FILM FRENZY

William H. Macy in Shameless (Photo: Warner Bros.)

By Matt Brunson

(For a look at last year’s finest films, head to Film 2025: The Year’s 10 Best here.)

(View From The Couch is a weekly column that reviews what’s new on Blu-ray, 4K, and DVD. Ratings are on a four-star scale.)

BULLET IN THE HEAD (1990) / ONCE A THIEF (1991). I daresay Hong Kong cinema enthusiasts who are also home-entertainment enthusiasts never had it so good. At the start of 2025, Shout! Studios announced that it had secured the rights to the Golden Princess Film Production library, comprised of 156 movies from the golden age of Hong Kong cinema. The outfit kicked off its Hong Kong Cinema Classics line last July 29; in just six months, it has already released 26 titles in either Blu-ray or 4K + Blu-ray editions, including such classics as John Woo’s The Killer, Ringo Lam’s City on Fire, and Tsui Hark’s Peking Opera Blues. Here are the two latest offerings (sold separately), both courtesy of Mr. Woo.

The Killer and Hard Boiled are better known — and better, period — but in some ways, it’s Bullet in the Head that feels like Woo’s magnum opus. It’s ambitious in execution and epic in scope, and it also takes a hatchet to Woo’s perennial themes of friendship, loyalty, and the codes of morality that are followed by both the lawful and the lawless. Set in 1967, it finds gang members Ben (Tony Leung), Frank (Jacky Cheung), and Paul (Waise Lee), friends since childhood, forced to leave Hong Kong after they accidentally kill a rival gang member. They decide to try their luck as smugglers in Saigon — not their best decision, since the Vietnam War is in full rage. Their various exploits in the country, including a stint at a Vietcong concentration camp straight out of The Deer Hunter, damage them mentally and physically, with Paul transforming into an avaricious brute and Frank becoming a drug addict. Overbaked in numerous spots, it’s nevertheless a competent, confident drama representing Woo at (nearly) the zenith of his abilities.

By comparison, Once a Thief is minor Woo, in the same way that, say, Mr. & Mrs. Smith is minor Hitchcock or When Willie Comes Marching Home is minor Ford. It’s more outright comedic in nature than Woo’s other pictures, and it borrows more from such caper yarns as Rififi, Topkapi, and To Catch a Thief than from his own oeuvre. With their eyes set on a specific painting, three art thieves, Red Bean Pudding (Chow Yun-fat), Red Bean (Cherie Chung), and James (Leslie Cheung), attempt a heist that goes disastrously wrong; years later, they decide to try again. The storyline is sturdy enough and there are some amusing bits — I like how Red Bean Pudding and James are able to spot the red security beams by peering through their glasses of red wine — but, despite the stars’ best efforts, the incessant shtick irritates in the manner of a pesky gnat.

The 4K + Blu-ray editions of Bullet in the Head and Once a Thief both offer film critic audio commentary; new interviews with Woo, producer Terence Chang, and editor David Wu; and the theatrical trailers. Other special features on Bullet in the Head include the film’s “Festival Cut”; an alternate boardroom ending; and a new interview with Waise Lee. Other extras on Once a Thief include a new interview with co-scripter Clifton Ko; an archival interview with co-star Kenneth Tsang; and a piece on Leslie Cheung.

Bullet in the Head: ★★★

Once a Thief: ★★½

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2 (1981). And thus it began. After 1980’s Friday the 13th became an unexpected box office hit among young audiences (leading Leonard Maltin to quip, “One more clue to why SAT scores continue to decline”), the stage was set for a series of films (10 sequels and one reboot) that ran well into the 21st century. This one is basically a lazy retread of the first film — kids show up at a summer camp and get slaughtered — with the notable difference being that Jason Voorhees is introduced as the franchise’s killing machine (taking over from his Mommie Dearest in the first film). Here, Jason (played by Steve Dash masked and Warrington Gillette unmasked) sports a burlap sack to hide his ghastly features, a dull visual that would be rectified in the next entry. And apparently the main personnel involved with most of the sequels just loved the scene in this one where that kid in the wheelchair (Tom McBride) has a machete planted in his face and then rolls backward down the stairs — of all the ample flashback clips used throughout the series, I’m willing to bet that’s the one that gets the most play.

Extras in the 4K + Blu-ray + Digital Code edition include interviews with several of the actors who had played Jason over the years (including Gillette), and a look at horror conventions.

