Author Archive: Jef Burnham
Jef is a writer and educator in Chicago, Illinois. While waging war on mankind from a glass booth in the parking lot of a grocery store, Jef managed to earn a degree in Film & Video from Columbia College Chicago, and is now the Editor-in-Chief of FilmMonthly.com.
Natsume’s Book of Friends: Season 3
Natsume is without a doubt the single most genuinely wholesome and altogether feel-good series I’ve ever encountered, truly as inviting and comforting a program as you could realistically hope for. And this despite focusing largely on one Japanese high schooler’s daily interactions with yokai (spirits, or monsters, of Japanese folklore). As related in my previous [...]
Toriko: Part Three
By this point, if you’re still reading following our coverage of FUNimation’s Toriko releases, you’ve no doubt given Toriko the five or six episodes of viewing required to really get into the series, as I recommended in my review of Part Two. And if that’s the case, you are no doubt curious whether or not [...]
The Treasures of Bruce Lee
Paul Bowman’s The Treasures of Bruce Lee, currently available from Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, offers a biography of the late great film star and martial artist, housed in a dynamic hardcover volume that offers those who purchase it so much more than merely an interesting read. The book features a foreward by Lee’s daughter [...]
Raiders from Beneath the Sea
Bill (Ken Scott, The Fantastic Voyage) has money troubles. He’s in deep with the IRS, and he finds himself working as an apartment house super in L.A. even though he hates the gig. But he hasn’t any choice in the matter really, because somehow working that job prevents the IRS from garnishing his wages. To [...]
Tristana
How lucky are we that in less than two months’ time, 2013 will have heralded the debut of not one, but two films from Spanish master filmmaker, Luis Buñuel, on Blu-ray?! In January, of course, we saw the fantastic release of Buñuel’s final film, 1977’s That Obscure Object of Desire, on Blu-ray from the Studiocanal [...]
Doctor Who FAQ
Dave Thompson, author of numerous books on the history of rock and roll, turns his attentions to Doctor Who, that 50-year-old children’ series that has, since it premiered in 1963, become a global sensation with its current run drawing in millions of viewers worldwide and raking in cash for the BBC by the truckload. Thompson’s [...]
Thorne
David Morrissey stars in this 2010 series from U.K.’s Sky1 as Detective Inspector Tom Thorne, your average, tortured, loner detective who rarely, if ever, plays by the books– average except that he’s played by David Morrissey, that is. The first (and thus far, only) series of Thorne, adapted from the first two novels by Mark [...]
Street Sharks: The Complete Series
Street Sharks ran for but two seasons (three if you consider the three-episode mini-series that started it all a season unto itself) in 1994 and 1995. It didn’t have the overwhelming cultural impact that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, to which it owes its entire existence, had, and the merchandise it was intended to market wasn’t [...]
Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad: Volume 1
Airing for one season from 1994-95, Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad was a decidedly transparent and cheap attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The series was produced according to that distinctly ‘80s model of children’s television production where the demands of promoting a toy line took precedence over the creation of [...]
The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
On February 19, 2013, the seminal Douglas Fairbanks fantasy-adventure, The Thief of Bagdad (1924), debuts on Blu-ray from The Cohen Film Collection, with a stunning, pristine transfer restored from two 35mm prints, preserving the color tinting of the film’s original release prints. It’s every bit the flawless presentation such a wildly impressive feat of fine [...]
Connect