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‘Sonic The Hedgehog’ Blu-ray Giveaway!
I’m very excited to announce that I have Five (5) Blu-rays of Sonic The Hedgehog up for grabs. The discs, all of which are sealed, also come with the Digital Code and the DVD! Entry details are below!
Friday Blu-Ray News: ‘The Crowd,’ ‘Little Shop of Horrors,’ ‘Walk Hard’ (PM Weekly Issue #14)
In 1989 the Library of Congress picked the first twenty-five films for the National Film Registry. That list had to prove the whole idea, so it was stacked: Citizen Kane, Casablanca, The Best Years of Our Lives, Sunrise, Snow White. And King Vidor’s The Crowd, from 1928.
In the thirty-seven years since, The Crowd has never had an authorized American release on DVD or Blu-ray. It missed the entire disc era.
Read more: Friday Blu-Ray News: ‘The Crowd,’ ‘Little Shop of Horrors,’ ‘Walk Hard’ (PM Weekly Issue #14)That ends on the eighth of December. Flicker Alley announced last Friday that it is putting the film on Blu-ray in a new restoration from Blackhawk Films, all-region, made possible, in the label’s words, through the generous support of the Sunrise Foundation for Education and the Arts. David Mackenzie of Fidelity in Motion authored the disc. Three accompaniments come with it: a piano composition by Antonio Coppola, an orchestral score by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, and a xylophone accompaniment by Illya Amar.
The gap is the story. There was an MGM VHS in the 1980s, in the Silent Classics line with a Carl Davis score, and a laserdisc that double-billed it with The Wind. Then the format changed and the film did not come with it. Silent Era keeps an edition history, and what fills the last three decades is grey-market and foreign DVDs out of Hong Kong, Spain, France and England, plus a US DVD-R this year the reviewer believes was struck from pirated files. A film in the inaugural class of the national registry, and the way Americans have owned it since the laserdisc died is an import or somebody’s burn.
There is a joke in here that is not really a joke. The Crowd is about a man named John Sims who arrives in New York certain he is going to be somebody, and spends ninety-eight minutes becoming nobody in particular. Vidor used hidden cameras for some of the New York scenes so the people on the street would not perform. The shot everyone remembers finds Sims at one desk among hundreds, identical and numbered, and it is the shot Billy Wilder borrowed thirty-two years later to introduce Jack Lemmon in The Apartment. A film about disappearing into an undifferentiated mass spent a generation circulating as an unlabelled copy of itself.
What makes this worth leading with rather than listing is that the disc puts the absence on the record instead of papering over it. One extra is a 2026 piece called The Paths of The Crowd, about the film’s deleted sequences and alternate endings, which is to say about the parts of it that are gone now. There is also a new visual essay, a Kevin Stoehr commentary, Robert Florey’s Skyscraper Symphony from 1929 out of the George Eastman Museum collection, and a booklet by Jordan Young, who wrote a book about the making of the film. That is a release built by people who know exactly how long this took.
One caution, and it is the kind this journal exists to make. Flicker Alley’s copy says the film “comes to home entertainment for the first time in a brand-new restoration from Blackhawk Films.” Read one way, that sentence claims the film has never been on home video at all, and the VHS and the laserdisc say otherwise. Read the other way it only claims this is the first time in this restoration, which is fine. The accurate thing to say is that this is the first authorized American edition on a digital disc. Smaller claim. Still a thirty-year wait.
Flicker Alley also does not state the resolution, the source elements, or which archives supplied them. So nobody should write “4K scan of the negative” until somebody says so.
Welcome to PM Weekly. Let’s get into the week.
THIS WEEK ON DISC
- Halloween (1978), Limited Edition 4K UHD SteelBook, Scream Factory
- Halloween II (1981), Limited Edition 4K UHD SteelBook, Scream Factory
- Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), Limited Edition 4K UHD SteelBook, Scream Factory
- Child’s Play 2 (1990), Limited Edition 4K UHD SteelBook, Scream Factory
- Aces Go Places Collection (1982-1989), five films, ten discs, Shout! Factory
- Little Shop of Horrors (1986), 40th Anniversary 4K UHD, theatrical and director’s cut, Warner Bros.
- An American Werewolf in London (1981), 45th Anniversary 4K UHD, Universal
- Welcome II the Terrordome (1995), Blu-ray, Criterion
- Moana (2026), 4K UHD, Walt Disney
- Van Helsing (2004), Limited Edition 4K UHD SteelBook, Universal
- Disclosure Day (2026), Limited Edition 4K UHD SteelBook, Universal
- Blades of the Guardians: Wind Rises in the Desert (2026), 4K UHD, Well Go USA
- Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition (2026), Limited Edition 4K UHD SteelBook, Universal
- Wizard of Oz: Dead Walk, DVD, Shout! Factory
(Next Tuesday is heavier: Ryan’s Daughter from 8K scans of the 65mm negative, the thirty-two-disc Maverick, Criterion’s The Shout, and Arrow Limited Editions of The Monster Squad, Cujo and The Last Boy Scout.)
MARKET SIGNAL
On Tuesday, Paramount closed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The combined company began trading as Skydance, WBD came off Nasdaq the same day, and the release announcing it described the result as “the most diverse film and television library of any studio.”
The words home entertainment do not appear in that release. Neither do physical, Blu-ray, DVD or archive.
That is worth noticing, but on its own it is an absence, and absences make bad arguments. What makes it a signal is what happened eight weeks earlier, which almost nobody on this beat connected at the time.
On the fourth of August, Universal and Warner Bros. sold Studio Distribution Services to Conectiv Supply Chain Solutions, a disc manufacturer owned by Variant Equity. SDS was the joint venture the two studios formed in January 2020 to merge their physical distribution into one operation, and it was the thing that actually moved every Universal and Warner DVD, Blu-ray and 4K in North America: sales, retail marketing, distribution, the whole pipe. Conectiv did not only buy the operation. It also took exclusive long-term licenses to run both studios’ physical home entertainment businesses going forward.
So put the two in order. In August, two of the six majors handed their disc business to a contract manufacturer under license. In October, one of those two was absorbed into a company that did not exist in its current shape in September, and the documents never mentioned discs.
