Operation Avalanche DVD Review

• Actors: Owen Williams, Matt Johnson, Josh Boles, Jared Raab, Andrew Appelle
• Disc Format: Color, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated:
  R
• Studio: Lionsgate
• DVD Release Date: January 3, 2017
• Run Time: 94 minutes

        Found footage narratives have become increasingly prevalent in film, not only because of the ease with which these often unpolished films can be made, but also due to the increasing prevalence of recording devices in our everyday existence. Now that digital cameras cheap and easily accessible, to the point that nearly every cell phone now comes equipped with one, these narratives are increasingly easy to believe. On the other hand, this is what makes a period found-footage film like Operation Avalanche more difficult to swallow.

Phantasm: Ravager Blu-ray Review

• Actors: Angus Scrimm, A. Michael Baldwin, Reggie Bannister
• Director: Don Coscarelli
• Disc Format: Dolby, NTSC, THX, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Not Rated
• Studio: Well Go USA
• Release Date: December 6, 2016
• Run Time: 88 minutes

        It has been 18 years since the last installment in the Phantasm franchise, and nearly 40 since the original film, but Phantasm: Ravager is clearly a film for the fan-base already familiar with the narrative. Even with working knowledge of the franchise, Phantasm: Ravager has the potential to confuse and disorient, which was the hallmark of the original. Even the low-budget filmmaking of this final installment is on target with the efforts needed to make the first film, though digital effects are a sad replacement for the creative practical tricks used in 1979.

American Honey Blu-ray Review

• Actors: Shia LeBeouf, Sasha Lane
• Format: NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Region: Region A/1
• Rated:
  R
• Studio: Lionsgate
• Release Date: December 27, 2016
• Run Time: 162 minutes

        I’m struggling with an analysis of American Honey, because the very things that make individual moments endlessly captivating throughout the lengthy 162 run-time are also the largest weakness of the overall film. Nearly everything about the American road trip made by a British filmmaker is fittingly contradictory, including the fact that the main function of the film is to expose an unseen side of middle-America, despite being made by an outsider. This also gives this film a sense of contrived realism, a depiction of America imagined by someone with limited experience and a propensity for focusing on the bleak and the transient.

Underworld 4K Ultra HD Review

• Actors: Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy, Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Shane Brolly
• Director: Len Wiseman
• Producers: Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi, Richard Wright
• Disc Format: Dubbed, Subtitled, 4K
• Language: English
• Subtitles: French, Italian, English
• Dubbed: French, Italian
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: Not Rated
• Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
• Release Date: December 27, 2016
• Digital Copy Expiration Date: December 31, 2019

        Underworld a classic tale of forbidden love borrowing heavily from Romeo and Juliet, adapted to the age-old folklore about vampire and werewolf. The mythology of these films has vampires and werewolves coming from the same human family originally, before being bitten by a bat and wolf. The history beyond this is a mystery even to the creatures, who only know that they have a deep blood feud against each other. They fight within the city and beneath it, hidden to the humans. Selene (Kate Beckinsale) is a hunter of the Lycans, killing werewolves skillfully under the belief that they killed her family. When she notices them following a human named Michael (Scott Speedman), Selene discovers a secret about the man that could either bond the two feuding creatures or cause a brutal war.