Bushido Man: Seven Deadly Battles (Blu-ray Review)
Bushido Man is a pretty big deal here for Shout! Factory. In addition to this release, they’ll also be putting out this same film but edited into a web series focusing on each fight as well. That series will be out this Monday, two weeks before the release of this Blu-ray. I have further details regarding the web series version of the film and you can see that by clicking HERE. Bushido man has had quite the cult following overseas, primarily in Japan and Germany. The film was also a big hit at the Fantasia International Film Festival in 2013. If you’re into martial arts films that feature a lot of different fighting styles and disciplines within one film, then this film is definitely the ticket. Its a simple film with a lot of kicking butt. Continue reading ‘Bushido Man: Seven Deadly Battles (Blu-ray Review)’
I’ve always been a pretty solid fan of the Jack Ryan franchise. The first one I saw was Clear And Present Danger, where some friends and I just randomly went to a movie on an afternoon and saw it. It was like my first super adult type movie I think I saw in the theater (or at least it felt like that, a film dealing more in politics and stuff). I was in middle school so it felt much more mature to me. But, I enjoyed it quite a bit, so I went back and watched the other two. And, I also wasn’t a hater of The Sum Of All Fears when Ben Affleck took on the role either. Still found it to be a fun and engaging film. Now, when wind came they were making another one, I was interested. Not super jacked, but I was looking forward to eventually seeing it. And now that time has come. 
Kicking off the second month of Scream Factory’s four month long “Summer Of Fear” is the 1999 film Ravenous. This is a pretty big new chapter for Scream Factory as the delve into a later decade in the annals of horror’s past. This is more of a modern vintage release for them. Besides Scanners II/III, I think this is their only 90s release and its coming from the most latter part of the decade. Ravenous is definitely a cult classic. This film bombed pretty hard upon release. It didn’t open in the top ten in wide release, and barely made the top twenty when it came out (#18). The film only managed two million dollars on a twelve million budget. Yeah, that’s pretty much a bomb. It came out in what looks like a pretty loaded spring 1999. But, those who actually gave the movie a chance (likely on home video), loved it and thus a new cult item was minted. 
The Final Terror is another one of those great pickups from Scream Factory that didn’t make it to DVD, but is making its jump from VHS to Blu-ray. Its one of those lost early 1980s slasher films that fans like me covet having a Blu-ray of in our collection. Notable cast in The Final Terror includes young renditions of Daryl Hannah and Joe Pantoliano. This isn’t a Collector’s Edition, but its no slouch in the extras category. It looks like it will be including interviews with the cast as well as a commentary track with the director. This little disc of joy will be hitting the market on July 1, so get you preorder in now. Full details on the release from Scream Factory are included below. This is the first July release in their “Summer Of Fear” series! 
It’s funny how film genres, trends, styles and such tend to come and go. A film like Grand Piano would have possibly or even likely been an A-List title in the 90s. It definitely would have been tops in the Hitchcock era of thrillers as well. Now, this high concept thriller film is best suited to be a festival darling with limited theatrical release and its big wide viewing coming in the Video OnDemand format. For someone like me who still loves this type of film, its sort of bittersweet. I’d like more options like this in the theater, BUT this type of material is only enhancing the VOD new release catalog and making that option more of a force to be reckoned with. Times are changing, and films like Grand Piano are making sure we pay more attention to and take the VOD market a bit more seriously. Some of the year’s more interesting stuff is now falling to that avenue. 
I’m pretty sure I’d never seen this version of Dracula prior to this review. A few things seemed familiar to me, but I wasn’t sure if it was this film I was being reminded of, or just that it was the Dracula story that I knew and other similar Dracula films that were in my brain. Anywho, this televised Dracula classic starring Jack Palance just got a brand new 2K transfer and is coming to your Blu-ray players in the next couple weeks. The Dan Curtis film was a hit when it aired on CBS back in 1974. How does it hold up in the sea of many takes on the legendary Count? How was legendary film actor Jack Palance in the title role? Come along with me as I take a look at this piece of horror television history in the new edition coming May 27th from MPI Home Video. 
Magnolia Home Entertainment is releasing the action-packed adventure, Journey To The West, on Blu-ray and DVD on May 27. I was a fan of both Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer, so I was interested to see what Stephen Chow brings to the table this time. I never saw CJ7 so I really haven’t seen anything from the guy since 2004 with Hustle. Journey To The West definitely has that same vein that Soccer and Hustle had, but heads off for a bigger, more fantastical, more supernatural adventure this time around. I had bit of a problem with the CGI in this one, but I think the idea behind and choreography of the fight sequences was impressive enough that the film is able to overcome some lackluster effects. 
It’s kind of funny, had this been 1986 and local newsletter mag called Why So VHS and Crocodile Dundee come across the table for review, us writers may have been chomping at the bit and fighting each other for the chance to review the tape. Instead, its 2014 and the double feature release of not only the first one, but part 2 included as well, comes as sort of an afterthought. I think it came across as sort of a conceded “sure, I’ll do it”. And that’s wild for a pair of films that were great big hits when they came out. The first film was an absolute phenomenon when it came out. While the box office number on it might make the youth of today shrug, it was massive back in 1986 and made the film sort of a phenomenon with a catch phrase that still gets used today (“That’s not a knife. THAT’S a knife.). How would these two films hold up today? And would I be blinded by any sort of nostalgia viewing them? 
It’s really been ten years since Napoleon Dynamite came out and we all had a Jamiroquai song stuck in our heads? Ten years since people were quoting and accenting Jon Heder as Napoleon like kids in the 90s were “Yeah, Baby” and quoting Mike Myers’ Austin Powers character? Dang, ten years ago I was in college with a ton of adventures in life ahead of me. But, hey, that’s where we are. Happy 10th birthday, Napoleon Dynamite. This phenomenon even had a short lived cartoon series on television that regrouped everyone involved in the film a couple years ago. Fox is celebrating that landmark with a new edition of your famous film. Well, lets take a look and see how exactly “new” this is. It does have sweet new liger-skinned packaging though, that’s for sure! 
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Synapse Films has released another film in their Hammer Horror Collection. This time its the Ingrid Pitt-led Countess Dracula, a movie from the later days of the Hammer films classic run. Ingrid Pitt comes into it following her turn in The Vampire Lovers. Hammer tells this tale of horror, basing it off of the actual “Blood Countess” Elizabeth Bathory. The Hungarian Bathory was one of the most prolific serial killers in history, having murdered and mutilated over 100 young women. Later, it was rumored that she bathed in the blood of virgins in order to maintain her youth. That info has been considered sketchy and used to build lore by historians, but the fascinating detail of this macabre is the basis for Countess Dracula. 
Way back in November when I wrote my first wishlist piece with 