This is what consolidation actually looks like from down here. It is not a studio announcing it has stopped making Blu-rays, because nobody will ever announce that. It is the slow separation of the people who own films from the people who put films in boxes, until the box business is a service contract between two parties, neither of whom has any particular reason to care which titles get pressed.
The counterweight is real, because this journal has spent four months arguing that the disc business is healthier than the obituaries say. Alliance Entertainment’s physical movie revenue rose 22 percent to $339 million in the fiscal year ended June, in filed numbers, during a half-year when American consumers’ disc spending fell 6.9 percent. Both are true at once, and they are the same fact seen from two ends. Volume is holding up. It is just consolidating into fewer pipes, owned by companies whose business is logistics rather than cinema.
One more line is worth sitting with. The consent decree that cleared the merger is specific and itemized about production: thirty theatrical films a year for two years and thirty-two a year for three after that, $300 million a year in domestic production, a workforce fund, a news independence board, and a thirty-million-dollar penalty attached to missing the film target. Twelve state attorneys general and the Writers Guild negotiated protections for films that have not been made yet.
They negotiated nothing for the ones that already exist. The library is not mentioned. Catalogue licensing is not mentioned. Preservation is not mentioned. It would be unfair to call that a failure, because nobody asked for it. It is a statement about what the public interest in a studio merger is currently understood to cover, and right now that does not include the hundred thousand hours already in the vault.
STORE OF THE WEEK
Orbit DVD (Asheville, NC)
Orbit DVD opened on the thirteenth of October, 2003, in a thousand square feet on the corner of Haywood Road and Mildred Avenue in West Asheville, next door to a record shop called In Your Ear Music Emporium. It has never moved. In 2006 it took the record shop’s space and knocked down the wall, which got it to the 2,400 square feet it has now, and around 2010 Marc McCloud, who founded it and still owns it, bought the building. Its twenty-third birthday is next Tuesday.
This column teased Orbit last week on the grounds that it publishes the street-date calendar this desk keeps checking its own work against. That is true, and the truth is better than the tease.
The calendar is a third-party Shopify app. It is called The Shop Calendar, it costs about ten dollars a month, and Orbit switched it on at the start of August. Nobody compiles it and no editor is credited, because there isn’t one. Every entry is a product record with a street date on it, dropped automatically onto a grid. It runs twelve weeks forward and thins fast: 228 dated entries in August, eighty-one in October, five in December, nothing in 2027. It is a pre-order book, not a release calendar.
And it has been right when we were wrong. It put Magic on 29 December, which is where this column landed it last week against JoBlo. It put Mannaja on 15 December, matching the correction in Issue #12. A video shop in Asheville running a ten-dollar widget agreed with this desk twice in a row while three national aggregators did not.
The honest limit: UK and Region B titles sit on their own Monday dates, which is more careful than most American calendars manage, but region-free UK SteelBooks do land mixed into the US Tuesdays. Of eleven entries on the sixth of October, four were UK-sourced. These are the dates Orbit expects to have a specific item in hand, which is not the same as a trade street date, and that distinction is the reason it is useful.
Orbit is not a rental store, which matters because it keeps getting written up as a rental survivor. Rentals ended in 2020, confirmed on Orbit’s own About page and by the Mountain Xpress piece that says it went to a hundred percent sales model after the COVID closures. The student paper at UNC Asheville got the reason on the record a year later: rentals were about three percent of sales, and the growing games section had taken the back room where the rental cases lived. The Better Business Bureau still files Orbit under Video Tape Rentals, which is probably where the confusion starts.
McCloud has a motto and it is printed on his own About page in capitals. ADAPT OR DIE. He said it to Mountain Xpress in 2023, along with the thing that goes with it: “I outlasted all of them.” He also said the quieter part. “People think that physical media is dying, and it is if you look at the grand scope of things.” To WLOS a year earlier he put it better than anyone has since: “I like calling it collecting dead media.”
(Next week: Eyesore Cinema in Toronto, where Daniel Hanna invented Video Store Day in 2010, the day before its sixteenth edition.)
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THE STACK
What I pulled off the shelf this week.
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007)
Format: Two-disc Unrated Special Edition DVD, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 8 April 2008
Bonus Features: both the theatrical version (96 minutes) and “American Cox: The Unbearably Long, Self-Indulgent Director’s Cut” (120 minutes); audio commentary with director Jake Kasdan, writer-producer Judd Apatow, executive producer Lew Morton and John C. Reilly; sixteen full song performances (41:22); ten deleted and extended scenes (19:23); Line-O-Rama (6:22); “A Christmas Song from Dewey Cox”; “Cox Sausage Commercial with Outtakes”; song demos performed by the songwriters themselves; “Tyler Nilson: A Cockumentary”; “Bull on the Loose”; “The Music of Walk Hard” (16:42); “The Making of Walk Hard” (15:03); “The Real Dewey Cox” (14:03); “The Last Word with John Hodgman” (25:58)
It cost thirty-five million dollars and took twenty and a half worldwide, then did a reported $15.7 million on DVD by 2010. In 2008 a flop could still be half-rescued by a shelf.
The reason it is still on mine is the twenty-four minutes.
American Cox is not an alternate ending or a handful of restored scenes. A shot-by-shot comparison counts seventy-six individual changes, thirty-six of them alternative takes, nineteen recuts, and four places where the theatrical version actually has footage the longer one drops. On the Blu-ray both cuts play off the same disc side through seamless branching, with a pop-up marker telling you when you are in new footage, which was a very 2008 way to solve a problem and is still better than making you buy two copies.
I went looking this week to see whether that version has escaped the disc in eighteen years. Every digital storefront and streaming service I could find lists ninety-six minutes and an R rating, which is the theatrical cut. Tubi, Pluto, Amazon, Apple: all ninety-six. None of them, as far as I can determine, has ever offered the hundred-and-twenty-minute version. I will not say it is impossible to see any other way, because absence of evidence is not a confirmed negative and this desk has been caught on that before. What I will say is that I could not find it, and the only copy I am certain of is the one in the case.
There is a second disappearance here. The Blu-ray was one of Sony’s first BD-Live titles, and the downloadable extras were three mini-featurettes with Bill Hader playing a “Coxologist” named Derek Stone. They lived on a server. They are not on the disc, the server is gone, and so are they. The 2024 Mill Creek SteelBook reissue dropped three more extras, so the 2008 Sony release remains the only complete edition that has ever existed.
