Film.com DVD Blog

DVD Review: The Time Traveler's Wife is Timeless

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:39:00 PST

Based on Audrey Niffenegger's beloved book, The Time Traveler's Wife echoes with the beauty of a bittersweet love story and the mesmerizing mystery of a gripping, time-travel tale.

The film begins with a collision. It's Christmas time and young Henry sings along in the backseat as his opera-trilling mother drives. Then the blazing lights of an oncoming truck burst through the darkness; moments before the crash, Henry dissolves. Actually, he time travels. He returns to rewatch the horror from…

DVD Review: Fraggle Rock: Wembley's Egg Surprise

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:16:00 PST

When I was a kid, one of my favorite shows was Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock. Cute Muppets (Fraggles) singing and dancing under the house of an old man and his dog (Doc and Sprocket), inhabiting the same underground space with a species of green construction workers (Doozers), while continuously running away from a family of giants (Gorgs) just outside the Fraggle's lair. Television didn't get any better than this in the mid-'80s, and thanks to Lionsgate, The Jim Henson Company, and DVD, the…

DVD Review: A Dangerous Man with Steven Seagal

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:09:00 PST

It's been eight years since Steven Seagal has had a film hit theaters (Half Past Dead), but that doesn't mean he's slowed down, cranking out straight-to-DVD action films at a rate that matches his punching speed (clocking in at around 20 since 2002). Seagal's latest dip into action is A Dangerous Man, proof that while his films have lowered in budget, scope, and all around quality, Seagal still has what it takes to scowl harder, kick faster, and deliver lines slower than ever before.

In true…

DVD Alternatives to This Weekend's Theatrical Offerings

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:42:00 PST

We know how it is: You'd like to go to the movies this weekend, except you're busy writing long, flowery letters to the love of your life, who's on the other side of the planet somewhere where there's no Internet access. But you can have a multiplex-like experience at home with a collection of the right DVDs. And when someone asks you on Monday, "Hey, did you see Dear John this weekend?" you can reply, "No, but do you have a stamp?"

INSTEAD OF: Dear John, a would-be weepy melodrama about a…

DVD Review: Emma

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:22:00 PST

Emma holds a peculiar place among Jane Austen's six legendary romantic comedies. It's easily her funniest story and features some of her greatest comic characters. But not all modern women have an easy time stomaching the "taming" of confident, witty, mischievous Emma by the smug, dull, condescending Mr. Knightley. The greatest compliment that can be paid to the BBC's lovely new adaptation is that it remains faithful to Austen's masterpiece, yet still makes us believe that Emma is ending up with…

DVD Review: The House of the Devil

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:54:00 PST

There's something to be said about a director wanting to try something new and different, whether it's putting a new spin on a tired genre, or going a different direction than the audience would likely expect. For those reasons, The House of the Devil director Ti West has my utmost respect. West took the modern way of horror filmmaking and went the exact opposite with The House of the Devil, creating a slow-building creepfest that's so thick with tension you could practically cut it with a…

DVD Review: Doctor Who: The Complete Specials Is No Place for Newbies

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:05:00 PST

Here is my spoiler-free recommendation for those wishing to jump into the phenomenon that is Doctor Who but who have never seen a lick of the "classic" series -- the one that ran from 1963 through 1989 -- nor a moment of the rebooted series, which debuted in 2005 and has since taken the world -- or the U.K., at least, and slices of American sci-fi cultdom -- by storm.

Don't start with "The Complete Specials," just out on DVD from BBC Video.

See, cuz David Tennant is the best Doctor ever.…

DVD Alternatives to This Weekend's Theatrical Offerings

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:01:00 PST

We know how it is: You'd like to go to the movies this weekend, except you're busy investigating the latest government/corporate cover-up and that leaves little time for amusing yourself. But you can have a multiplex-like experience at home with a collection of the right DVDs. And when someone asks you on Monday, "Hey, did you see Edge of Darkness this weekend?" you can reply, "No, but gimme back my DVDs!"

Goodness, only two wide releases this week, and no new arthouse flicks worth…

DVD Review: Saw VI -- Director's Cut, Unrated

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:49:00 PST

After five entries (in five years) of the same old thing, the Saw franchise either has to do something completely different or exactly the same for it to continue to work for its intended horror-loving audience. With Saw VI hitting DVD this week, it appears as though Lions Gate, Twisted Pictures, and director Kevin Greutert decided to go with more of the same, and you know what? It appears to have worked, at least compared to some of the other entries in the series. But is it worth the ride on…

DVD Review: Whiteout

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:16:00 PST

It's always disappointing to see a good idea executed poorly. Such is the case with this month's Kate Beckinsale-led thriller, Whiteout. Far from your typical setting, Whiteout takes place at a U.S. research facility located deep within the frozen wastes of the Antarctic. Beckinsale pays the facility's U.S. marshal, the lone law enforcement agent stationed in the region. Her days are spent walking the grounds, investigating petty thefts and occasionally haranguing people for public intoxication.…