Movie: ★½

LIPPY THE LION AND HAR HAR: THE COMPLETE SERIES (1962-1963) / WALLY GATOR: THE COMPLETE SERIES (1962-1963). In 1962, The New Hanna-Barbera Cartoon Series debuted in syndication, with each episode offering one segment apiece of Touché Turtle and Dum Dum, Wally Gator, and Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har. The show lasted for 52 episodes, with each individual segment running five to seven minutes. The Warner Archive Collection already released Touché Turtle and Dum Dum on Blu-ray last fall, so completists will be happy that the other two-thirds of the series were made available in December (sold separately). Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har is the more imaginative of the pair, with the optimistic Lippy and his perpetually depressed hyena sidekick encountering offbeat characters as Lippy drags Hardy into another of his poorly conceived schemes. Wally Gator, meanwhile, relates the adventures of a cheerful Yogi-like (Bear, not Berra) alligator whose routine finds him escaping from the city zoo, getting into some mischief, and then ending up back at the zoo. As with several other H-B productions (including Touché Turtle and Dum Dum), neither toon is particularly distinguished in either its style or its storylines, but they’re perfectly acceptable ways to pass the time.

There are no extras in either set.

Both Series: ★★½

THE MECHANIC (1972). Charles Bronson became an unlikely superstar during the 1970s, landing on Quigley’s annual Top 10 Money-Making Stars Poll for four consecutive years (1973-1976) and conquering the box office with the likes of The Stone Killer, Death Wish, and Breakout. The Mechanic was one of his signature pieces from the era, a tough and chilly drama about a seasoned assassin who treats each of his hits as its own work of art. Refusing to simply wing any of his assignments, Arthur Bishop (Bronson) studies photos, stakes out targets, and all but storyboards his modes of murder (generally made to look like accidents). After he’s tasked with exterminating an old acquaintance (Keenan Wynn), he ends up taking the man’s brash son (Jan-Michael Vincent) under his wing, teaching him everything there is to know about the killing game. The script by Lewis John Carlino isn’t quite deep enough to allow this to qualify as either a penetrating character study or an existential morality tale, although director Michael Winner provides it with an appropriate air of sobriety. The stuntwork is impressive, the vehicular chases deliver the goods, and that twist ending is killer.

Extras in the 4K + Blu-ray edition include audio commentary by cinematographer Richard H. Kline and an interview with Carlino.

Movie: ★★★

ROBERT TAYLOR 4-FILM COLLECTION (1950-1956). Although a popular star during the 1950s, Robert Taylor wasn’t particularly versatile and often was downright dull. Nevertheless, he headlined some interesting movies, four of which have been gathered in this Blu-ray set.

Director Anthony Mann and star James Stewart spent the early 1950s teaming up for a series of acclaimed Westerns, beginning with 1950’s Winchester ’73. Earlier that year, however, each of them had individually been involved in what are largely considered the first two films to focus on Native Americans in a sympathetic light. Although Stewart’s Broken Arrow was the bigger hit, Mann’s Devil’s Doorway (1950) bests it in one respect: While the lead in Broken Arrow is the white man (Stewart’s Tom Jeffords), the lead in Devil’s Doorway is the Shoshone Indian. Taylor, about as Native American as Roger Rabbit, is OK as Lance Poole, a Shoshone tribesman and Civil War hero who returns to his Wyoming land with plans to become a successful cattleman. But not only do the majority of the white townspeople treat him poorly, it’s decided that all his acreage can be divvied up among homesteaders. When the law proves to be useless, he decides he has to fight for his right to prosper. This is a particularly grim film, minus the rambunctious humor often found in other oater offerings.

It was no less than Frank Capra who wanted to bring Westward the Women (1951) to the screen, eventually retaining story credit but handing over directing and scripting duties to William A. Wellman (The Ox-Bow Incident) and Charles Schnee (Red River) respectively. The pair put across a unique and uncompromising Western in which a new California town needs around 150 women to marry its approximately 150 men. Once volunteer brides are found in Chicago, a grouchy scout (Taylor) is employed to lead the wagon trains — along the way, he teaches the women to fend and fight for themselves. Wayward weather and Native American attacks are some of the outside dangers; coming from within is the threat of the hired hands having their way with the ladies. With little sentimentality to soften the more brutal sequences, this is an unusual and hard-charging drama that adds some subversive shadings to the typical Western template.