The film itself has quietly gotten better since nobody went to see it. Metacritic had it at 63 and Ebert gave it three stars, but it landed in the culture as a flop the critics had buried. Rotten Tomatoes now has it at 75 percent across 138 reviews, and Rolling Stone put it sixth on its list of the best comedies of this century. The songs took Golden Globe and Grammy nominations, and Reilly sang every one of them himself.
And the thing everybody says about it is not quite true, which is the other reason I keep the disc. The received wisdom is that Walk Hard killed the straight music biopic. Reilly’s own version, from a 2019 oral history, is funnier and more accurate: “Oh, we tried to kill the musical biopic with this movie. And it turns out it’s a very resilient cliché.” James Mangold, who directed Walk the Line and is therefore the actual target, was asked again in 2024 while promoting A Complete Unknown, and refused the premise outright. He found the film hilarious, he said, and then: “I also never understood why satire would negate making the real thing anymore. That seems a little ludicrous to me.” The only filmmaker on record saying Walk Hard constrained him is Eric Appel, who had to design Weird: The Al Yankovic Story around it, because you cannot make the same parody twice.
So the parody did not kill the genre. It killed the easy version of the parody, and then sat on a shelf for eighteen years holding twenty-four minutes nobody else has.
THE CORRECTIONS DESK
Ryan’s Daughter is the thirteenth, not the sixth, and we leaned the wrong way. Last week this column printed the date as disputed, Warner Archive’s press release on the sixth against HD Report’s thirteenth. The release went out in two versions. One copy reads “ON OCTOBER 6th!” and another reads “ON OCTOBER 13th!”, and the thirteenth is the one that held: blu-ray.com is counting down to it and it is still a pre-order today. HD Report had it right. Maverick: The Complete Series moved with it, which leaves Warner Archive with nothing at all on Tuesday.
“This Old Man” is American, and we called it Canadian. Last week we corrected Physical Media News for listing it as a 6 October US release, and said it was a Canadian disc from Ruby Max dated the thirteenth. MVD’s distributor record says Ruby Max, territory WORLD, street date 13 October. The original date was wrong and our correction to it was wrong in the other direction.
Three open items closed. Magic is confirmed for 29 December on Shout’s own store, which settles the move we flagged. The Addiction on Arrow is a phantom: that Limited Edition streeted in December 2024 and what is in stock is discounted catalogue. The Cable Guy SteelBook, which Sony announced for the sixth, is still a pre-order at several US retailers today, so it has become the twentieth without anyone saying so.
THE SIGN-OFF
Two things this week that are the same thing.
A silent film in the first class of the National Film Registry sat out the entire disc era, and a label with no studio behind it is fixing that in December. A comedy that lost money in 2007 holds a version of itself that eighteen years of digital distribution has never bothered to carry.
Neither is a story about nostalgia. They are both about the same gap: the difference between what exists and what is available, and who closes it. Studios do not close it. Streaming services demonstrably do not close it. It gets closed by Flicker Alley, by a shop on Haywood Road running a ten-dollar calendar app, by whoever at Sony in 2008 decided the long cut was worth the authoring.
If you know one person who still alphabetizes their shelf, forward this to them. That is the whole engine we have, and it is a good one. See you Friday.
PM Weekly
Sean Reid
Film & TV Production
seanreid@worldonetv.com
Kyle Davis Talks Four-Chair Turn On ‘The Voice’ And Finding Balance With Music Career
Kyle Davis believes there is no time limit in chasing one’s dreams. Case in point was his decision to become one of the artists on The Voice, and he advanced to the next round with his rendition of Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes.” Davis received a four-chair turn on the show and chose Kelly Clarkson as his coach. Check out our interview with Davis as he talks about his experience on The Voice and why having a real estate career has also brought balance to his music.
Read more: Kyle Davis Talks Four-Chair Turn On ‘The Voice’ And Finding Balance With Music Career
Kyle Davis On His Four-Chair Turn
Having recorded albums and opened for Bob Dylan, John Mayer and Sheryl Crow, Kyle Davis was no stranger to performing. On The Voice episode, he also mentioned that, during his early years in the industry, he signed a record deal with Phil Ramone. That said, he also tempered his expectations regarding his performance.
“If I get one person to turn, I’ll be thrilled,” Davis said. “Their teams could be kind of filled up. I was surprised and I just remember thinking, “Okay, Kelly’s turned already.” I think Riley Greene was the second (person) to turn. And then Adam and then Queen Latifah. I tried not to have any expectations. I was just like, ‘I’m going to get up here and do what I do.'”
Reflecting On “In Your Eyes”
“In Your Eyes” was already a song he loved and had performed at his own shows.
”I love Peter Gabriel,” said Davis, who described ‘In Your Eyes’ as ‘ethereal.’ “I love what matters to him and what he tries to do through music and ‘In Your Eyes’ is a great song. It feels good (to sing) and says good things. I felt lucky to get to sing it really, to tell you the truth.”
Listen to Kyle Davis’ 2025 album Jericho:
Kyle Davis’ Balanced Approach To Music
Kyle Davis also carved out a successful real estate career, although he understands artists who focus primarily on their music career. Balancing both, however, has its distinct advantages. “This is a lot healthier,” said Davis. “I can get my mind away from it. and can come back home and write. (Also) I can go out for a few days and do shows with people. I get it, wanting to do just music. I did that for a long time – I’m happiest right now with a little bit of balance in my life.”
One song from Davis that I really love is his reflective song “Not Broken,” a 2019 track which would end up on his album Make It Count.
After The Voice season is finished, Davis plans on compiling a retrospective album which gives listeners an overall look at his previous seven albums. As a newfound lisltener to Davis’ music, here is another track of his that I highly recommend – the catchy and insightful “Better Days.”
Full interview with Kyle Davis:
The Voice airs Monday and Tuesday evenings at 8/7c.
‘Double Trouble’ Director Shaun Paul Piccinino’s Filmmaking Tips: Why Editing And Collaboration Matter
Filmmaker Shaun Paul Piccinino has worked in practically every aspect of movie production, and his experience behind the camera has given him a unique perspective on directing. For aspiring filmmakers, his advice involves much more than simply having a creative vision. He applied that diverse approach into his latest movie Double Trouble which hits theaters October 9.
