The Repetition of DIE MY LOVE

DIE MY LOVE (4K + Blu-ray)

2025 / 119 min

MUBI 

Review by Stinky the Destroyer😾

Let’s accentuate the positive first. The performances in Die My Love are outstanding. As far as Jennifer Lawrence is concerned, it might even be the best of her career, certainly deserving of the Golden Globe she was nominated for. She approaches the role of Grace with a level of fearlessness and bravery that’s truly compelling (sometimes morbidly so). Co-star Robert Pattinson, as Grace’s beleaguered boyfriend/husband Jackson, further distances himself from the old Twilight days. He successfully avoids being overshadowed by Lawrence in a role that, depending on how one views the film, is either a protagonist or an antagonist. 

At no time do we feel like we’re watching actors, but a really troubled couple whose lives are unraveling due to Grace’s severe postpartum depression (and no small amount of Jackson’s perceived lack of emotional support). Elsewhere, director/co-writer Lynne Ramsey makes a lot of aesthetically interesting choices that enhance the film’s surreal, sometimes hallucinatory moments, bolstered by excellent cinematography by Seamus McGarvey.

However, I can’t eliminate the negative. Despite those stellar performances and themes worth exploring, Die My Love is a challenge to endure. Not because it’s very deliberately paced and depressing. Given her reputation, I wasn’t expecting sunshine and lollipops from Ramsey, anyway. But while Lawrence and Pattinson are all-in, their characters are static and simplistically conceived. Aside from an opening scene where they engage in an uninhibited bout of lovemaking (presumably conceiving the child that’s the catalyst for what follows), Grace and Lawrence are defined by verbal and physical conflict. 

A Montana honeymoon. 

In fact, neither of them come across as all that likable or sympathetic. Grace, in particular, grows increasingly vindictive and unhinged, some of her actions bordering on unforgivable. But here’s the biggest problem…Die My Love soon becomes phenomenally repetitive. Not to disparage the impact of postpartum depression on women and families, but as depicted here, the repeated pattern of crises and reconciliation gets rather predictable and boring after a while, despite efforts to jazz things up visually. Along the way, there are no character epiphanies, no meaningful explorations into the nature of this disorder and certainly nothing resembling levity (though I suppose some of this could be seen as black comedy). 

Still, some viewers might appreciate the film’s frankness, surreal elements and no-small-amount of sensationalism. If nothing else, the great cast (including Sissy Spacek & Nick Nolte) makes it difficult to dismiss Die My Love entirely. However, two hours is an interminable amount of time to spend with characters who are exactly the same at the film’s conclusion as they were at the beginning.

CRACK-UP and the Nagging Question

CRACK-UP (Blu-ray)

1946 / 86 min

Warner Archive Collection

Available at MovieZyng

Review by Mr. Paws😽

While I enjoyed 1946’s Crack-Up, it did leave me with a nagging question. Fortunately, I didn’t think to ask it until after the movie was over.

As the story begins, art critic and lecturer George Steele (Pat O’Brien) has apparently lost his mind, going berserk in the museum where he works. After waking up, he tells his colleagues and the police the last thing he remembers was being in a train crash on the way to visit his ailing mother. However, skeptical cop Lt. Cochrane (Wallace Ford) informs him there’s been no reported train wreck, nor any record of George’s mother being at the hospital.

At British art expert Traybin’s (Herbert Marshall) behest, George is released and followed by police. He decides to retrace his steps leading up to the accident, and though it turns out that there was no train crash, somebody definitely has it in for him. While Trybin and George’s beleaguered girlfriend Terry (Claire Trevor) implore him to give up after he’s suspected of murdering friend & colleague Stevenson, George uncovers a plot involving missing paintings and forgeries, and only he is skilled enough to identify the differences.

"You push that broom like a boss, buddy."

While no classic of the genre, Crack-Up is a fairly decent little film noir mystery. The story is pretty interesting, though overall implausibility of the antagonists' plans rears its ugly head here and there. It’s efficiently directed by Irving Reis, who may not display much in the way of aesthetic panache, but he keeps the pace lively, which helps smooth over some of the narrative rough spots. And what the film lacks in marquee names is compensated by serviceable performances.

