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Love, Magic, and the Cost of Control

Witch's Brew

Ella M. Hayes doesn’t shy away from the messier parts of life. In WITCH'S BREW, she gives us a heroine who isn’t perfect, polished, or particularly patient—but she’s magnetic, independent, and human in all the best and worst ways. Set in upstate New York, the story leans into its witchy aesthetic while grounding its magic in real emotion: power, validation, escape, connection.

Kung Fu Legacy With a Slapstick Twist

The Tattooed Dragon (Long hu jin hu)

An artifact of early 1970s martial arts cinema, THE TATTOOED DRAGON has been brushed off and polished up for a new audience, thanks to Eureka’s restoration. And while the Blu-ray looks great and offers a healthy serving of extras for kung fu collectors, the film is a curious mix of nostalgic charm and inconsistency. It’s easy to appreciate what this movie represents—a bridge between eras, between studios, and between martial arts legends—but a little harder to overlook its shifts between goofy comedy and bloody justice.

Utopia Isn’t Easy—but It Was Worth Trying

Commune: A Portrait of Idealism, 20th Anniversary Restoration

Jonathan Berman’s COMMUNE isn’t here to romanticize the 1960s dream. It’s a grounded, occasionally chaotic, often funny, and ultimately reflective look at what happens when idealism meets real-life logistics—and how the people involved in that collision try to make sense of it all. Returning in a 20th anniversary restoration, the film offers a compelling, if uneven, meditation on the intersection of politics, personal freedom, and communal responsibility, framed through Black Bear Ranch's experiment.

Where Sound Becomes a State of Mind

Steven Halpern - Music For Microdosing

With MUSIC FOR MICRODOSING, Steven Halpern delivers a sonic journey designed not for performance or background listening but for immersion, intention, and awareness. True to the spirit of its title, this album is deeply rooted in the wellness space, building a bridge between sound and state of mind. Whether or not you engage in literal microdosing, Halpern’s latest effort aims to elevate your experience of consciousness itself.

A Calm so Precise, It Knocks Out the Noise

Steven Halpern - Sleep Soundly Vol. 3 (432hz)

With SLEEP SOUNDLY VOL. 3, Steven Halpern returns to one of his most vital missions: guiding listeners into deep, restorative rest. In a world that never seems to power down, this album functions less as a musical statement and more as a subversive tool—one that actively supports sleep, recovery, and the emotional relief that so many of us struggle to achieve. It’s functional music in the best possible sense: designed with care, executed with precision, and gently insistent in its purpose.

Holding on While the Game Slips Away

Eephus

In EEPHUS, director Carson Lund doesn’t just recreate a time and place—he lets us linger in it. Set in a 90s Massachusetts that’s seen better days but still has stories to tell, this feature thrives in its patience, awkward silences, and the timeless ritual of community gathering under the guise of sport. It’s a film that doesn’t push you toward emotion; instead, it lobs it like a slow, curving pitch—seemingly easy to read, but surprisingly hard to forget once it lands.

The Obituary the Video Store Deserved

Videoheaven

VIDEOHEAVEN doesn’t just honor the video rental era, it resurrects it. Alex Ross Perry’s ambitious documentary does not follow the typical nostalgia-doc blueprint. There are no teary-eyed talking heads or fuzzy recreations of childhood memories. Instead, this is a cinematic thesis—structured, argued, and illustrated with methodical intensity, yet pulsing with deeply felt personal conviction. Ironically, the film feels like one of those educational documentaries you would have watched in school, but in the absolute best way possible.

Love Becomes a Weapon, and Nobody’s Safe

Pretty Thing

Alicia Silverstone has never been one to back down from a defining role, and in PRETTY THING, she reclaims center stage with all the force and sharpness of a woman who knows exactly what she’s doing. What starts as an intoxicating affair between a powerful executive and her younger lover spirals into something far darker—a game neither can control. Director Justin Kelly channels the erotic thrillers of the '80s and '90s but updates the formula with a more self-aware, power-conscious lens.