Read more: ‘Double Trouble’ Director Shaun Paul Piccinino’s Filmmaking Tips: Why Editing And Collaboration Matter
A Family Film Christmas Tale Set In Vegas!
Sisters Madeleine and Violet McGraw star in Double Trouble as sisters who get unwittingly caught in the middle of a Las Vegas jewelry heist. It’s up to them and a skilled but frustrated security guard (Andrew Koji) to stop the brazen operation. Rounding out the ensemble are Azizi Donnelly and Jack Griffo. Inspired by the Home Alone films of yesteryear, Double Trouble is family fare powered by the McGraw sisters’ star power and the action stylings of Andrew Koji (Warrior).
Shaun Paul Piccinino’s Filmmaking Origin Story
Piccinino began making short films when he was just 11 years old, eventually working in numerous departments throughout film and television production. “When I was coming up through the ranks I viewed it all as an education,” said Piccinino, whose previous film credits include That’s Amor and Wheels of Fortune. “I knew I wanted to be a filmmaker.”
His professional experience includes editing, visual effects, makeup, wardrobe, and grip work. That extensive background has informed his approach to directing, particularly when it comes to understanding the demands placed on his crew.
“I think the thing that has given me the biggest tool in my toolbox is that I have an understanding of almost all these departments, but it’s also I have a respect for them,” he explained.
Get Ready And Stay Ready
Piccinino believes preparation is essential to filmmaking, and he typically arrives on set with detailed shot lists and a clear vision of what he wants to accomplish.However, he also understands the importance of remaining flexible.
“I’m always prepared but I’m also very open-minded and collaborative,” said Piccinino. “I come prepared, I have a vision, but I’m also not like it’s my way or the highway.”
For the director, filmmaking is ultimately a collaborative endeavor in which the strongest creative ideas should prevail.
“It’s best idea wins,” he added.
Don’t Forget The Power of Editing!
Another integral aspect of Piccinino’s filmmaking is his editing prowess. Having spent years working as an editor, he can anticipate how individual shots will eventually fit together during post-production. “I’m editing as I’m filming,” said Piccinino. “And so I do believe that’s a big time saver.”
He urges aspiring directors to develop a strong understanding of editing, even if they are solely focused on being the person behind the camera. “I always tell people who wanna be filmmakers, directors, like really have a good understanding of editing,” he explained. “You also need to understand acting and how to support the actors, so that they can have the freedom to give their best performances.”
Understanding these disciplines can improve production efficiency, allowing directors to finish their projects on schedule and on budget.
Piccinino also stressed that technical knowledge and preparation mean little without the ability to work effectively with others.
“It truly comes down to treating people with respect and kindness,” he said. “And that goes so, so, so far, and has taken me so far.”
***Full interview with Shaun Paul Piccinino:
Double Trouble hits theaters October 9. Share your thoughts on the movie in the comments!
***We receive a slight commission when you use our Amazon SiteStripe and affiliate links for your purchases. Thanks for your support!
***I give away Blu-ray or Digital code each week to members of our CinemAddicts Movie Club. Join our Facebook Group and become part of our community. Any questions please email me at editor@deepestdream.com.
Johnnie Kapua Was “Terrified”—Then Came His ‘The Voice’ Breakthrough With Kelly Clarkson
Being surrounded by talented singers could have made Johnnie Kapua, who’s a member of Team Kelly, question what he had to offer. Instead, his experience on The Voice helped him recognize his strengths and consider a future in music more seriously.
Read more: Johnnie Kapua Was “Terrified”—Then Came His ‘The Voice’ Breakthrough With Kelly ClarksonJohnnie Kapua performed a memorable rendition of the Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars hit “Die with a Smile” for his Blind Audition. Although he appeared confident during the Blinds, he had his share of nerves. “I was terrified actually,” said Kapua, a New Zealand native who resides with his family in Utah. “But I started realizing like, ‘Hey man, all I can do at this point before I gon on stage is just do my best (and) make myself proud.”
Both Kelly Clarkson and Queen Latifah turned their chairs within seconds, but even with that immediate praise, Kapua surprisingly didn’t see himself as a top flight singer.
“I think I have a lot of insecurities when It comes to singing,” said Kapua, whose wife entered him on the competition. “I never really thought of myself as like, ‘Oh, I’m a singer.’ So to be able to have someone like Kelly and Queen Latifah turn their chairs, but also get a first in was . . . they didn’t show this on the actual episode, but I was so awkward because I was like, ‘Oh, what just happened?’ It was very surreal. But they did a good job in cutting it so I didn’tlook so awkwared on TV.”
Meeting artists with different styles gave the Team Kelly contestant a new perspective on his own voice. There were country singers, rock performers, and soulful vocalists, and Kapua understood how that environment could feel intimidating.
“What I started realizing … I can see how people can get maybe timid because everybody’s just so good,” he said. “But what I learned for me personally is, like, ‘Okay, I can lean into things that I’m good at.’ Everybody has their own mixture of how they sing.”
The experience also prompted Kapua to think beyond the competition. Hearing what other artists had sacrificed to pursue music made an impression. That commitment encouraged Kapua to reconsider his own possibilities.
“I think that made me think more about, ‘Okay, like I need to take myself seriously,’” he said. “Maybe I can make something out of this.”
Since returning home, his wife has continued encouraging him to move forward. Kapua said he has been making connections while preparing for opportunities to sing in front of an audience.
“For me, I’m just gonna take it one step at a time,” he explained. “Making these connections with people that have influence and then, obviously, physically going out and singing in front of people … it’s a good start for me.”
Those connections are also part of what surprised him most about The Voice. Despite being in a competition, Kapua found friendships with artists who wanted to support one another.
“It’s not just like, ‘Oh, we’re competing against one another,’” he said. “It’s like, ‘Man, we experienced this together, and we’re wishing each other the best.’”
Some fellow contestants even call him “unc,” a nickname he attributes to being one of the older participants. For Kapua, those relationships are another meaningful part of an experience that has expanded his outlook on music.
“Now I have lifelong relationships with awesome people,” he said. “I’m gonna cherish those for the rest of my life.”