There is that nagging question, though, which doesn’t necessarily ruin the movie. In the moment, Crack-Up is pretty fun, with a couple of neat plot twists. But without offering any spoilers, I simply gotta ask: Rather than arrange this elaborate scheme to discredit George by making everyone think he’s crazy, wouldn’t it have been easier just to kill him in the first place? Perhaps someone wiser than me can answer that one.

EXTRA KIBBLES

SHORT - “Purity Squad,” from the Crime Does Not Pay series.

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THE POOP SCOOP: Classic Horror Edition

UPCOMING KIBBLES THAT MAKE US PURR!

THEY WILL KILL YOU on Digital April 28 and Blu-ray, 4K & DVD June 30 from Warner Bros. director Kirill Sokolov unleashes a blood-soaked, high-octane horror-action-comedy in which a young woman must survive the night at the Virgil, a demonic cult’s mysterious and twisted death-trap of a lair, before becoming their next offering in a uniquely brazen, big screen battle of epic kills and wickedly dark humor. The film stars Zazie Beetz, Myha’la, Paterson Joseph, Tom Felton, Heather Graham, and Patricia Arquette.

 GINGER SNAPS on 4K + Blu-ray + Digital May 19 from Lionsgate. The cult favorite returns, in hair-raising 4K! Ginger Snaps is the story of death-fixated teenage sisters Ginger and Brigitte, who are attacked one night by a creature drawn to Ginger’s first menstrual period. Bitten by the creature, Ginger soon exhibits sudden aggression and bizarre transformations that convince Brigitte her sister is turning into a werewolf…and that Ginger’s embrace of her liberating new condition may be terminal. 

George A. Romero’s DAY OF THE DEAD on 4K + Blu-ray June 16 from Shout Factory. In George A. Romero's third film in the saga of the undead, a small group of scientists and soldiers take refuge underground as they struggle to control the flesh-eating horror that walks the Earth above. But will the final battle for the future be fought among the living or have they forever unleashed the hunger of the dead? This highly anticipated four-disc release features new 4K restoration, as well as hours of new and vintage bonus material.

NIRVANA, THE BAND, THE SHOW, THE MOVIE on Blu-ray May 26 from NEON/Decal. In this indie sci-fi comedy, Lifelong friends Matt and Jay once again try to book a gig at a legendary venue when they accidentally travel back in time to 2008. 

The Original 28 DAYS LATER Coming to 4K UHD September 1 from Sony. Waking from a coma in a deserted London hospital, bicycle courier Jim (Academy Award®-winner Cillian Murphy, 2023 Best Actor, Oppenheimer) takes to the deserted city streets in a state of mystified confusion. Joining forces with another group of survivors, Jim soon learns that a deadly virus was released. Is there still a glimmer of hope for humanity — or has the deadly "rage" virus found its way to foreign shores and infected the entire planet?

THE BRIDE! On Digital April 7 and Blu-ray, 4K & DVD May 19 from Warner Bros. This is a bold, iconoclastic take on one of the world’s most compelling stories. 

SPEED RACER on 4K UHD May 19 from Warner Bros. Based on the classic series created by anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida, the live action Speed Racer is newly remastered and includes new bonus content. 

FALLOUT SEASON 2 on Blu-ray, 4K & DVD May 19 from Amazon MGM Studios. While Fallout Season 1 took us through the dangerous remains of Los Angeles, Season 2 picks up after the epic finale and takes us on a journey through the “Mojave Wasteland.”.

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER 4K Collector SteelBook Coming June 2 from Warner Bros. The collectible steelbook will include a Blu-ray bonus disc with special features created by Paul Thomas Anderson along with a 24-page booklet with behind-the-scenes photos. 

“WUTHERING HEIGHTS” on Blu-ray, 4K & DVD May 5 from Warner Bros. Academy Award- and BAFTA-winning filmmaker Emerald Fennell’s bold and original interpretation of one of the greatest love stories of all time.

STRANGER THINGS: THE COMPLETE SERIES Coming to 4K and Blu-ray July 26 from Arrow Video. PRE-ORDER HERE!

The Fantasy Thriller, DUST BUNNY Coming to 4K and Digital from Lionsgate. Some monsters are real in this fantastical and wickedly inventive feature directorial debut from visionary creator Bryan Fuller.

INNERSPACE on 4K and Blu-ray April 28 from Arrow Video. The limited edition release features a brand-new restoration from the original 35mm negative.

