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Episode 2 Easter Eggs & References

New DVD release

This Star Trek: Discovery article contains spoilers for Season 4, Episode 2: “Anomaly.” Just because Star Trek: Discovery now flies in the year 3189, centuries after any other Star Trek series or film, the writers still intentionally reference the vast canon of Trek. Part of this is because the DISCO writers are big Trek fans too, but it’s also about making sure everything connects. Recently, showrunner Michelle Paradise said Easter eggs and references are there to ground Discovery “within the larger Star Trek universe,” because they don’t “want to be on an island somewhere.”  So, in terms of nerdy callbacks,…

Read More

25 Nov

The Beatles: Get Back Review – Peter Jackson Presents A Crystal Clear Story of Legendary Band

New DVD release

Peter Jackson doesn’t care about his audience. He’s having fun. He made a six-hour documentary about The Beatles, and he wishes it could be 18 hours. He’s having such an obvious blast he doesn’t have to worry if anyone else will think it’s the least bit entertaining.  That’s exciting. It’s infectious, and it means he has nothing to be concerned about. He’s given us a wild ride and stepped out of the way. The Beatles: Get Back is a long and winding road, but it is told at a brisk pace which barely slows for ballads. John Lennon, Paul McCartney,…

Read More