Rating: ««« out of 4 stars

Running Time: 156 min.

In the midst of Hollywood sequels and reboots that relentlessly follow a predetermined formula, it’s great to see a big budget eccentricity like The Revenant. This is the type of film that clearly represents the personal vision of its filmmaker, melding western tropes with art house pretense. As a result of its unusual approach and icy tone, it’s going to garner extreme reactions. But from my perspective, this change from the norm is always welcome.

Set in the 1820s, the story is fairly simple. Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a guide for a group of fur traders in the wilderness. After a series of misadventures, a tragedy...

Hope every had a good holiday. Unlike the past couple of editions, this one is absolutely loaded with releases. Here are the highlights. So if you can’t make it out to the movies this week, be sure to give one of these titles a try!

Big New Releases!

Close Range - An ex-soldier takes on a drug cartel who is threatening his sister and niece in this low-budget action picture. Those who saw it warned that the script and acting was downright wooden and silly. However, they also stated that the fight choreography was impressive and that the action sequences in general were well-handled. As direct-to-DVD B-movie schlock-fests go, they felt that the fisticuff scenes make it slightly...

Welcome back to this week’s edition of DVD and Blu-ray highlights. There are actually some interesting titles coming despite the holiday slow down. So if you can’t make it out to the movies this week, be sure and give one of these titles a try!

Big New Releases!

Bone Tomahawk - If you enjoyed Kurt Russell in The Hateful Eight, you may be interested in checking out this smaller western with a horror edge. In it, he plays a sheriff who forms a motley crew to rescue some townspeople abducted by a band of cannibals. Reviews were quite strong for the effort, stating that the movie was beautifully shot, the cast were excellent and that the production was surprisingly effective...

«««« out of 4 Stars

Running Time 182 Minutes

Are you ready to take a deep soak in the mind of Tarantino?

His new mammoth Western, The Hateful Eight is a full-blown, bat-shit crazy epic built entirely from the wonderful words you’d expect in a QT film. Important thing is there are signs of growth yet again in Tarantino’s work.

We must begin with the presentation in the grand sense of the word. The Hateful Eight is the first film to be shot in Ultra Panavision 70 mm in almost 50 years. This is a large format that used to be the IMAX of the era. You see Lawrence of Arabia in 70. You see Ben Hur. Films with expansive scope. WhileThe Hateful Eight is epic in story, visually it is...