Vikings: The Complete Third Season DVD Review: Praise Odin or Jesus, Vikings March On
History's Vikings takes to the shores of new lands with this DVD release of the third season of this Irish-Canadian ...
Read More The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001) Blu-ray Review: Anarchy, Sentiment, Family, Karaoke
Director Takashi Miike is credited with seven or eight films in the year 2001 alone, depending on who you ask. ...
Read More Wrestling with Satan DVD Review: Putting Beelzebub in a Sleeper Hold
Directed by Paul Aldridge and Tom Borden, the 2009 documentary Wrestling with Satan explores the Christian Wrestling Federation over the ...
Read More Fed Up Movie Review: Oh Sugar, It’s a Drag
The subject of Stephanie Soechtig's Fed Up could not be more pressing. The numbers presented in this 2014 documentary are ...
Read More Under the Skin DVD Review: Being Human…Sort of
Based on Michael Faber's 2000 novel, Under the Skin is a compelling motion picture about discovering humanity from an alien ...
Read More The Missing Picture Movie Review: A Fascinating, Creative, Heartbreaking Piece of Art
Directed and written by Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh, The Missing Picture is a fascinating and creative documentary. This 2013 picture ...
Read More Riot in Cell Block 11 Criterion Collection DVD Review: Stuck in Folsom Prison
Directed by Don Siegel, the 1954 movie Riot in Cell Block 11 offers a gritty, authentic look at the prison ...
Read More Extreme Bears DVD Review: Another (Mostly) Winning Set from BBC Earth
A triple feature of sorts from BBC Earth, Extreme Bears is two discs of grizzlies, pandas, and polar bears in ...
Read More Zaytoun Movie Review: A Heavy Subject with a Light Touch
More than a little melodramatic in places, Eran Riklis' Zaytoun is a tale of unexpected friendship in seemingly impossible circumstances. ...
Read More The Lady Vanishes (2013) DVD Review: A Moody and Sensual Take on White’s Novel
Diarmuid Lawrence directs The Lady Vanishes, a BBC and Masterpiece Films production that originally aired in March of 2013. Now ...
Read More I Used to Be Darker Movie Review: The Music of Falling Apart
A patient, musically-driven motion picture about the breakdown of a marriage, I Used To Be Darker analyzes the fallout of ...
Read More The Long Day Closes Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Terence Davies’ Personal Vision of Liverpool
Terence Davies plumbs his Liverpool upbringing in 1992's brilliantly dense The Long Day Closes, a film that is as much ...
Read More Paradise: Hope: Seidl Concludes His Trilogy with Grace
Ulrich Seidl closes his Paradise trilogy with 2013's Paradise: Hope, the most sensitive offering of the bunch. Following up the ...
Read More The Future (2013) Movie Review: A Challenging but Rewarding Experience
Alicia Scherson's The Future is an absorbing motion picture with no shortage of challenges for the audience. The 2013 feature ...
Read More The Paradise: Series One DVD Review: Love, Silk, and the Big Sell
An adaption of Émile Zola's novel Au Bonheur des Dames, this BBC television series is a sumptuous and sensual look ...
Read More Silk: Series One DVD Review: A Capable British Courtroom Drama
British screenwriter Peter Moffat is no stranger to the legal system in his home and native land. A former barrister, ...
Read More Paradise: Faith Movie Review: The Power of Christ Is Compelling
Ulrich Seidl's Paradise: Faith is the second film in the Austrian director's Paradise trilogy. It comes on the heels of ...
Read More Hidden in the Woods DVD Review: Hell Is Other People
Directed by Patricio Valladares, Hidden in the Woods is a grimy but somewhat silly exploitation film from Chile. While this ...
Read More I Married a Witch Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Low on Magic, High on Fumes
Directed by René Clair, I Married a Witch is low on magic and high on fumes. Its major selling feature ...
Read More In the Fog Movie Review: Unwavering Morality from Sergei Loznitsa
Sergei Loznitsa's In the Fog is a compelling, careful drama about guilt and honour in the Nazi-occupied Soviet Union. Because ...
