Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema X delivers three more noir films from the 1950s with boxing being the common theme. Titles include Flesh and Fury, The Square Jungle and World in My Corner.
There are some decent enough films within this Cold War Thrillers Collection and actually for the price, right now it’s <$10 online, it’s probably worth picking up especially if you enjoy 1960s-era thrillers.
RED is an incredibly fun action-comedy that excels more on its likeable cast than the actual plot which isn’t that great, but a serviceable vehicle for the aging cast, headlined by Bruce Willis whose more at home in this role than his last couple outings of Die Hard.
Willard is a cult classic and finally gets a release on both DVD and Blu-ray so fans can finally revisit after many, many years.
Bad Day at Black Rock is a wonderful gem of a crime-drama featuring a fantastic cast from Spencer Tracy to Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin not to mention a taut screenplay and conspiratorial plot.
Hannie Caulder is that rare female-led Western with the added rape-revenge angle which would come to more prominence in the 1970s with the likes of I Spit on Your Grave. However, while the “scene” is troubling, the performance from Raquel Welch was fantastic with honorable mention going to Robert Culp.
I give a brief breakdown on Mill Creek’s June 7th multi-movie pack releases, specifically Streets of Fear and Midnight Movie Madness. None of these movies are of high-quality and are mainly remembered for the stars sometimes in smaller roles. At basement bargain prices, these might be worthy for collector’s of these cheap sets.
Emperor of the North, also known as Emperor of the North Pole, is an interesting little film no doubt. On the technical and acting front, it’s not a bad flick headlined by veterans Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine. The Blu-ray released by Twilight Time has good video/audio transfers however the bonus material is a bit limited.
Escape from New York might be far from perfect, but it’s an entertaining flick with an outstanding, and subdued, performance from Kurt Russell and a fantastic electronic score from Carpenter and Howarth. This new 2-disc Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release from Shout Factory is phenomenal not only porting over the features from the previous CE release but includes a few more goodies for fans to peruse.
Violent Saturday has a minor following and is much beloved by some, though for me, while entertaining, I didn’t quite find it entirely enthralling, however, the performances are all well done.