As for the road ahead, Kapua has a full time job and a family man. That said, singing has also made a place in his home. “I’m just going to take it one step at a time,” he said. “I think making these connections with people that have had an influence (on me) and then physically going out and singing in front of people is a good start for me. I don’t really know how to navigate it at this point because it’s still new to me. But having those contacts in my back pocket, we’ll see where that leads to, but hopefully someday I’ll get to perform with Kelly. That’d be cool”
Watch our full interview with Johnnie Kapua:
The Voice airs Monday and Tuesday evenings at 8/7c. Share your thoughts on Johnnie Kapua in the comments (his tone and connection to the music is pretty awesome imo!).
Brianna Cameron Talks Kelly Clarkson’s Mentorship on ‘The Voice’: “Such a Down-to-Earth Person”
Having a powerful voice is one part of the equation for Brianna Cameron, who is also learning how to choose the right songs and make the most of her performances. The Voice season 30 contestant has Kelly Clarkson in her corner, and working with the singer has given Cameron plenty to appreciate. During our interview, she discussed the lessons she is taking away from being part of Team Kelly.
Read more: Brianna Cameron Talks Kelly Clarkson’s Mentorship on ‘The Voice’: “Such a Down-to-Earth Person”Brianna Cameron was 13 when she performed Ike & Tina Turner’s “River Deep, Mountain High” for her audition. Taking on that song during the Blinds was a formidable challenge, especially with artists she admired listening just a few feet away. Coaches Kelly Clarkson and Riley Green turned their chairs for Cameron, with the talented singer ultimately choosing Clarkson.
“I was definitely super nervous as the youngest in the competition, and I had all these big idols that I looked up to,” said Cameron, who coincidentally toured the country playing young Tina in Tina: The Tina Turner Musical. “I didn’t know if they were gonna turn.”
That nervousness came with excitement. Cameron understood that the performance could introduce her talent to an audience far beyond the people who already knew her music.
Now on Team Kelly, she has found a coach whose enthusiasm extends beyond the work of preparing a performance.
“Well, she was so excited, and she really wanted me on her team,” said Cameron, who hails from Union County, New Jersey. “She’s such a down-to-earth person. And being on her team, I’ve learned to be humble. And also pick the right moments and what song to pick.”
Clarkson’s welcoming personality has made an impression, but Cameron also appreciates the musical knowledge she brings to their time together. For a young singer developing her own approach, knowing where to place a moment within a performance—and which song suits her—is valuable guidance.
“Being on her team I’ve learned to be humble and also, like, picking the right moments and what song to pick,” she said. “Like, she’s such a knowledgeable artist, and I’m so glad that I’m on her team.”
Cameron brings her own dedication to that partnership. All her hard work has helped make her a straight-A student. That level of focus was evident in audition preparation which, in turn, places her in the next round.
She also found an unexpected source of encouragement among the other artists on The Voice. Meeting singers who shared her passion made the experience feel familiar surprisingly quickly.
“So really, I made new friends, and I built a family,” said Cameron, who also starred on an episode of the Queen Latifah series The Equalizer back in 2022.
With Clarkson’s guidance and that sense of community, Cameron has plenty to take away from her The Voice experience. Her excitement about Team Kelly comes through loud and clear.
Watch our full interview with Brianna Cameron below.
Catch The Voice Mondays and Tuesdays at 8/7c (new episodes stream the next day on Peacock)!
‘Her Will Be Done’ Review: French Village Folk Horror Is An “Impressively Made Miss”
Now available on VOD, the folk horror Her Will Be Done holds a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Its rating comes as no surprise thanks to its warm reception at Cannes, Sitges, BIFF, and Fantastic Fest. Her Will Be Done, directed and co-written by Julia Kowalski, was the main movie CinemAddicts co-host Bruce Purkey reviewed on our latest episode. Purkey was drawn to the feature’s unsettling atmosphere, impressive performances, and evocative score. But would those elements add up to an emotionally compelling experience?
‘Beware Boiúna’ Director Mike P. Nelson Reveals Surprising Movie That Inspired His Giant Snake Film
Beware Boiúna may feature a giant snake, but filmmaker Mike P. Nelson did not look to another creature feature as his primary inspiration. For Nelson, the creative doorway into Beware Boiúna was William Friedkin’s Sorcerer. On a selfish note, both Sorcerer (and its predecessor The Wages of Fear) are among my favorite films of all time. During the interview with Nelson, he confirmed that Sorcerer was a big inspiration. “You f**king got it, man,” said Nelson, who directed 2025’s Silent Night, Deadly Night. “Sorcerer was literally my in to get into this. It wasn’t a creature feature, it was Sorcerer.”
Read more: ‘Beware Boiúna’ Director Mike P. Nelson Reveals Surprising Movie That Inspired His Giant Snake Film
Mike P. Nelson’s idea was to take that foundation and mix it with several of cinema’s most memorable genre films. “What if we add elements of Jurassic Park and Alien and Jaws and Tremors and do all that fun stuff within that structure?” said Nelson.
Shooting the movie in the Amazon also became an adventure of its own. Nelson said some members of the Colombian crew had not previously filmed in some of the areas used for the production.
“We were down there, and we didn’t know how we were gonna make this happen,” said Nelson, who made sure to work with and not against their environment. “They had some ideas, and we kept our eyes and ears open, and followed their lead. We had to work with the jungle, man. She doesn’t care if you’re making a movie there, but we were very fortunate. She blessed us with many, many good days of shooting.”
The filmmaker also had little interest in delivering a straightforward creature feature in which the giant snake dominates the narrative from beginning to end.
Starring Kiana Madeira, Jessica Rothe and Logan Marshall-Green, the horror film does have a snake and there is a healthy amount of action (and kills). The narrative, however is 104 minutes, and there are more layers behind the tale. “I didn’t want to go in just doing the giant snake from start to finish,” Nelson said. “It just, that wasn’t interesting to me. What was interesting was a really great setup, immersing yourself with characters. What happens when those characters are put in a situation then where there is nothing they can do but just fight to survive, just constantly?”
Nelson’s experience making Beware Boiúna has even changed his relationship with Sorcerer. After researching William Friedkin’s film and then experiencing the challenges of his own production, Nelson sees the classic from a different perspective.
“Sorcerer was a movie that blew me away the first time I watched it,” Nelson said. “But after all the research I’ve done on the movie, what they went through to make that movie, what I went through to make our movie, like, yes, it does feel different.”