Read More La Cage aux Folles Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: “Utter Hell” to Make, Pure Heaven to Watch
Director Édouard Molinaro considered the making of his La Cage aux Folles as "utter hell," but it's hard not to ...
Read More Sinbad: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Review: Harmless Fun on the Well-dressed Seas
Many of television's heavy-hitters are filled with wrenching moments, whether "red weddings" or situations so presumably staggering that they set ...
Read More Frankenstein’s Army Blu-ray Review: For the Folks Back Home in Russia
In Richard Raaphorst's entertaining Frankenstein's Army, history is a fluid thing. Applying traditional logic, or perhaps what Alfred Hitchcock would ...
Read More Post Tenebras Lux Movie Review: From Darkness to Light, From Beauty to Madness
The thunder rolls often in Carlos Reygadas' Post Tenebras Lux ("light after darkness"), a film that seems almost destined to ...
Read More Bill Moyers: Faith & Reason Collection DVD Review: The Intersection of Belief and Logic
An extensive and intelligent collection that should be part of the library of any Bill Moyers fan, the Faith & ...
Read More Paradise: Love Movie Review: Ulrich Seidl’s Grim Arcadia
The first film in Austrian director Ulrich Seidl's Paradise trilogy is the fascinating and troubling Paradise: Love. Initially, Seidl had ...
Read More The Ice Storm Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Person’s Body Is His Temple
There is a moment in Ang Lee's The Ice Storm, now available on Criterion Collection Blu-ray, where the 14-year-old Mikey ...
Read More Combat Girls DVD Review: Looking for a Place to Happen
An alarming, ceaselessly compelling motion picture from Germany, Combat Girls touches on a subject often left behind and treats its ...
Read More The Ghastly Love of Johnny X Movie Review: A Too-Hip Good Deed
Nearly nine years in the making, The Ghastly Love of Johnny X is the creation of director Paul Bunnell. This ...
Read More Safety Last! Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Time Is Money
The matter of Harold Lloyd's lack of fame has been of much discussion over the years. He is often cited ...
Read More Medium Cool Criterion Collection DVD Review: The Theatrics of Observation and Social Crisis
Filmmaker Haskell Wexler's Medium Cool walks the tender line between fiction and non-fiction, using the cinema vérité method to beg ...
Read More Life Is Sweet Criterion Collection DVD Review: The Chocolate Thrust of Life Itself
Mike Leigh's wonderful Life Is Sweet is less a film about something and more a film about the thrust of ...
Read More Garbage: One Mile High…Live Blu-ray Review: One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Garbage
Garbage's Shirley Manson spends a large part of One Mile High…Live traipsing a ring mid-stage like a prizefighter. She sporadically ...
Read More 2+2 Movie Review: Something About These Swingers Doesn’t Add Up
A pompous yet dull sex comedy from Argentina, 2+2 is more exasperating than entertaining. It is apparently the highest-grossing comedy ...
Read More Yossi Movie Review: Of Love, Loneliness and Humanity
A sensitive, careful and subtle motion picture, Eytan Fox's Yossi is a wonderful exploration of loneliness and longing. This 2012 ...
Read More Bill Moyers: Beyond Hate DVD Review: A Timeless Exploration of Hatred
Bill Moyers once again provides compelling and timeless programming with Beyond Hate, a documentary that first aired in 1991. The ...
Read More Pierre Etaix Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Bringing Etaix’s World to Life
“The defining characteristic of comic cinema,” says French comic, clown and filmmaker Pierre Etaix, “is that it begins with a ...
Read More One Life Blu-ray Review: Nobody Does It Better
With 007 handling narration duties and some of the best nature cinematography splashing across the screen, One Life is yet ...
Read More Badlands Criterion Collection DVD Review: An Exploration of Isolation, Realism, Self-Image, and Violence
Terrence Malick's debut explores isolation, realism, self-image, and violence with the filmmaker's lyrical elegance, setting the footing for an opus ...