Ivanhoe (1952), MGM’s adaptation of Sir Walter Scott’s novel, stars Taylor (who had headlined the studio’s 1951 smash Quo Vadis) as Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, a Saxon knight who seeks to place the kidnapped King Richard the Lionhearted (Norman Wooland) back on the throne that’s presently being usurped by Richard’s brother Prince John (Guy Rolfe, whose performance is one long sneer). He’s pitted against Norman knight De Bois-Guilbert (George Sanders) and adored by two dissimilar women (Elizabeth Taylor and Joan Fontaine). Filmed in ravishing Technicolor, Ivanhoe benefits not from the presence of its three stars — Robert Taylor is too stolid and humorless, Elizabeth Taylor hated her bland role, and Fontaine appears ill-at-ease — but from a number of rousing confrontations, including a storming of a castle, a jousting tournament in which Ivanhoe takes on five Norman knights, and an up-close-and-personal duel between Ivanhoe and De Bois-Guilbert. This box office hit earned three Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Color Cinematography, and Original Score.

The 1950s gave rise to so many exemplary Westerns that it’s not surprising a few have largely been left behind in the dust. The aforementioned Devil’s Doorway and Westward the Women are two that are ripe for rediscovery, as is The Last Hunt (1956). This one spins a unique tale of two cowboys — one cruel (Taylor), the other sensitive (Stewart Granger) — who make their living as buffalo hunters. Along for the journey are a boisterous skinner (Lloyd Nolan), a young boy (Russ Tamblyn) who’s half-Indian and half-white, and a Native American captive (Debra Paget) who’s desired by both hunters. Granger makes his character’s innate decency palpable, and the film admirably ends with a whimper rather than the expected bang. One word of warning: The buffalo deaths shown in the film were not staged, as government marksmen were engaged in an annual thinning of the herd as the picture was being made.

Extras on Devil’s Doorway consist of the 1950 Droopy cartoon The Chump Champ and the 1950 Tom & Jerry cartoon Cue Ball Cat. Extras on Westward the Women consist of film historian audio commentary; a vintage promotional piece; the 1952 radio broadcast with Taylor reprising his role; and the Tom & Jerry cartoons Texas Tom (1950) and The Duck Doctor (1952). Extras on Ivanhoe consist of the 1952 Oscar-winning Tom & Jerry cartoon The Two Mouseketeers and the theatrical trailer. Extras on The Last Hunt consist of two vintage promotional excerpts from the TV series MGM Parade, and the theatrical trailer.

Devil’s Doorway: ★★★

Westward the Women: ★★★½

Ivanhoe: ★★★

The Last Hunt: ★★★

SHAMELESS: THE COMPLETE SERIES (2011-2021). There’s a quote by William H. Macy that I’ve seen floating around the Internet for quite some time: “Shameless is a rough show, and it’s not for everyone, but it’s also beautiful.” I doubt few would argue with the first two-thirds of that sentence, but that last bit will give many pause. Of course, when a series runs for 11 seasons and 134 episodes, loveliness is sure to find its way inside at some point. At any rate, that adage of beauty being in the eye of the beholder comes into play here, so Macy is theoretically right. But it’s understandable why many would bolt from the show, as it presents one of the most dysfunctional families in American television history. What’s more, very few of its characters are likable, or at least likable for lengthy stretches. But then that’s also where the show derives its strength: When it comes to the bad behavior, the bad breaks, and the bad luck that often plague regular people, it never flinches. Macy plays Frank Gallagher, a single dad living in Chicago with his six kids. It’s hard to bestow the word patriarch upon him since he’s a deadbeat who rarely makes time to be sober. The one actually running the household is oldest daughter Fiona (Emmy Rossum), while her siblings include Lip (The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White), who’s whip-smart but doesn’t always make the right decisions, and Ian (Cameron Monaghan), who’s both gay and manic-depressive.

The show features many standout performances, chief among them Rossum as the glue that holds the Gallaghers (somewhat) together — the series took a hit when she left at the end of Season Nine. Some of the more shocking interludes are more juvenile than anything, and not all the storylines are created equal. But when it’s on, it’s really on. Not exactly an Emmy powerhouse, Shameless earned 16 nominations over 11 seasons: six for Macy as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, five for Joan Cusack as Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series (first three nods) and Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series (last two noms, winning once), and five for Outstanding Stunt Coordination on a Comedy Series (winning thrice).

Blu-ray extras include audio commentaries by cast and crew members; deleted scenes; pieces on the various characters; and a look at the U.K. show that inspired it.

Series: ★★★

10 RILLINGTON PLACE (1971). The banality of evil takes on a slightly different chill in 10 Rillington Place, an effectively low-key drama about a banal nebbish committing unspeakably evil acts in his Notting Hill flat over the course of a decade. Richard Attenborough, generally more interesting as an actor than a director, gives a formidable performance as John Christie, who (in most cases) raped and (in all cases) murdered at least eight women and then buried their bodies on his property. Christie’s killing spree began while World War II still raged, but this picture primarily focuses on the 1949 incident that eventually helped put the kibosh on capital punishment in the U.K. John Hurt plays the linchpin in this legal upheaval: Timothy Evans, an illiterate bloke who moves into Christie’s building with his wife Beryl (Judy Geeson) and their infant daughter and eventually becomes the fall guy for Christie’s heinous crimes. Hurt’s powerful turn — all raw feeling and exposed nerves — offers a nice contrast to the wispy, whispery emoting of Attenborough, and the fact that the movie was shot at and around the real Rillington Place (now long gone) only adds to the grimness.

