Suburbia was Penelope Spheeris’ second feature-length film as a director, and her first narrative feature. Her first film is still probably her best—The Decline of Western Civilization, which is about the early days of the L.A. punk scene with bands like The Germs, X, Fear and even lesser-known acts like Catholic Discipline. Suburbia takes stories she heard in the … Continue reading Suburbia (1983) – Blu-Ray Review →

The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch is a Japanese film from the 1960s, which was directed by Noriaki Yuasa. Noriaki is best known as the main director of seven of the original eight Gamera films. Gamera was essentially a Godzilla rip-off based around this giant turtle creature, produced by Daiei Film to cash in … Continue reading The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch – Blu-Ray Review →

The Boys Next Door was Penelope Spheeris’ first film after Suburbia and, like all of her best work, it was a flop—but gained a cult following via VHS. It also features Charlie Sheen in his first notable role after Red Dawn. Much like Platoon, he is cosplaying another one of his father’s most notable roles, … Continue reading The Boys Next Door – Blu-Ray Review →

Mr. Klein is one of Joseph Losey’s very best films, and was made at a point in his career where he had practically been written off. The film, however, started out as a Costa-Gavras project—and as good as Mr. Klein is (and it’s very good), he does seem to be the director more suited to … Continue reading Mr. Klein – Blu-Ray Review →

From 1968 to 1970, author Norman Mailer dabbled in underground cinema, making three features, with Maidestone being the “most popular” of the trio. Mailer also ended up appearing in Jean-Luc Godard’s infamously incomprehensible film King Lear, which was produced by the notorious Cannon Films. The bombastic Mailer got on well enough with Yoram Globus and Menahim Golan of Cannon … Continue reading Tough Guys Don’t Dance – Blu-Ray Review →