CineSavant

Blu-ray The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story The crime of the century became a media circus, with no angle hidden -- yet behind what we saw on TV was even more conflict and consternation. This eight-hour miniseries is a beautifully constructed recreation with excellent casting, even though its O.J. doesn't remind us much of the original. It's highly absorbing stuff to anyone...

Blu-ray Blood Simple Neo-noir got a major boost with this splendid first outing for the Coen Brothers, who planned to produce something commercially viable but broke through with a new style in fashionable genre mayhem. A fantastic cast helps, including the auspicious debut of the great Frances McDormand.

Blu-ray Aliens 30th Anniversary Edition James Cameron's superb spacemen vs. monsters siege battle epic is back in a reissue with an extra collector goodie or two, still looking good on Blu-ray for its 30th Anniversary. And that heroine Ripley is still the most combat-worthy space cadet in the galaxy.

Blu-ray La moglie più bella

Blu-ray Dr. Mabuse The Gambler He's back and more diabolically ruthless than ever! Berlin cowers under the influence of a gambler-mastermind, the secret architect of an 'Empire of Crime.' Restored to near its full length (4.5 hours!), Fritz Lang's monumental pulp masterpiece is a Euro-classic lover's delight.

Blu-ray The Horrible Dr. Hichcock "Death will take you as you sleep! A sleep as deep as Death!" Barbara Steele doesn't realize that her husband is using her to recover a forbidden sexual thrill. Riccardo Freda's film plays games with Alfred Hitchcock's filmography, but it also generates a Euro-horror spell like no other. Outrageous in 1962, it was a Technicolor...

All-region Blu-ray Comanche Station (Einer Gibt Nicht Auf)

Blu-ray The Monster of Piedras Blancas Glurg garrgle gurgle raaaaw!  It's the razor-clawed reptile-man that scared the bejesus out of little kids, way back when. Jack Kevan's basic monster mash drags its feet a bit, but technically it's as slick as they come. Plus, the encoding is perfect. And did I mention the scary parts? This one inspired plenty of gory...

Blu-ray Night Train to Munich Modern spy movies have nothing on this Brit thriller produced just as war broke out -- Rex Harrison, Margaret Lockwood and Paul Henried clash with Nazi agents, and risk a daring escape to Switzerland. The witty screenplay is by the writers of Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes and the director is Carol Reed, in terrific form.

Blu-ray Once Were Warriors

Hammer Films Double Features A Frankenstein, a Mummy, Dr. Jekyll and a mythological dame from Hell: three out of four of these classic titles appear in encodings well worth a Blu-ray upgrade. The star quotient is high too: two films each with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Hammer Films Double Features The Revenge of Frankenstein + The Curse of...

Blu-ray Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Clint Eastwood's mint juleps 'n' murder epic is an easygoing pleasure. Kevin Spacey, John Cusack and a host of great performances guarantee interest, but maybe I have to go to the book to really understand what's going on. A solid 'A' for this one, Clint. The Savannah tourism board must bless you in their nightly...

Blu-ray The Glory Guys Do you like my choice of leading image?  'We're the Glory Guys! EEE-Yow!' What is surely the most generic cavalry western of all time is actually from a screenplay by Sam Peckinpah. Twilight Time's extras have a lot to say about that, and so does Savant.

Blu-ray Deadline – U.S.A. Richard Brooks' exciting Humphrey Bogart picture is one of the best newspaper sagas ever. An editor deals with a gangster threat and a domestic crisis even as greedy heirs are selling his paper out from under him. Commentator Eddie Muller drives home the film's essential civics lesson about what we've lost -- a functioning free...

Blu-ray Cat People This kitty needs no introduction: Simone Simon is the purring-sweet immigrant with a dark atavistic secret. It's Val Lewton's debut smash hit. The real hero is director Jacques Tourneur, who conveys a feeling of real life being lived that won over audiences of 1942 and drew them into his web of fantasy.

Blu-ray Hardcore The conflicted Paul Schrader works out some hellacious personal issues, in a feverish tale of a Michigan Calvinist searching for his daughter in the porn jungle of L.A.. A disturbingly dark modern-day cross between The Searchers and Masque of the Red Death, it was meant to be even darker.

Blu-ray Fixed Bayonets! Samuel Fuller's first picture under his Fox contract is a fine Korean War 'suicide squad' tale, filmed on a sound stage but looking quite authentic. Richard Basehart leads a fine cast. Lots of cigars get chomped and Gene Evans is actually named Sgt. Rock. Plus an excellent commentary from Trailers from Hell's new guru Michael...

Blu-ray Tony Rome / Lady in Cement It's ring-a-ding time, with producer-star Frank Sinatra and his cooperative director Gordon Douglas doing a variation on the hipster detective saga. The two Tony Rome pictures are lively and fun and chock-ful of borderline offensive content, like smash-zooms into women's rear ends.

Blu-ray American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt At the bitter end of a ten-year slide into ever-cheaper productions, The Cannon Group sends stars David Bradley (a nice guy), Steve James (everyone's favorite) and Marjoe Gortner (a stiff) to South Africa for an anemic entry in this series. Cannon is considered a 'fun' subject this year because of those funny documentaries that came out. Savant...

Blu-ray Chimes at Midnight Fans that lament Orson Welles' many career frustrations will flip over this Spanish-filmed masterpiece. Not well distributed when new and MIA for decades, its serious audio problems have now mostly been cleared up. It's great -- right up there with Kane and Touch of Evil, and it features what is probably Welles' best screen acting.

Blu-ray Tab Hunter Confidential What's the right thing to say about a closeted movie career in an industry that feeds on gossip? There's plenty to say, if you're Tab Hunter. The '50s heartthrob breaks his silence with a remarkably candid and positive account of his astonishing, unique Hollywood experience.

Blu-ray The Pride and the Passion Surround three international stars with several thousand extras in Franco's Spain and you've got yourself an instant historical adventure epic. Unfunny Cary Grant has a BIG GUN, Spanish peasant guerilla (!) Frank Sinatra looks totally lost, and Sophia Loren conquers Hollywood by making with the sultry eyes and body moves.

Blu-ray The Ox-Bow Incident Leave it to director William Wellman to direct the most compelling social justice movie of the 1940s. Taken from a bestselling novel, it's a wrenching examination of the workings of a natural American phenomenon, the Lynch Mob.

Blu-ray Wild in the Streets Shelley Winters, Christopher Jones and Diane Varsi star in American-International's most successful 'youth rebellion' epic -- a political sci-fi satire about a rock star whose opportunistic political movement overthrows the government and puts everyone over 35 into concentration camps... to be force-fed LSD.

Blu-ray The Immortal Story Orson Welles' French TV show with Jeanne Moreau is a near-masterpiece, directed with assurance and style. It's the filmmaker's first color feature, and his last completed fictional feature.

Blu-ray Tale of Tales It's strange, it's different, and I can see why it wasn't a theatrical hit... but Matteo Garrone's superb telling of three very adult, very extreme 17th century folk tales is a special item, beautifully directed and visually splendid.