Employee Picks: Giant Robots, An Underrated Revenge Thriller, And One Of Cinema’s Best-Ever Debuts
By Jacob Knight/June 12, 2018 11:00 am EST
We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. (Welcome to Employee Picks, a series where Jacob Knight uses his day job expertise as a video store manager to recommend unique and often overlooked alternative options to the big movies hitting theaters and home video.)
Hello and welcome back to Employee Picks! In case you missed the rules in the inaugural column’s edition: for every big-name motion picture on the horizon, I suggest something from the archives to watch in its place that’s either thematically, spiritually, or tangentially related. Easy peasy. With those general parameters in mind, here are my alternative picks for every big movie dropping on Blu-Ray, DVD or VOD this June.
The Major Release: Death Wish (2018)
The Major Release: A Wrinkle in Time
Your Alternative: Fantastic Voyage (1966, d. Richard Fleischer)
Ava DuVernay’s A Wrinkle In Time was a noble critical and commercial failure; a touch too outlandish for most audiences looking for a solid diversion to take their children to. While the movie’s definitely worth a look, perhaps it could be followed by Richard Fleischer’s Fantastic Voyage. While Wrinkle knocks off an item off your kids’ reading list, Fleischer’s film can help them learn a little about the workings of the human body, as a team of Cold War era adventurers are shrunken down and sent to try and save a nearly assassinated scientist from inside his own body. It’s goofy and stuffed with old school SFX, but Fantastic Voyage is also a visual treat that will stick with most tots for the rest of their lives. This writer can vouch for the fact that it helped him remember which blood cells do what way before junior high health class!
Fantastic Voyage is available on Blu-ray from 20th Century Fox.
The Major Release: Hurricane Heist
The Major Release: Gringo
The Major Release: Tomb Raider
The Major Release: Love, Simon
Your Alternative: Valley Girl (1983, d. Martha Coolidge)
Love, Simon is a cinematic signpost: a mainstream comedy for queer kids who want to see themselves represented onscreen the same way straight kids have been for the entirety of movie history. For those of us well versed in coming of age tales, it’s easy to recognize a solid bit of Valley Girl in Love, Simon’s filmic DNA. Nicolas Cage’s New Wave outsider finding romance with Deborah Foreman’s bubbly, health food hocking popular princess is one of the finest fictional explorations of teens just trying to discover their own truths, and what those identities means to the outside world. Plus, Valley Girl owns not only one of the greatest original soundtracks in the medium’s history, but also one of the most swooningly romantic screen smooches ever, set to The Plimsouls’ “A Million Miles Away”. Don’t be groady guys, let your freak flags fly.Valley Girl is available on DVD from MGM (but is coming to Blu from Shout! this fall!).
The Major Release: The Strangers: Prey At Night
The Major Release: Pacific Rim Uprising
Your Alternative: Robot Jox (1989, d. Stuart Gordon)
One of Stuart Gordon’s goofier works during his days at Charles Band’s Empire Pictures, competitive robot duels have taken the place of war following an apocalyptic WWW III. The contenders fight for disputed territories, and an American and Russian champion are currently throwing down over the former State of Alaska. Essentially, it’s Rocky IV, but with massive, stop motion animated robots and Gordon’s typically perverted sense of humor (though that last element is toned down, thanks to the movie’s PG rating). Does any of it make a lick of sense? Not really. But the spectacle comes from the analog SFX, all working to deliver you into a futuristic Hellscape that may be corny, but still carries a frightening edge. Beat that, Syfy-ready Pacific Rim sequel.
Robot Jox is available on Blu-ray from Shout! Factory.
The Major Release: Unsane
The Major Release: Tyler Perry’s Acrimony
Employee Picks: Giant Robots, An Underrated Revenge Thriller, And One Of Cinema’s Best-Ever Debuts
By Jacob Knight/June 12, 2018 11:00 am EST
We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. (Welcome to Employee Picks, a series where Jacob Knight uses his day job expertise as a video store manager to recommend unique and often overlooked alternative options to the big movies hitting theaters and home video.)