***I review Beware Boiúna on this week’s CinemAddicts:
Nelson stressed that he was not comparing the two movies in terms of quality. Rather, Sorcerer served as a creative north star for several years while he attempted to craft a singular narrative to add to his filmmaking resume.
“I lived looking to that movie for inspiration for several years,” Nelson added. “It does feel different now that we were able to kind of explore and attempt to make my own version of something like that.”
***Full interview with Mike P. Nelson:
Have you seen Sorcerer and will you be watching Beware Boiúna? Share your thoughts on the movie (now playing in theaters) in the comments!
***We receive a slight commission when you use our Amazon SiteStripe and affiliate links for your purchases. Thanks for your support!
***I give away Blu-ray or Digital code each week to members of our CinemAddicts Movie Club. Join our Facebook Group and become part of our community. Any questions please email me at editor@deepestdream.com.
Michelle Gomez Calls ‘The Incomer’ “Soul Food” And Reflects On Falling “In Love” With Scotland
For Michelle Gomez, The Incomer offered more than the chance to be part of an unpredictable and refreshingly resonant movie. Writer/director Louis Paxton’s debut feature also brought the Glasgow native back to Scotland, where reconnecting with the community and landscape became a rewarding part of the experience. The Incomer, now playing in theaters, co-staring Domhnall Gleason, Gayle Rankin, and Grant O’Rourke, is now playing in theaters. Check out our full video interview with Gomez in the post!
Read more: Michelle Gomez Calls ‘The Incomer’ “Soul Food” And Reflects On Falling “In Love” With ScotlandSet on a remote Scottish island, The Incomer centers on a by the books council worker (Domhnall Gleason) who is tasked with removing two siblings (Gayle Rankin, Grant O’Rourke) from their domicile. Living in the area since their youth, the two have formed an attachment to their home, and they will not leave without a fight.
Although the tale has its share of bittersweet and dark moments, it is ultimately a feel-good story that does not go the saccharine route.
“It’s soul food, right?” said Gomez, who plays the council worker’s mean spirited boss. “It’s a really heartwarming, beautiful movie, and you leave feeling great. It’s uplifting. It’s really funny and kind of like you’ve not seen anything like it before.”
That sense of discovery was a big part of the movie’s appeal. With so much entertainment at our fingertips, finding something that surprises us is not always an easy proposition. Gomez believes Paxton manages to deliver that experience with The Incomer.
“So it’s very original,” said Gomez, who starred in the TV series Doom Patrol. “And that’s hard to do these days ’cause I feel like we’ve, you know, we’re all pretty jaded, and we’ve all feel like we’ve seen everything, right?”
Gomez’s own connection to the project went beyond appreciating its humor and storytelling. Having left Scotland many years ago, she welcomed the opportunity to become immersed in that community again.
She described the difference between growing up in a city and spending time alongside Scotland’s rugged natural landscape.“It was lovely being right on the edge of, like, the rugged Scottish landscape that just takes your breath away,” said Gomez. “And so I was just filled with pride.”
Working on The Incomer gave her a renewed appreciation for her home country: “I completely fell in love with Scotland.”
CinemAddicts co-host Eric Holmes and I love The Incomer. Check out our review:
Feel free to share your thoughts on The Incomer, now playing in theaters, in the comments!
Aaron Holliday Embraces Acting Transformation And Indie Filmmaking With ‘Appofeniacs’
Not every actor gets to have two films coming out on a Friday, but that is an honored bestowed upon Aaron Holliday. He reunited with The Wilderness filmmaker Spencer King for the new drama-thriller Nickels and he also stars in the value added and insightful Chris Marrs Piliero tale Appofeniacs. Holliday talked ot Deepest Dram about his passion for indie filmmakng and why Appofeniacs is a unique cinematic experience.
Read more: Aaron Holliday Embraces Acting Transformation And Indie Filmmaking With ‘Appofeniacs’
Appofeniacs centers on a group of people whose lives are negatively impacted by deepfake videos and artificial intelligence. Aaron Holliday is Duke, a vengeful guy who knows how to use AI to his advantage. His amoral actions lead to a domino effect of violence and overall misery. Sean Gunn co-stars as Clinto Bingo (Sean Gunn) a talented artist in the cosplay industry who ends up being one of the victims of Duke’s wrath. Paige Searcy is Lazzy, a stranger whose argument with Duke at a coffee shop places her in a dire position.
I really enjoyed Appofeniacs, and unfortunately I did not get the chance to see Nickels. Both films are now playing in theaters. “I’m not gonna play it cool,” Holliday said. “It’s definitely a pinch-me moment. They’re both these fantastic indie films. I love indie films. I’ve learned so much about myself, about this career that I’ve chosen, and, you know, would say chosen for me.”
APPOFENIACS
, a Magenta Light Studios
release. Photo courtesy of Magenta Light Studios.
Acting is more than a profession for Holliday. It is something he has wanted to pursue since childhood, even though he did not grow up in an entertainment industry household.
“Ever since I was as young as I can remember, it was just in me,” Holliday said. “I would look at the TV and just have thoughts of, ‘Why am I not on here? Like, I wanna do this.’ It just came very naturally to me.”
Holliday was homeschooled and described himself as relatively sheltered during his childhood. No one in his family worked in entertainment, and he was not a cinephile at an early age. That said, Jurassic Park, Jaws and Alien made a lasting impression and influenced his career path.
“The fact that I saw this and knew that this is what I wanted to do, I just think it’s that testament of, you know, the universe guiding you,” Holliday said. “Me choosing it for me, but it also just in that way felt very ordained.”
Aaron Holliday Wants Actors To Take Big Swings
For Holliday, disappearing into different characters is part of the fun.
“I want to encourage sort of a level of character acting, going outside of yourself,” Holliday said. “I’m very passionate about that, about transforming, about sort of becoming a different person.”
Holliday believes performers inevitably bring something of themselves to each role, even if the actual part is seemingly far from their own persona.
“Every role you have, you add yourself, right?” Holliday said. “You can be a psychopath and still have yourself in that. That’s the only reason why we have these iconic characters, because those specific people played them. I think I’d like to see more people not be afraid to not just play themselves, and to go outside and take some big swings and get a little kooky crazy.”
‘Jurassic Park’ Helped Shape Holliday’s Acting Dreams
One of Holliday’s earliest inspirations remains Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park.
