ALICE IN WONDERLAND (Blu-Ray/DVD)

Let's not bandy words here: of all the films to get totally annihilated to (something we here at Spill do not necessarily advocate but admit to having poor impulse control on our part), Disney's 1951 animated version of Lewis Carroll's classic book is still at the very top of the awesomely brain-melting list. If anything is going to take your attention away from discovering how interesting your hand is, it's this movie. Now, I'm sure that's not how Disney would prefer I market their new Blu-Ray release of the film, but that's why I was so excited about getting it. Sure enough, as we've been led to expect from Disney's re-releases from their animation vault, Alice's psychedelic and surreal journey has never looked better. Add in a tasty array of bonus features, including a new PIP feature and all of the last DVD extra stuff upgraded to HD. This is still the perfect choice of movies for parents to show their children (assuming they want them to grow up, um, unique) and for the rest of us to have 'Eat Me' mushroom viewing parties. Double featuring this with "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" is like a clean-reboot for the brain.

--CLICK HERE TO BUY Alice In Wonderland (Two-Disc 60th Anniversary Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

ALL ABOUT EVE (Blu-Ray)

This 1950 movie holds the distinction of being one of only two films ever to garner 14 Academy Awards nominations (winning six including Best Picture). There's a reason for that. It's because it's a fucking amazing movie. In what has often been referred to as the best role of her life (which, considering her filmography, is high praise indeed) Bette Davis plays Margo Channing, a Broadway diva whose psyche is tormented with fears about her encroaching age. Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) is a young seeming ingenue who contrives a meeting and eventually a job with Margo, who she apparently idolizes. But not all is as it seems. This is the original "Single White Female" only with a lot more depth, twists, realism, and actors at the top of their games. Davis and Baxter are both wonderful, but George Sanders, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his turn as a comedically cynical theater critic, gives one of the most memorable performances...and I'm not saying that just because I'm a comedically cynical movie critic...or maybe I am; It's all just too meta for me to contemplate. The new hardback release Blu-Ray has that packaging with the bound booklet that I love and there's a lot of extra features, but nothing new to this version unfortunately.

--CLICK HERE TO BUY All About Eve [Blu-ray Book]

CHAIN LETTER (Blu-Ray and DVD)

We've GOT to be getting to the end of the list of horror movie concepts that someone might plausibly find frightening, right? I mean, chain letters....really? When was the last time you actually got one? Hell, most of you probably don't even know what a chain letter is. For your edification (because I seriously don't expect you to watch this movie to find out), it's a letter (or, in the film's context, an email) that claims you'll have some sort of luck if you send it on to ten or so people but if you don't, bad things will befall you, usually with a few apocryphal and vague examples given. In this 2010 horror, there's no luck, just consequences for the largely personality-less teens who are getting slaughtered by a masked killer who uses chains (?!?) to carry out his butchery. This is silly stuff with nary a reason to care about the ridiculous story or unlikable characters but I've got to hand it to the filmmakers that they didn't skimp on the gore. Where most films of this type aim for a nonthreatening PG-13 rating, "Chain Letter" rolls out some particularly nasty kills. But believe me, neither that, nor Brad Dourif and Keith David's small roles in the film (gosh I love both of those guys) is enough to make "Chain Letter" worth more than a desperation watch. And I mean, stuck in an airport bar for a few hours kind of desperation.

--CLICK HERE TO BUY Chain Letter [Blu-ray]