Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer: movies

Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

DVD Review - Grant: The Complete Miniseries

While cleaning off my desk, I stumbled upon Grant: The Complete Miniseries DVD, which Lionsgate Home Entertainment sent to me in October. As you can probably guess, I had forgotten about even having it. What can I say? I've been busy with non-blogging for the past two months, so I'm just now getting around to reviewing it.

The Midnight Horror Review - Tremors: Shrieker Island (2020)

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It seems it has been forever since my last Midnight Horror Review. As you can see by the post title, I am reviewing Tremors: Shrieker Island, which Universal Pictures Home Entertainment released to Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital on October 20, 2020. I received a digital screener before the film's release date, and I did watch it immediately, but I haven't had time to write the review until tonight.

Blu-ray Review - 2067 (2020)

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The Australian futuristic time-traveling fantasy 2067 landed on DVD and Blu-ray on November 17, 2020, from RLJE Films (part of AMC Networks). Directed by Seth Larney (Tombiruo), the 114-minute film stars Kodi Smit-McPhee (X-Men Apocalypse, Let Me In) and Ryan Kwanten (True Blood).

Set in 2067, Earth is infected by climate change, forcing humans to live on artificial oxygen. To make things worse, an illness is killing the world's population. After receiving a message from the future, the only hope for humanity is a tunnel worker Ethan Whyte (played by Kodi Smit-McPhee), and his adopted big-brother Jude Mathers (played by Ryan Kwantena), who must time travel to the year 2474 to search for the "cure."

Blu-ray Review - The Secret: Dare To Dream (2020)

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Lionsgate Home Entertainment sent me The Secret: Dare To Dream Blu-ray in late September. The film is loosely inspired by the self-help book and documentary The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, which I'm not too familiar with besides the law of attraction theme. Roadside Attractions and Gravitas Ventures were going to release the film to theaters in April 2019, but it got delayed due to the COVID-19 pademic. Instead it received a VOD release during the summer.

The Midnight Horror Review - UK Haunters (2019)

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2019's documentary UK Haunters (Not Rated; 91 minutes) is now available on Digital. It will be released on DVD from Worldwide Multimedia on October 13th. Directed by Dan Brownlie (The Tombs), UK Haunters is the first feature film length documentary about the UK haunt scene.

What is a haunt scene?

The Midnight Horror Review - Coven of Evil (2020)

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Maybe it has something to do with the lack of American horror flims being released because of the pandemic, but a slew of UK horror titles have found their way to VOD and DVD in the USA. Many horrors “reviewers” think British horror is a new thing. Believe it or not, the very first UK horror movie, Faust And Mephistopheles, came out in 1898!

Enough of my rambling. Let’s get on with tonight’s review of Coven of Evil (Not Rated, 100 minutes), a British satanism tale from writer/director Matthew J. Lawrence.

[The Midnight Horror] - Blood Quantum (2019)

Billy Burgess midnight horror , movies

The Canadian zombie flick BLOOD QUANTUM landed on DVD & Blu-ray this past week from RLJE Films. Written and directed by Jeff Barnaby, the film premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. The horror streaming service Shudder premiered the movie in the USA, the UK, and Ireland on April 28, 2020, as one of their "original" titles. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Midnight Horror Review - The Unwilling (2016)

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A while ago, I bought a few horror DVDs at Dollar Tree, which included The Unwilling (Not Rated; 81 minutes). I knew nothing about the film when I stumbled upon it. I only picked it up because it has a creepy cover and tagline, “What is Your Dying Wish?”

DVD Review - Emperor (2020)

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Briarcliff Entertainment planned on releasing the film Emperor (PG-13; 100 mins) back in March, but like many 2020 movies, COVID-19 interfered. Universal Pictures Home Entertainment picked up the distribution rights and released it on DVD earlier this month.

Mark Amin makes his directing debut in this western action-drama, which he co-wrote with Pat Charles. The film tells the fictionalized story of the real-life pre-Civil War folk hero Shields "Emperor" Green, who participated in John Brown's failed Harpers Ferry Raid in 1859. Keep in mind that I said "fictionalized," as the movie plays loose with actual events.