SOLDIER, Starring Kurt Russell, on 4K April 28 from Arrow Video. The limited edition release features a brand new 4K restoration by Arrow Films approved by director Paul W.S. Anderson, hours of special features and newly commissioned extras.

Finally! BLUE THUNDER Limited Edition 4K Coming May 5 from Arrow Video. A landmark of analog-age futurism, it remains a razor-sharp thrill ride that fires on all cylinders from beginning to end. Includes numerous new and archival bonus features.

THE BLACK BELLY OF THE TARANTULA on 4K and Blu-ray May 12 from Celluloid Dreams. This giallo classic is now available for preorder on the Celluloid Dreams website.

MONSTER ON A PLANE: Cancel This Flight

MONSTER ON A PLANE (Blu-ray)

2024 / 90 min

Uncork’d Entertainment

Available at MovieZyng

Review by Josey, the Sudden Cat😾

Hoping for a little cheap, trashy fun in the sky? Look elsewhere. While I periodically enjoy a bit of exploitative junk as much as the next guy, Monster on a Plane mostly fails to even reach those lowly standards. 

Ironically, overall cheapness isn’t the movie’s problem. In fact, it dutifully includes plenty of the gratuitous sex & nudity, splatter & gore, cut-rate CGI and phony monsters that have made similar films a lot of shameless fun. And of course, it’s got the usual silly story and overwrought performances, capped off by the prerequisite title that explains the plot in a nutshell.

However, this one doesn’t even rise to the level of so-good-it’s-bad, for a couple of key reasons. First off, the dialogue is not only terrible (hell, that can be forgiven, even embraced), there are numerous distracting occasions when it doesn’t even make sense…and I’m talking grammatical sense. Monster on a Plane is a German production but filmed in English, and if I didn't know better, I’d say the script was originally written in German before being fed through Google Translate and handed to the cast. Some of it even sounds like it was clumsily written by AI (as a former teacher, I’ve seen many examples of AI’s butchery of the English language). Here’s just one stellar example:

Man: You know who I love more than you? Your tiny boobs.

Woman: You idiot. My boobs belong to me.

This little fellow is in charge of guarding the script.

The entire cast delivers their lines as if they aren’t always exactly sure what they’re actually saying, their efforts to recite everything verbatim coming across as a struggle. Elsewhere, I found myself wondering if “writer”-director Ezra Tsegaye has ever been on a plane (or if he knows how they work). Not only is the cockpit free of any steering control wheels, the cargo hold (where much of the slaughter takes place) is the size of a small warehouse. Then there’s the creature itself, which so-closely resembles the little Krites in Critters that someone should consider suing. 

It also seems to have been edited with a chainsaw…most scenes sloppily slapped together, often with little or no transition. If a bonkers German creature feature is what you seek, might I humbly suggest something like Sky Sharks? At least that one feels like the work of professional schlockmeisters. The only vibe Monster on a Plane gives off is contempt for the expectations of its audience.

SLEEPERS Awakens in 4K

SLEEPERS (4K UHD)

1996 / 148 min

Warner Bros

#InPartnershipwithWB 

Review by Princess Pepper😺

Man, what a cast…an inspired combination of living legends, rising stars, young newcomers and one particular A-lister who totally nails a role that would be way, way out of anyone’s comfort zone (well, maybe not Willem Defoe’s). Back in ‘96, the overstuffed marquee alone was enough to make Sleepers worth checking out.

The cast remains the driving force behind the film, which tells the story of Michael, Shakes, John and Thomas, four teen buddies from Hell’s Kitchen. Following a prank that results in someone’s death, they end up incarcerated in a juvenile detention facility. While there, they are repeatedly subjected to physical and sexual abuse at the hands of four guards, led by super-sadistic Sean Nokes (Kevin Bacon). 13 years later, two of them, John and Thomas (Ron Eldard & Billy Cudup), are violent mobsters who unexpectedly spot Nokes in a bar. Ceasing the opportunity for payback, they shoot him dead. 

Now they’re on trial for murder. In a surprise turn of events, Michael (Brad Pitt), is the assistant DA who signs on to prosecute them. But he has an ulterior motive, using his position to manipulate the trial…not only to free his friends, but exact revenge on the remaining guards who abused them. To accomplish this, he requires the help of Shakes (Jason Patric) to locate those guards and (more importantly) come up with a witness willing to provide an alibi for John and Thomas.

