Videophiled: ‘Mississippi Grind’ – an American original, plus ‘American Ultra,’ ‘Goodnight Mommy,’ and ‘A Hard Day’

by Sean Axmaker | Dec 1, 2015 | Home Viewing, What's Hot

Another week off, this time for Thanksgiving, so I’m catching up on two weeks of New Releases. Mississippi Grind (Lionsgate, Blu-ray, DVD) plays like a seventies character drama, a meandering road movie through the byways of American characters who populate the...

Videophiled: The raunch of ‘Trainwreck’ and the melancholy of ‘Mr. Holmes’

by Sean Axmaker | Nov 10, 2015 | Home Viewing, Reviews, What's Hot

Trainwreck (Universal, Blu-ray, DVD, VOD) – I don’t think I laughed as hard at any movie comedy this year as I did with Amy Schumer’s big screen debut feature as writer / star. Abetted by the direction of Judd Apatow, who has been moving from male-centric...

Videophiled TVD: ‘The Flash,’ ‘Jane the Virgin,’ ‘Empire,’ ‘The Jinx,’ the end of ‘Mad Men’ and more

by Sean Axmaker | Oct 17, 2015 | Home Viewing, TV, What's Hot

The Flash: The Complete First Season (Warner, Blu-ray, DVD) – Originally introduced (or more accurately teased) in the second season of Arrow, The Flash” is the CW network’s lighter, brighter, more playful superhero series. Grant Gustin stars as...

Videophiled: ‘Clouds of Sils Maria’ with Juliette Binoche, the epic ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ from India, the insidious horror of ‘It Follows’

by Sean Axmaker | Jul 15, 2015 | Home Viewing, What's Hot

Clouds of Sils Maria (Paramount, DVD, Digital HD, VOD) – Olivier Assayas wrote this drama about a veteran actress facing a transition in her career after Juliette Binoche, arguably France’s greatest and certainly most ambitious actress working today, challenged...

Videophiled: Michael Fassbender in ‘Slow West,’ Pierre Richard is ‘The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe,’ ‘The Brokenwood Mysteries’ of New Zealand’

by Sean Axmaker | Jul 9, 2015 | Home Viewing, What's Hot

Slow West (Lionsgate, Blu-ray, DVD), which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2015, stars Kodi Smit-McPhee as 16-year-old Jay Cavendish, the son of Scottish aristocrats on a romantic (and foolhardy) journey to find the girl he loves on the 19th century American...