Blu-ray Review - Automation (2019)

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Last year, Epic Pictures released Hungry Monster Entertainment’s low-budget science fiction film Automation on Digital and Blu-ray. It’s set in a futuristic 2026, where humans are being replaced in the workplace by automated robots. Yeah, it’s a scary concept, especially for anyone who works in factories.

The Midnight Horror Review - Murder in the Woods (2020)

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The slasher flick Murder in the Woods (R; 88 minutes) is making the rounds to selected drive-ins and theatres over the weekend from REZINATE Entertainment and Yel Productions. It’ll arrive on Digital and On Demand on September 18, 2020.

The Midnight Horror Review - ZETA (2019)

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2019's Indonesian zombie apocalypse film Zeta (also known as Zeta: When the Dead Awaken) is now available on video-on-demand in the United States and United Kingdom from Film Regions International (FRI). The film marks the directorial debut of Amanda Iswan, who also penned the script.

The Midnight Horror Review - You Should Have Left (2020)

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The psychological thriller You Should Have Left (R; 94 minutes) crawled its way on DVD & Digital on July 28th. Universal Pictures planned on releasing the film in theatres this year, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic the Blumhouse produced flick went straight to VOD in June.

Blu-ray Review - Eddie Macon's Run (1983)

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Mill Creek Entertainment recently released the 1983 action-thriller Eddie Macon’s Run (PG; 95 mins) to Blu-ray (Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart). Directed by Jeff Kanew, the film the stars the late Kirk Douglas and The Dukes of Hazzard’s John Schneider.

DVD Review - Pagan Warrior (2019)

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Ever since 2015’s horror-comedy Krampus, there have a slew of low-budget Krampus tales, including last year’s Pagan Warrior (Not Rated, 83 mins), which Mill Creek Entertainment released on DVD (Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart) earlier this year. Or was it ITN Distribution? It seems at some point or another, Mill Creek Entertainment picked up several ITN DVD releases, and most of them, including Pagan Warrior, have been bad.

Blu-ray Review - Hudson Hawk (1991)

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Does anyone remember the “huge” 1991 flop, Hudson Hawk?

I have a feeling many of you will say “No.”

I was still a nine-year-old when Hudson Hawk arrived in theatres in May 1991. Fresh off the hits Die Hard & Die Hard 2, the Bruce Willis starring action-comedy was supposed to be a big hit for TriStar Pictures, but thanks to poor reviews and disinterests from moviegoers, the film bombed at the US box office. It fared better overseas by bringing in $80 million.

Blu-ray Review - All the Pretty Horses (2000)

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Does anyone remember the 2000s epic flop All the Pretty Horses?

Directed by Billy Bob Thornton and based on the novel of the same name by Cormac McCarthy, the western romance starred Matt Damon, Henry Thomas, Lucas Black, and Penelope Cruz. With a Christmas Day release, it should have been a hit, but thanks to mostly negative reviews from critics, it flopped at the box office.

DVD Review - The Warrant (2020)

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Mill Creek Entertainment sent me a review copy of The Warrant (Not Rated; 75 minutes), a western from Insp Films and Imagicamm Entertainment. I had viewed the film shortly upon receiving the DVD (Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart), but I disliked the movie so much that I've delayed writing a review for it.

Blu-ray Review - Heroes (1977)

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Every Sunday during my childhood, my parents would drag me to the countryside to visit my grandparents, and I would get a bit bored being the only kid there. With nothing else to do, I would channel surf, which didn’t take too long to do with only seven channels. KZMO-TV would play three to four movies back-to-back, and I recall watching a movie with Henry Winkler and Harrison Ford. That occurred over 30 years ago, so I have little to no memory of what the movie was actually about. I didn’t know of the film's name until recently when Mill Creek Entertainment released Heroes (1977: PG; 113 minutes) on Blu-ray (Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart).

Blu-ray Review - Vibes (1988)

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I have a feeling my taste in movies would offend today’s so-called mainstream critics. I tend to dislike award-winning films because most of them are awful in my warped mind. I prefer to watch movies that the critics dubbed unwatchable, such as 1988’s comedy Vibes (PG; 99 mins) starring Cyndi Lauper, Jeff Goldblum, and Peter Falk. The comedy-adventure received its first Blur-ray release earlier this year, courtesy of Mill Creek Entertainment, featuring a VHS retro slipcover.