Brad Pitt gets put in time-out.

Richly drawn characters notwithstanding, Sleepers is ultimately a payback story, its narrative seldom diving too deeply into the moral ambiguities of its protagonists’ actions. And considering the atrocities inflicted on them as children, we wouldn’t want it to. In fact, the only moral quandary is experienced by Father Carillo (Robert De Niro), their life-long mentor who’s asked by Shakes to commit perjury on the stand. As revenge films go, Sleepers isn’t necessarily a “fun” film (the first half is really harrowing), but it’s certainly a satisfying one.

Most of the stacked cast are excellent in their roles. De Niro provides his usual gravitas, while the young actors playing the main characters as boys are engaging, sometimes more so than their adult counterparts. This is especially true regarding Joe Perrino as young Shakes, who’s far more dynamic than Jason Patric (but I never found him to be a particularly interesting actor anyway). However, the most shockingly effective performance belongs to Bacon as Nokes, a truly repellent and menacing turn unlike anything he’d done before at the time. The cast’s other legend, Dustin Hoffman, is perfectly fine in a smaller, underwritten role as a drunken defense lawyer, but I can’t shake the feeling he did it simply as a favor to his buddy, director Barry Levinson.

Elsewhere, there’s good attention to period detail in rendering late-60s Hell’s Kitchen, and despite its length, Levinson keeps things interesting with a lively pace and frequent bursts of intensity. It all looks quite good with this new 4K UHD transfer (but having never seen it on Blu-ray or DVD, I’ve got no basis for comparison). There are two audio options, both of which are DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. However, one of them is titled “Director’s Remix,” where some of Patric’s voiceover narration is removed. Sweetening the deal are a couple of new retrospective bonus features.

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTES - The Making of Sleepers and The Art of Casting are both short pieces featuring writer-director Berry Levinson. Not much depth here, but at least they’re new.

DIGITAL COPY

Revisiting INNERSPACE in 4K

INNERSPACE Limited Edition (4K UHD)

Also available on Blu-ray

1987 / 120 min

Arrow Video

Review by Princess Pepper😺

Back in the ‘80s, director Joe Dante was never a household name, though his films had a style and tone that was distinctive among all the big studio blockbusters being made at the time. They often displayed quirky humorous touches and cultural allusions you typically didn’t see in high-concept summer fare. While not always hits, most are fondly remembered these days by those who grew up on them.

The sci-fi comedy, Innerspace, is certainly not Dante’s best film. That honor will always go to Gremlins (though I’d listen to arguments in favor of Matinee). With hindsight though, this might be the one movie that benefits the most from having him in the director’s chair. Otherwise, it likely would’ve ended up being just another studio product with Steven Spielberg’s name above the title for marquee value. Sure, Spielberg ‘presents’ this one (serving as executive producer) and it certainly has a similar aesthetic. But without Dante’s amusing approach (and Jeffrey Boam’s re-writes), it might’ve been little more than a rip-off of Fantastic Voyage with better special effects.

Worse yet, we'd have been denied all those unique character moments featuring familiar faces Dante loves putting in his movies, such as Kevin McCarthy, Dick Miller, Chuck Jones, Wendy Schaal, Henry Gibson and especially Robert Picardo, whose hilarious performance as “The Cowboy” is one of the film’s highlights. The story itself is interesting and the primary cast of Dennis Quaid, Martin Short and Meg Ryan do a decent job competing with the special effects (though I never personally found Short all that funny). It does drag on a little longer than necessary, however, exacerbated somewhat by a main protagonist, Tuck Pendleton (Quaid), that isn’t particularly likable.

"Sorry...most people enjoy my Katherine Hepburn."

But that’s just me. Like a few other Joe Dante films from the ‘80s that didn’t initially set the world on fire, there’s undoubtedly that core of fans who consider Innerspace to be a lost classic. For them, this 4K limited edition release from Arrow Video is definitely worth picking up. In addition to an solid overall video restoration and three audio options (including a newly remixed Dolby Atmos track), there’s an hour-long retrospective documentary among the supplements, as well as some archival material and a few physical goodies (the latter of which were not made available to review). Now, if someone would just give Gremlins the same amount of love.

