I first came to hear of Baa Baa Black Sheep while watching a YouTube upload of Battle of the Network Stars. An episode in which its star and Captain of ‘Team NBC’, Robert Conrad, suffered irreversible damage to his legendary ego when Gabe Kaplin (Welcome Back, Kotter) impressively out-sprinted him. When I saw that Via …
As an Australian who has never ventured into the Outback, cinema has on many occasions provided the experience, whether it’s been the hyper-reality of Mad Max 2 or a sombre trek through cultural extremes like Wake in Fright. However, it was Greg McLean’s Wolf Creek in 2005 that advised us to manage our expectations as …
Generation X is defined as people born between the years 1965 and 1980; the offspring of baby boomers, who were given their own cinematic portrait with The Big Chill. By the 1990s the up-and-coming youth were portrayed in several teen and 20-something related films, perhaps most memorably in Reality Bites. Available now on Blu-ray from …
“What’s your glitch?” REALITY BITES (1994) – review Read More »
I doubt many horror fans were expecting a new release of Rob Zombie’s Halloween movies, given their divisive reputation, but Via Vision Entertainment clearly see some value in the aggressive October onslaught by releasing both the theatrical and extended cuts in one Ultimate Edition set, available now on Blu-ray complete with the mammoth making-of documentary, …
Shock Treatment: Rob Zombie’s Halloween I & II – review Read More »
I loved fantasy adventure as a child, but mostly the live-action variety and providing it starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, so naturally, I never crossed paths with The Last Unicorn, which has since galloped to DVD here in Australia thanks to Via Vision Entertainment, who have been broadening my horizons since 2016. Written in the late 60s, …
Miniseries haven’t decreased in popularity, but like most television these days, they’re designed for binge-watching. However, Via Vision has recently unearthed a traditional classic two-parter, The Murder of Mary Phagan, available now on DVD for the very first time in Australia. Based on a true story, Leo Frank (Peter Gallagher) a factory manager in Atlanta, …
I’ve been an Arnold Schwarzenegger fan for as long as I’ve been watching movies. At the risk of sounding melodramatic, watching Conan the Barbarian for the first time, at the very inappropriate age of 6, was a life-changing moment due to its unconventional hero and deep philosophical subtext. Little did I know at the time …
Via Vision Entertainment bring the Seminal ‘Brat Pack’ drama to Blu-ray for the first time in Australia: St. Elmo’s Fire. The narrative of which turns out to basically be The Goonies, but for pretentious young adults. Fresh out of college, seven close-knit friends living relatively well in Georgetown, Washington DC, are in an unnecessary rush …
I don’t remember the first movie I watched, but there are a few distinct images that were burnt into my mind at a very young age; a miniaturised Dennis Quaid navigating his way through Martin Short’s body in Innerspace, Bruce Willis crawling through the air vents in Die Hard and a dead Bernie Lomax being …
Life of the Party: Weekend at Bernie’s (1989) – review Read More »
When I was a kid, ABC was the place for all things British, from Worzel Gummidge to Keeping Up Appearances, and now we have dedicated labels like Via Vision Entertainment that bring the occasional staple of UK-based film and television to disc-based formats like it the early 2000s, and I mean that as a complement. …