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Randy Miller III

Blair Zykan

Hello there!  I've had a blast reviewing movies since 2003, back when 480p was considered high resolution and Netflix only mailed discs.  I wrote steadily for the now mostly defunct website DVD Talk for over 15 years before joining the team at Blu-ray.com in early 2019.  It's there that I enthusiastically cover Blu-rays and 4Ks released by Warner Bros. and their esteemed boutique label, Warner Archive, in addition to titles from Sony Pictures and a few smaller studios.  I also have an office job, work on Sundays at a local art gallery, and enjoy spending time with my wife and teenage daughter, usually in the form of family meals, long walks, and profane sessions of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.  

Below are 10 lesser-known discs (with an external link for those I reviewed at Blu-ray.com) representing a broad mix of styles and genres that I love almost equally for similar and very different reasons.  I'm glad they're on my shelf, and they should be on yours too.  

 
Link to all of my reviews
E-mail: millerIII@gmail.com

1. Footlight Parade (Blu-ray)

Top honors go to this absolute stunner of a pre-Code musical, and confession time: I don't even like most musicals all that much. A lead role for the eminently charismatic James Cagney certainly helps… but it's the show-stealing stage performances (choreographed and directed by Busby Berkeley) that cement Footlight Parade's legacy, not to mention the raw edge of its pre-Code dialogue that would have surely been watered down if it'd been released a year or two later. This one feels like the last gasp of cinema's early sound years and the beginning of something new and exciting, and for that it forever remains a classic.


Review link

2. The Shop Around the Corner (Blu-ray)

It's probably too late to watch any lesser-known Christmas classic as of this writing, but make some time during the next holiday season -- or even earlier -- to enjoy this timeless romantic comedy starring Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan as two co-workers who hate each other… but are actually lovelorn pen pals off the clock. Remade several times over the years (including most recently as 1998's You've Got Mail), I've enjoyed this charming and endlessly entertaining film since I was first introduced to it on DVD… but Warner Archive's restored Blu-ray, like so many others on this list, gives it new life.

Review link

3. Running on Empty (Blu-ray)

I recently rewatched Sidney Lumet's most overlooked film after 10 years, and it holds up just as well as ever. This intimate drama follows a four-person family on the run for crimes committed long ago by activist parents Arthur and Annie Pope, whose teenage son Danny (the late, great River Phoenix) has come of age as a budding musical prodigy and, well, wants to finally stop running. Like Straight Time, this uniquely affecting and bittersweet drama absolutely doesn't require the viewer to have lived in its world… but once you're there, you won't want to leave.

4. Gabriel Over the White House (Blu-ray)

Warner Archive has a knack for great timing. Earlier this year they restored and released this absolutely bonkers pre-Code film about a charismatic American President, elected during an economic crisis, who ushers in a bold new era of sweeping policy changes made on his own terms rather than by dutifully following the rule of law. As such, this razor-sharp cautionary tale about unchecked power and the dangerous union of church and state remains more important than ever. Many films have come to be described as "prescient" (Contagion and Idiocracy immediately come to mind)… but this one's more than 90 years old, so it's in a class of its own.

Review link

5. Straight Time (Blu-ray)

A searing slice-of-life drama based on screenwriter, actor, and convicted felon Eddie Bunker's 1972 novel No Beast So Fierce, this captivating film features a standout performance from Dustin Hoffman as a recently paroled career thief trying to put his life back together in Los Angeles. It's a film that drips with honest authenticity and plays well even if you've never been to prison (or don't root for the main character), which translates to 114 minutes of unforgettable escapist entertainment.

Review link

6. Bad Education (Blu-ray)

This supremely tense HBO movie dramatizes a real-life $11.2M embezzlement scandal within Long Island's Roslyn Union Free School District in the early 2000s. Boosted by lead performances from Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney as the district's superintendent and his right-hand woman, Bad Education's layered narrative is dense enough for a limited series but it doesn't feel rushed at all. As the son of a long-time public school teacher in the Tri-State area, this film hits close to home for me… but outsiders are welcome too.

Review link

The Magilla Gorilla Show: The Complete Series -

7. The Magilla Gorilla Show: The Complete Series

Following directly in the footsteps of Huckleberry Hound and other early Hanna-Barbera "variety shows", this likable series features an anthropomorphic ape who hangs out in Peebles Pet Shop and is sold to a revolving door of unsatisfied customers. Each Magilla episode is flanked by an installment of Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-a-Long and Punkin' Puss & Mushmouse, which means that young viewers could look forward to an assortment of entertaining adventures every week. These have all been polished to a shine by Warner Archive, who have also lovingly reassembled the show's original format from separate pieces gathered from Hanna-Barbera's notoriously scattershot archives, due to the shorts being disassembled for syndication decades ago. As such, each of the 23 multi-part episodes includes such vintage treasures as its unforgettable opening theme, bumpers, the "curtain call" sequence, and more -- even the post-credits "Screen Gems" tag. Add in a full bonus disc of DVD-era extras and bonus stand-along Magilla shorts created for later syndication and you've got a truly special release indeed.

Review link

8. Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The Complete Series (Blu-ray)

Those Tom and Jerry and Huckleberry Hound Blu-ray sets will sell themselves, so I'll instead shine a spotlight on this lesser-known Hanna-Barbera animated show from the early 1970s. One look at its unique visual style and frank approach to subject matter places it well outside the studio's typical boundaries: this family sitcom was clearly inspired by All in the Family and likewise inspired future animated shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy. Even if you didn't grow up with this one, you'll have no problem jumping right in.

Review link

9. Game Night (Blu-ray)

Lurching ahead to the third-newest title on my list, this criminally underrated comedy with a criminally generic title threw me for a loop when I arrived late to the party via Warner Bros.' welcome 4K re-release in 2024. I personally love films that confidently lead viewers around by the nose, and Game Night does just that with a ridiculously high number of twists, turns, and other secrets that, believe it or not, hold up well to repeat viewing.

Review link

10. On Borrowed Time (Blu-ray)

This outstanding supernatural drama stars the one and only Lionel Barrymore as an old man who tricks Death (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) into delaying the inevitable to spend more time with his wife Nellie (Beulah Bondi) and orphaned grandson (Bobs Watson). Released during the Great Depression, this moving, funny and warm-hearted film reminds me of my own late grandparents, who would have gladly tricked Death if they could.

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