“I could get emotional speaking about it,” added Holliday. “It was the hand that held me. It was, I think, my first inspiration, my first dream sequence, my first excitement about this whole thing that we do.”
Laura Dern’s performance also connects with Holliday’s own approach to acting.
“She’s one of those too that I look [at], talking about taking the big swings and being that sort of larger-than-life actor who transforms,” Holliday said. “That was somebody who definitely set the precedent for me.”
Years after watching Jurassic Park helped ignite those childhood dreams, Holliday now finds himself with two movies arriving on the same day.
“To have it end up on the same weekend, both in theaters, it’s a dream come true,” Holliday said. “I’m sort of still processing it.”
Appofeniacs and Nickels are now playing in theaters.
Full interview with Aaron Holliday:
Aaron Holliday also talks about a Pivotal scene in Appofeniacs in relation to his character. I will be posting an Appofeniacs spoiler write-up on Monday. The Spoiler video with Holliday, however, will be available for our CinemAddicts Patreon members.
***We receive a slight commission when you use our Amazon SiteStripe and affiliate links for your purchases. Thanks for your support!
***I give away Blu-ray or Digital code each week to members of our CinemAddicts Movie Club. Join our Facebook Group and become part of our community. Any questions please email me at editor@deepestdream.com.
Friday Blu-Ray News: ‘Road House,’ ‘Maniac,’ ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ (PM Weekly Issue #13)
There is a video store in Salt Lake City that nobody has been inside since March 2020, and it is still growing.
The Tower Theatre on Ninth and Ninth opened in 1928 and has been shut since the month the pandemic arrived, which in Utah was also the month a magnitude 5.7 earthquake hit Magna, just west of the city. When the Salt Lake Film Society went in afterward they found structural problems serious enough to threaten the building’s ability to reopen at all. The façade is being taken apart right now.
Read more: Friday Blu-Ray News: ‘Road House,’ ‘Maniac,’ ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ (PM Weekly Issue #13)Downstairs from the screen there was a rental counter, and behind it an archive the Salt Lake Tribune has called the largest video and DVD collection around. In 2013 somebody counted roughly eleven thousand titles on VHS, DVD and Blu-ray, with only three or four thousand of them out on the shelves at any one time and the rest rotating up from the back. The Film Society’s then director called it the rarest collection in five states. It has been in storage for six years.
On the sixteenth of September the Film Society announced the Tower will reopen in 2028, the building’s hundredth year, with the celebration itself landing in late 2028 or early 2029. The plan has three micro cinemas in it, an exhibition space for film memorabilia, independent and festival programming, and one more line, which is the line this column cares about: improved access to the film society’s video archive.
Two days later, in the lobby of another theatre they run, they held a media swap. About sixty people came and brought discs and tapes, and went home with other people’s. The point of it was not nostalgia. It was acquisition. They are building the collection up while it sits in the dark, ahead of a reopening still two years out.
Here is the honest part, and it is the reason this is a story rather than a press release. Improved access to a video archive is not the same sentence as the video store is coming back. The Film Society’s programs director has said the collection is in storage and that they are actively exploring options to make it available to the public once again, which is a careful way to say it. Nobody at the organization has committed, on the record, to a rental counter. The number has moved too: the figure now given is about sixteen thousand titles, against eleven thousand in 2013, which either means the collection grew by five thousand in storage or that somebody has counted differently. Both are possible and neither has been reconciled in print.
What is not in doubt is that a nonprofit which could have quietly let eleven thousand discs go to a liquidator in 2020 instead paid to keep them in a room for six years, is still adding to them, and has put the archive in the plan for the building. Everything else about this is unsettled. That part is decided.
Welcome to PM Weekly. Let’s get into the week.
THIS WEEK ON DISC
- Forbidden Planet (1956), 4K UHD and Blu-ray Limited Edition, Arrow Video
- Go (1999), 4K UHD Limited Edition, Arrow Video
- Days and Nights in the Forest (1970), 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD, Criterion
- Three Films by Leos Carax, 4K UHD and Blu-ray collector’s set, Criterion
- Dead Poets Society (1989), 4K UHD, Touchstone
- Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), 4K UHD, 20th Century Studios
- Frankenstein: The Complete Legacy Collection, eight films on 4K UHD, Universal
- The Wolf Man: The Complete Legacy Collection, seven films on 4K UHD, Universal
- Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), 4K UHD and Blu-ray, Kino Lorber
- Bullet in the Head (1990), 4K UHD Limited Edition SteelBook, Shout! Studios
- Anthropophagous (1980), three-disc 4K UHD, Severin Films
- Absurd (1981), two-disc 4K UHD, Severin Films
- Maniac (2012), two-disc 4K UHD, Severin Films
A correction, and it is ours. Last week this column said Severin’s Maniac, the 2012 Franck Khalfoun film, was coming on October 13. It streeted Tuesday with everything else, a North American 4K premiere with a limited slipcover, and it is in stock at Severin now. Two weeks ago we caught that the listing was for the wrong film, corrected it to the right one, and then printed the wrong date for it anyway. HD Report still has it on the thirteenth.
Next Tuesday, October 6, is heavier: Little Shop of Horrors at forty with both the theatrical and the director’s cut, An American Werewolf in London at forty-five with a new restoration and a new Atmos mix, a ten-disc Aces Go Places box from Shout, Criterion’s Welcome II the Terrordome, and Kino’s Death on the Nile, which is the 1978 one and not the Branagh. Warner Archive’s Ryan’s Daughter, scanned at 8K off the 65mm negative, is either the sixth or the thirteenth depending on whether you believe Warner’s own press release or HD Report’s calendar, and we will say which once somebody has it in their hands.)
MARKET SIGNAL
Ten American subscription streaming services were phased out or folded into something else in a single quarter.
That is Parks Associates, counting the three months to the end of June, out of the roughly three hundred and seventy US services it tracks. BET+ was retired by Paramount and its library moved into Paramount+ under a BET hub. CTV Throwback and CTV Movies went into Crave. FIFA+ went into DAZN. FanDuel Sports Network shut down its television channels and its streaming operation together. RidePass is advertising-supported only now.
None of those is a scandal and most barely made the trade press. A service consolidating into a larger service is the most ordinary event in this business, and every single one of them was announced as an improvement: more in one place, simpler for subscribers, a better experience. What none of them came with was a list.