There are no Blu-ray extras.

Movie: ★★★

FROM SCREEN TO STREAM

BEST IN SHOW (2000). The 1997 release Waiting for Guffman didn’t exactly burn up the box office, but it did prove to be the start of something wonderful: a series of “mockumentaries” directed by Christopher Guest, co-written by Guest and Eugene Levy, and co-starring the pair along with their own DIY comedy troupe. A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration were among the follow-ups, but the best of the bunch remains this hilarious satire about those people who seemingly exist only to enter their canine companions in prestigious dog shows. These include socially awkward Gerry Fleck (Levy) and his outgoing wife Cookie (Catherine O’Hara, RIP), the latter bumping into former flings at every turn; Harlan Pepper (Guest), a daffy good ole boy from Pine Nut, NC; and Meg and Hamilton Swan (Parker Posey and Michael Hitchcock), a neurotic couple who initially bonded over J. Crew catalogues. The first 45 minutes are amusing enough — Larry Miller figures in a great vignette as one of Cookie’s past boyfriends — but the movie ascends to another level with the second-half introduction of Fred Willard as commentator Buck Laughlin. Paired with a pleasant British chap (Jim Piddock) who’s an expert on dog shows, Buck is a jockish ignoramus whose off-color comments throughout the pageant (“I went to one of those obedience places once. It was all going well till they spilled hot candle wax on my private parts.”) provide the picture with many of its finest moments of pure comic gold.

Movie: ★★★½

THE MECHANIC (2011). In the annals of “tough guy” cinema, the 1972 Charles Bronson vehicle The Mechanic (reviewed above) is typical in that its leading character displays a refreshing lack of sentimentality (not unusual in the days of vintage squinters like Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, and Clint Eastwood) and its script manages to end on a neat little “gotcha.” This sleek remake retains that twist ending but jettisons the steely sensibilities, resulting in yet one more formula flick about a taciturn killer who, despite his penchant for slaying and maiming, actually turns out to be the kind of nice guy you might consider Friending on Facebook. Jason Statham fills the Bronson role: As Arthur Bishop, he’s the best hitman around, although he’s not thrilled when his next assignment turns out to be his mentor (Donald Sutherland). Preferring to work alone, he later decides to take on the old man’s unruly son (Ben Foster) as his own protégé, teaching him everything he knows about the art of the kill. The 2011 Mechanic largely follows the plotline of its predecessor, yet it goes the extra kilometer to prove its inferiority by cowardly softening its protagonist — the oldest movie profession might be the hooker with a heart of gold but the second oldest is the killer with a mind of conscience. It even cops out at the end: Yes, the “gotcha” is still there, but the details surrounding it have been altered, meaning that viewers have been snookered in more ways than one.

Movie: ★½

TWO-LANE BLACKTOP (1971). It was supposed to be the next Easy Rider, and Esquire declared it “the movie of the year” before it had even been released. Instead, Two-Lane Blacktop divided critics and was skipped by audiences, resulting in a hasty retreat from the moviegoing consciousness. Now, it’s regarded as a minor classic by some, a quintessential American road movie by most, and a cult flick by all. Working from a screenplay by Rudy Wurlitzer and Will Corry, director Monte Hellman cast acting novices in three of the four central roles, a move that insured the only true thespian in the group would easily dominate the picture. That would be Warren Oates, delivering an excellent performance as G.T.O. (we never learn any of the characters’ real names), a lonely soul who drives his 1970 Pontiac GTO aimlessly across the nation’s highways. G.T.O.’s adversaries/allies on the road are The Driver and The Mechanic (played by two musicians, James Taylor and Beach Boy Dennis Wilson), whose one-dimensional lives revolve around the ’55 Chevy which they enter in drag races from coast to coast. A hitchhiker known only as The Girl (17-year-old Laurie Bird, who would commit suicide eight years later) sleeps with both The Driver and The Mechanic, and G.T.O. enters into a cross-country race against them, but the two boys barely seem functional when their focus isn’t on their prized automobile. An existential take on alienation as well as a study of the American road as a way of life, Hellman’s distancing but distinctive picture is a meditative piece that saves its best trick (the famous “burning film”) for last.

Movie: ★★★