Hello and welcome back to Employee Picks! In case you missed the rules in the inaugural column’s edition: for every big-name motion picture on the horizon, I suggest something from the archives to watch in its place that’s either thematically, spiritually, or tangentially related. Easy peasy. With those general parameters in mind, here are my alternative picks for every big movie dropping on Blu-Ray, DVD or VOD this June.
We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.
Hello and welcome back to Employee Picks! In case you missed the rules in the inaugural column’s edition: for every big-name motion picture on the horizon, I suggest something from the archives to watch in its place that’s either thematically, spiritually, or tangentially related. Easy peasy.
With those general parameters in mind, here are my alternative picks for every big movie dropping on Blu-Ray, DVD or VOD this June.
The Major Release: Death Wish (2018)
Your Alternative: Death Sentence (2007, d. James Wan)
The Major Release: A Wrinkle in Time
Your Alternative: Fantastic Voyage (1966, d. Richard Fleischer)
Ava DuVernay’s A Wrinkle In Time was a noble critical and commercial failure; a touch too outlandish for most audiences looking for a solid diversion to take their children to. While the movie’s definitely worth a look, perhaps it could be followed by Richard Fleischer’s Fantastic Voyage. While Wrinkle knocks off an item off your kids’ reading list, Fleischer’s film can help them learn a little about the workings of the human body, as a team of Cold War era adventurers are shrunken down and sent to try and save a nearly assassinated scientist from inside his own body. It’s goofy and stuffed with old school SFX, but Fantastic Voyage is also a visual treat that will stick with most tots for the rest of their lives. This writer can vouch for the fact that it helped him remember which blood cells do what way before junior high health class!
Fantastic Voyage is available on Blu-ray from 20th Century Fox.
Fantastic Voyage is available on Blu-ray from 20th Century Fox.
The Major Release: Hurricane Heist
Your Alternative: Money Movers (1978, d. Bruce Beresford)
The Major Release: Gringo
Your Alternative: The Mexican (2001, d. Gore Verbinski)
The Major Release: Tomb Raider
Your Alternative: Mistress of the Apes (1979, d. Larry Buchanan)
The Major Release: Love, Simon
Your Alternative: Valley Girl (1983, d. Martha Coolidge)
Love, Simon is a cinematic signpost: a mainstream comedy for queer kids who want to see themselves represented onscreen the same way straight kids have been for the entirety of movie history. For those of us well versed in coming of age tales, it’s easy to recognize a solid bit of Valley Girl in Love, Simon’s filmic DNA. Nicolas Cage’s New Wave outsider finding romance with Deborah Foreman’s bubbly, health food hocking popular princess is one of the finest fictional explorations of teens just trying to discover their own truths, and what those identities means to the outside world. Plus, Valley Girl owns not only one of the greatest original soundtracks in the medium’s history, but also one of the most swooningly romantic screen smooches ever, set to The Plimsouls’ “A Million Miles Away”. Don’t be groady guys, let your freak flags fly.Valley Girl is available on DVD from MGM (but is coming to Blu from Shout! this fall!).
The Major Release: The Strangers: Prey At Night
Your Alternative: Hello, Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987, d. Bruce Pittman)
The Major Release: Pacific Rim Uprising
Your Alternative: Robot Jox (1989, d. Stuart Gordon)
One of Stuart Gordon’s goofier works during his days at Charles Band’s Empire Pictures, competitive robot duels have taken the place of war following an apocalyptic WWW III. The contenders fight for disputed territories, and an American and Russian champion are currently throwing down over the former State of Alaska. Essentially, it’s Rocky IV, but with massive, stop motion animated robots and Gordon’s typically perverted sense of humor (though that last element is toned down, thanks to the movie’s PG rating). Does any of it make a lick of sense? Not really. But the spectacle comes from the analog SFX, all working to deliver you into a futuristic Hellscape that may be corny, but still carries a frightening edge. Beat that, Syfy-ready Pacific Rim sequel.
Robot Jox is available on Blu-ray from Shout! Factory.
Robot Jox is available on Blu-ray from Shout! Factory.