Read More Murdoch Mysteries Collection: Seasons 1-4 DVD Review: A Canadian Historical Mystery Gets a Box Set
The first episode of Murdoch Mysteries offers a clear vision of exactly how the Gemini-nominated will work. Set in 1890s ...
Read More The Ballad of Narayama Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Kinoshita’s Kabuki Theatre Envisions Ubasute
The concept of ubasute is at the centre of The Battle of Narayama, the 1958 film by Japanese director Keisuke ...
Read More My Worst Nightmare (2011) Movie Review: American Rom-Com Goes French
A French romantic comedy that wholeheartedly and gleefully embraces almost every cliché of its American genre counterparts, My Worst Nightmare ...
Read More Bully (2011) Blu-ray Review: A Disappointing Approach to a Complex Issue
At the end of Lee Hirsch's Bully, we're told that "Everything starts with one." This is a reference to the ...
Read More The Tin Drum Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Schlöndorff’s German Fable
A dazzlingly dark and often very funny fable, The Tin Drum is a terrific motion picture. The 1979 film by ...
Read More Bill Moyers: Becoming American DVD Review: An Engrossing, Absorbing Documentary
Now available on DVD from the good people at Athena, Bill Moyers: Becoming American is an engrossing three-part documentary about ...
Read More Lapland Odyssey DVD Review: Karukoski’s Jussi-winning Comedy is a Middling Affair
Directed by Finnish filmmaker Dome Karukoski, Lapland Odyssey is a pretty standard guy movie wrapped up with a cute bow. ...
Read More Gandu DVD Review: A Daring Bengali Film Low on Substance
Directed by Q (Qaushiq Mukherjee), Gandu is an interesting but not entirely convincing Bengali film. It arrives packed with danger, ...
Read More Dreams of a Life Movie Review: The Tale of Joyce Vincent
Written and directed by Carol Morley, Dreams of a Life is a stunning documentary that tells a story that could ...
Read More Iron Sky Blu-ray Review: What Happens When Moon Nazis Tangle with Sarah Palin
Directed by Finnish filmmaker Timo Vuorensola, Iron Sky nails down all the blockbuster tropes in a ludicrous tale that actually ...
Read More Unforgivable Movie Review: More Turns Than a French Soap Opera
Directed by André Téchiné and based on a novel by Philippe Djian, Unforgivable is kind of an odd duck. It ...
Read More Trilogy of Life Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Three Films, Countless Tales
Italian filmmaker, poet, philosopher, writer, and sometimes actor Pier Paolo Pasolini has certainly generated his fair share of controversy. He's ...
Read More The Sessions Movie Review: An Astonishingly Frank and Compassionate Film
The Sessions is one of the best films of 2012. Directed by Ben Lewin and based on the experiences of ...
Read More Touch: The Complete First Season DVD Review: A Complex, Entertaining Supernatural Thriller
Created by Tim Kring and starring Kiefer Sutherland, Touch is one of those rare television shows that isn't afraid of ...
Read More The Black Tulip (2010) Movie Review: A Cluttered, Lumbering, Simplistic Mess
Directed by activist, director and actress Sonia Nassery Cole, The Black Tulip is Afghanistan's official entry for the 2011 Academy ...
Read More The Slut Movie Review: A Provoking but Detached Film from Israel
At the beginning of Hagar Ben-Asher's The Slut, a horse leaps over a fence, runs freely, and is eventually hit ...
Read More In the Mood for Love Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: An Astonishing Meditation on Longing
Wong Kar-wai's wonderful, stunning In the Mood for Love sparkles on Blu-ray thanks to Criterion Collection. The 2000 film, nominated ...
Read More The Face of Fu Manchu DVD Review: Obey Fu Manchu or Hey, Nice Moustache!
Designed strictly for lovers of pulp serials and potboilers, The Face of Fu Manchu is a dated Don Sharp joint ...