Grief, Guts, and a Ghost That Lingers

Stomach It

STOMACH IT certainly doesn’t lack conviction. In just 13 minutes, writer-director Peter Klausner attempts to unpack grief, trauma, and emotional detachment through the lens of psychological and body horror. While the shorts’ atmosphere and concept are commendable, the result doesn’t always hit with the force or clarity it aims for. That said, there’s enough style and sincerity behind the camera to keep it engaging, even when it doesn’t quite land (for me).

The Smart Home That Doesn’t Want You to Leave

Neurovenge

If your home could talk, what would it say? In NEUROVENGE, director Mina Soliman's debut feature, the house does more than talk—it listens, manipulates, and eventually…. This sci-fi thriller imagines an AI-powered home system not as a convenience but as a calculated and increasingly sinister presence in the life of a grieving teenager and her fractured family. If you’ve seen 2022’s TRADER and enjoyed it, you’ll likely enjoy the ride here. The film was co-written by the writer/director of that film, and though entirely different, you can feel a similarity there!

When Humor, Murder, and Heart Collide

My Life is Murder - Series 4

There’s something satisfying about watching a show that knows exactly what it wants to be. SERIES 4 of MY LIFE IS MURDER doesn’t try to reinvent itself—it doesn’t need to. Instead, it doubles down on its strongest assets: intelligent mysteries, warm characters, and the irresistible presence of Lucy Lawless as Alexa Crowe. But this time, it also finds something a little deeper. Beneath the humor and procedural structure, there’s a personal reckoning building in the background, and it gives the season just enough weight to elevate the experience without weighing it down.

Safe Words Optional, Sanity Not Guaranteed

Vanilla

There’s nothing shy about VANILLA. It doesn’t ease into its premise or whisper sweet nothings to the audience. This short comedy is loud, crass, proudly inappropriate, and knows exactly what it’s doing. It's the kind of film that looks you straight in the eye while getting undressed and dares you to look away. Self-awareness isn’t a side effect here—it’s baked into the entire experience. VANILLA thrives on confronting the audience with its blend of uncomfortable humor, kink-friendly roleplay, and relentless genre subversion. It’s not just a sex comedy—it’s a meta-kink carnival where the punchline is how far it's willing to go.

Heatwaves, Heartache, and a Hint of Wonder

Star People

Curiosity, longing, and memory collide in this eerie, slow-burning drama that sidesteps the typical playbook for science fiction. Rather than spotlighting spaceships or elaborate mythology, the film roots itself in one woman’s obsessive desire to connect the past to the present, chasing not closure, but something closer to clarity. With an understated tone and a sharp focus on human behavior, this is less about what might be in the sky and more about what’s left unresolved here on Earth. I found it genuinely hypnotic; the multiple subplots somehow work in unison in a way I wasn’t expecting.

Propaganda Meets Paranoia With a Smile

Air America 4K Steelbook

Set during the covert operations of the CIA’s secret air transport wing in 1969 Laos, AIR AMERICA blends high-octane action with comedy and more subversive commentary than it’s often credited with. Directed by Roger Spottiswoode, the film juggles war satire, buddy comedy antics, and government critique—sometimes with grace, with turbulence—but always anchored by the effortless chemistry between Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr.

Where Cinema Began, Before Hollywood Took the Credit

Made in New Jersey: Films From Fort Lee (Blu-ray)

MADE IN NEW JERSEY: FILMS FROM FORT LEE isn’t just a collection—it’s a resurrection of sorts. Across two Blu-ray discs, Milestone Films/Kino Lorber curates 14 early short films and two documentaries that collectively remind viewers that the story of American cinema didn’t start in Hollywood—it began in the backlots of Fort Lee, New Jersey. Spanning over a century of history, the set provides a fascinating archival deep dive and a wildly entertaining survey of the earliest moving pictures.