That is the whole thing. When a library moves from one service to another, somebody has to decide title by title what comes across, and the deciding factor is what it costs to carry each one. The films with clean rights and a current audience migrate. The ones with a complicated music clearance, or a co-production partner who has stopped answering, or an audience too small to justify the paperwork, are the ones at risk. Nobody publishes the difference, because publishing the difference would require admitting there is one.
Compare it to the version that did make the news. On the first of September, Sony deleted five hundred and fifty one purchased StudioCanal titles out of PlayStation libraries, with no refunds, and people were furious, correctly. That was visible because it happened to things individuals had paid for and could see vanish from an account. Ten services closing is the same loss conducted at the level of the catalogue, where there is no account page to check and no number to be angry about.
The useful question for anyone who buys discs is not whether the big deletions keep happening. It is how much goes quietly, in the ordinary course of corporate tidying, in a quarter nobody wrote about.
STORE OF THE WEEK
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Facets (Chicago, IL)
Facets has been at 1517 West Fullerton Avenue since 1977 and in existence since 1975, when Milos Stehlik started it. In a 2003 interview he credited the founding jointly with Nicole Dreiske. The first screenings were in a Lutheran church.
The rental library came later, in the eighties, which is a distinction worth making because the two things get collapsed. Facets’ own history puts it plainly: as home video emerged in the 1980s, they expanded access to cinema beyond the theatre through the videotheque, a mail order rental catalogue, VHS and DVD distribution, and the famed Facets Catalog. By their own count there are now over sixty five thousand titles, a figure which has sat in their copy for a long time and which I would attribute to them rather than state as fact. You can rent by post or in person, on Blu-ray, DVD and VHS, and you need a membership to do it.
What makes Facets worth the space this week is the structure rather than the stock. It decided fifty years ago that screening films and lending films were the same job, and then built a cinema, a rental library, a mail order operation, a distribution arm and a set of film camps for children into one building to prove it. Nobody designs that now. You get a cinema, or you get a shop, and the two run on different money.
Last week’s store was a collection that outlived the business around it, rescued by volunteers after the shop closed for good. The Tower’s archive at the top of this issue is a collection waiting in storage for a building to be made safe. Facets is the version where none of that happened, because the thing holding the collection was never a business in the first place. It is the oldest answer to the question this journal keeps asking, and the answer is that if you want a film to still be available in fifty years, the organisation that holds it probably cannot be trying to make money from it.
(Next week: Orbit DVD in Asheville, which has been on Haywood Road since 2003 and publishes the street-date calendar this column keeps checking its own work against.)
THE STACK
What I pulled off the shelf this week.
Road House (1989) Format: Blu-ray and DVD, 2 discs, MGM, June 2009 Bonus Features: audio commentary by director Rowdy Herrington; audio commentary by Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier; “What Would Dalton Do?” (12:23); “On the Road House” (17:20); trivia track
This is a bad disc and I have never gotten rid of it.
MGM put it out in June 2009 on a BD-25, encoded in MPEG-2 at an average bitrate of about eighteen megabits, which was a low number for Blu-ray in 2009 and is a shocking one now. DVDBeaver’s review is the only serious one anybody wrote and it is blunt: MGM really skimped, the disc’s producers decided this cult classic did not deserve more than an MPEG-2 encoding, there are telltale signs of noise reduction throughout, and this is not the transfer that this film deserves. The extras are all standard definition, and MGM did not even put them on the Blu-ray. They are on the DVD in the case.
It is still on the shelf because of the second commentary. Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier sat down with Road House, and the result is two men who love a film explaining, for two hours, why many film critics hated it in 1989 although it’s one of the most watchable things ever made. Hal Hinson in the Washington Post called it full of gratuitous mayhem. It got five Razzie nominations, including Worst Picture and Worst Director. Ebert gave it two and a half and said it sat right on the edge between the good-bad movie and the merely bad.
And then look at what happened to it. Shout did a Collector’s Edition in 2016 from a new 2K scan of the interpositive, supervised and approved by Dean Cundey, who shot it. Vinegar Syndrome did a 4K in late 2022 from a new scan of the original camera negative, three discs, roughly five hours of extras including a sixty-three minute making-of and five new interviews with stunt performers and supporting cast, then reissued it this May in a slipcase limited to two thousand. Arrow put out a 4K in Britain in June 2025 with Dolby Vision. Via Vision did a SteelBook in Australia in July. Four labels, four restorations, one film that everybody agreed was junk.
Now the other one. Doug Liman’s Road House, with Jake Gyllenhaal, went to Prime Video on the twenty first of March 2024. Its entire theatrical release was seventeen military base cinemas five days earlier. It drew a reported fifty million viewers worldwide in two weekends, a record for the service. Liman had published a column in January saying he would boycott his own premiere, and the line everybody quoted was this one: Amazon asked me and the film community to trust them and their public statements about supporting cinemas, and then they turned around and are using Road House to sell plumbing fixtures. He went to the premiere in the end.
There is no disc. Not a Blu-ray, not a 4K, not a DVD. Two and a half years on, blu-ray.com lists digital outlets for it and nothing else, and no label has announced one. Alliance Entertainment became Amazon MGM’s exclusive physical media distributor for North America in January, with a remit that explicitly covers catalogue revitalisation and collector editions. Road House is not named anywhere in it.
So the 1989 film, the one nominated for Worst Picture, has been scanned from the negative, restored, documented and pressed four separate times by four separate companies, and I can put my hand on a copy right now. The 2024 film, which broke a streaming record, exists only for as long as one company finds it convenient to keep serving it. The thing that saved the bad movie was that somebody could sell it to you.
SIGN-OFF
That is Issue #13. Sixteen thousand tapes in a storage unit in Salt Lake City waiting on a building that opened in 1928, ten streaming services folding into other streaming services with nobody publishing what did not make the move, a Chicago nonprofit that worked out fifty years ago that lending films and showing films are the same job, and four restorations of a film the Razzies nominated for Worst Picture against none at all of the one that broke Prime Video. If you know one person who still alphabetizes their shelf, forward this to them. That is the whole engine we have, and it is a good one.
See you Friday.
PM Weekly
Sean Reid
Film & TV Production