Read More The Raven (2012) Blu-ray Review: A Miscast Muddle
Directed by James McTeigue, The Raven is a silly film with a silly premise that has no idea how silly ...
Read More Children of Paradise Criterion Collection DVD Review: The Film is Paradise
Widely hailed as one of the finest French films of all time, Marcel Carné's Children of Paradise is an astounding ...
Read More The World Is Not Enough Movie Review: This Bond Is Not Enough
As the 19th entry in the James Bond film series, The World Is Not Enough is a disappointment. Directed by ...
Read More New Girl: The Complete First Season DVD Review: Nothing New to See Here
How much one enjoys New Girl is entirely contingent on how much one enjoys the geek chic of star Zooey ...
Read More Oslo, August 31st DVD Review: A Brilliant, Thoughtful Piece of Art
When one feels that life is passing him or her by, it can be unbearable to see those who “have ...
Read More Bonsai DVD Review: Surprisingly Low on the ‘Blah, Blah, Blah’
Directed by Cristián Jiménez and based on a novel by Chilean writer Alejandro Zambra, Bonsái is an affectionate film about ...
Read More Heaven Strewn DVD Review: A Desert-kissed Exercise in Style
Directed, written and produced by Jeremiah Gurzi, Heaven Strewn is a well-made motion picture with some interesting cinematic touches. It ...
Read More Madame Bovary (2000) DVD Review: An Erotic Take on an Erotic Classic
When Gustave Flaubert first delivered the sexy seeds of his romantic tragedy, Madame Bovary, to the literary world, he was ...
Read More Here (2011) DVD Review: The Story Is Still Asleep
Braden King’s Here opens by informing us that “the story is still asleep.” In the case of the filmmaker’s vision ...
Read More Shallow Grave (1994) Criterion Collection DVD Review: Boyle’s Debut Shows Promise and Little Else
Directed by Danny Boyle, written by John Hodge, and available now thanks to Criterion Collection, Shallow Grave is a bleakly ...
Read More Missing in Action 2: The Beginning Blu-ray Review: Braddock Returns in this Misplaced Prequel
Missing in Action 2: The Beginning “explains the rage” behind Chuck Norris’ James Braddock from Missing in Action, but it ...
Read More Missing in Action Blu-ray Review: This B-movie Is Missing Its Action
Missing in Action has largely been considered a Rambo rip-off – and a bad one at that. Now available on ...
Read More Civilization: The West and the Rest DVD Review: Niall Ferguson’s Cultural Arrogance Clouds This Series
British historical Niall Ferguson presents Civilization: The West and the Rest, a BBC documentary series with six episodes. The program ...
Read More This Means War DVD Review: A Blubbing Mess
This Means War is one of the most abrasive, frustrating, mind-numbingly terrible films of 2012. It presents itself as a ...
Read More Father’s Day (2011) Movie Review: Too Modern and Too Hip for Its Own Good
Produced by the famed Troma Enterainment, Father’s Day is a pretty middling affair. The flick comes written and directed by ...
Read More Cirkus Columbia Movie Review: A Fairly Good Motion Picture
Directed by Danis Tanović, Cirkus Columbia was the Bosnian entry for the 2010 Best Foreign Language Oscar. It is a ...
Read More Letter Never Sent Criterion Collection DVD Review: Kalatozov’s Take on Man Vs. Nature
Russian director Mikhail Kalatozov and cinematographer Sergey Urusevsky only worked together on three films, but each has left an indelible ...
Read More Midnight in Paris Movie Review: A Beautiful Fantasy
Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris is a delightful piece of comic fantasy. It is, at times, hysterical and touching, a ...
Read More The Ides of March Movie Review: Beware the Ides of Clooney
No less than the collapse of a doe-eyed young man’s faith in politics stands at the core of The Ides ...
Read More Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) Movie Review: A Well-Toned, Subtle Spy Thriller
If there’s anything that makes Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy work, it’s its tone. The Tomas Alfredson picture is based on ...
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