EXTRA KIBBLES

NOTE: Free Kittens Movie Guide was provided with a promo disc for review purposes. Physical supplemental material included with the final product (booklets, artwork, inserts, etc) were not available for review. 

SHRINKAGE: THE MAKING OF INNERSPACE is a new retrospective documentary featuring interviews with director Joe Dante, actor Robert Picardo, producer Michael Finnell, FX artists Dennis Muren, Harley Jessup & Bill George. Running nearly an hour, a majority of it is related to the special effects, though Dante does discuss how he came to direct it, while Picardo provides a few amusing anecdotes.

FEATURETTES - Behind the Scenes with Joe Dante includes on-set footage; Behind the Scenes at ILM includes production footage related to the special effects.

2 AUDIO COMMENTARIES - 1) By critic Drew McWeeny (I think I ordered one of those from McDonalds once); 2) By  director Joe Dante, actors Robert Picardo & Kevin McCarthy, producer Michael Finnell, FX supervisor Dennis Muren

ORIGINAL STORYBOARDS

CONTINUITY & BEHIND THE SCENES POLAROIDS

POSTER, PROMO & PRODUCTION STILLS GALLERIES

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PRIMATE: Monkey Business In My Dream House

PRIMATE (Blu-ray)

2025 / 89 min

Paramount

Review by Josey, the Sudden Cat🙀

Maybe it’s my age, but while watching Primate, I kept getting distracted by the house where the film takes place. Damn, it’s awesome, maybe the greatest house I’ve ever seen in a movie where it isn’t trying to kill its occupants. 

Back my the days of apartment living, I didn’t pay much attention to such things, even with the wife insisting I join her to catch House Hunters on HGTV so I could hear her dream out loud. Conversely, I was stubbornly pragmatic, seeing no point in watching other couples buy dream homes I couldn’t possibly afford. But now that I’m a home owner with equity, some of those fancy digs on TV seem a bit more tangible, therefore more interesting. 

As for the house in Primate…I was ready to put our split-level suburban dump on the market and moonlight as a rodeo clown to get it. But alas, one of this disc’s bonus features reveals that the house itself isn’t real. I shoulda known it was too good to be true. 

Still, it’s a great setting, even if it isn’t trying to kill its occupants. Something else is, though…a rabid chimpanzee. Primate is sort of a simian version of Cujo and the titular creature is named Ben, who lives with the Pinborough family. Oldest daughter Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah) has come home from college, bringing a few friends along to up the eventual body count. After being bitten by a mongoose, Ben turns rabid and murderous while Lucy’s father is away for a book signing. Lucy, her friends and young sister Erin (Gia Hunter) flee to the swimming pool because Ben can’t swim. However, they’re trapped there.

Scariest of all...Ben is not housebroken.

With the exception of Adam (Troy Kotser), the dad who happens to be deaf, I had trouble distinguishing one character from another, their personalities being of obvious secondary importance. But to be perfectly honest, I was fine with that, even when a couple of laughably-conceived dude bros show up mid-movie for the sole purpose of getting slaughtered. What ultimately matters is that Primate delivers a wildly gory good time as Ben kills off most of the cast in a variety of hideously gruesome ways. These scenes are extremely well executed - even suspenseful at times - made more potent by good ol’ fashioned practical effects.

And speaking of which…I’m sure the temptation was strong to depict Ben through CGI, but thankfully, he’s a combination of animatronics and a small actor (Miguel Torres Umba) in prosthetics. For the most part, he’s as convincing as the house created for his rampage, and since everyone else looks and acts like refugees from a reality show, Ben ends up being the most interesting character in the entire film. Hell, I was rooting for him from the get-go.

Sure, plausibility is stretched a little thin here and there (especially regarding some of Ben’s abilities), but since the movie attacks its familiar premise with uninhibited, blood-soaked glee, who cares? Movies like this are never meant to challenge the intellect anyway. What ultimately matters is that Primate delivers unpretentious thrills and creative kills…all set in a house that’s a lot cooler than yours.

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTES - Primal Terror: Directing Primate mostly features director/co-writer Johannes Roberts, as well as cast & crew interviews; New Blood: The Faces of Primate focuses on the cast; Creating Ben is the best of the bonus features and offers a revealing look at how Ben was depicted; Designing Paradise is about how they created that awesome house.

AUDIO COMMENTARY - By director/co-writer Johannes Roberts.