Dusty Somers

After the game-changing Casino Royale, Marc Forster fell back on tired old tropes in Quantum of Solace.

Paul Bartel’s little-known 1982 film is a truly unique comedy.

Pierce Brosnan’s final outing as Bond makes it clear why the franchise desperately needed a reboot.

While it doesn’t approach the inspired lunacy of the Pythons, this fitfully successful film is still worth a look.

Henry Hathaway’s post-WWII suspense film isn’t particularly memorable, but it generally gets the job done.

I didn’t think much of Andrew Haigh’s film when I first saw it, but I’m glad I gave it a second look.

While Glee will never be quality television, I found myself enjoying season three more than I had any right to.

The Dardennes’ 1996 tale of a boy’s moral struggle with his father’s illegal-immigration ring is captivating.

One of many adaptations of the Robert Louis Stevenson novel, this version of Kidnapped is a sturdy adventure tale.

You may not learn much about Franz Liszt from Russell’s defiantly excessive film, but it’s a must-see anyway.

Jacques Tourneur’s beautiful 1952 Technicolor western is granted a problematic transfer from Fox Cinema Archives.

Whit Stillman’s hilarious, perceptive film offers a genuine look at the bygone past.

The 1981 Best Picture winner isn’t an all-time classic, but it remains a worthwhile film.

One of the greatest American musicals ever made gets a Blu-ray release, and it’s not the only Hollywood classic to get a high-def upgrade this week.

French and American cinematic sensibilities come together in this enjoyable crime film.

Criterion releases two films offering divergent perspectives on the late monologist.

It’s a good value for the money, but this repackaging of 10 previously released DVDs is fairly underwhelming.

Mathieu Kassovitz offers up no easy answers in his compelling, unsettling 1995 film.

Indie horror filmmaker Ti West’s latest has much to admire, but ultimately feels like a formal exercise.

Criterion goes for broke in this thorough and fascinating collection of 24 films from the experimental artist.

Robert M. Young’s gently comedic drama about a reluctant pope avoids the pitfalls of many “inspirational” films.

Béatrice Dalle’s unraveling performance is the centerpiece of Patric Chiha’s 2009 film.

Stephen Daldry’s maudlin sensibility meets Jonathan Safran Foer’s irrepressible preciousness.

David Lean’s first four films are presented here in glorious Blu-ray editions sourced from the 2008 BFI restorations.

David Gordon Green’s career takes another tumble with this aggressively half-assed Jonah Hill vehicle.

Luchino Visconti re-teams with Burt Lancaster for an excellent character-driven chamber piece.

John Huston’s 1969 obscurity features John Hurt in his first leading role.

Raro Video releases another from the overlooked Antonio Pietrangeli, although the transfer leaves something to be desired.

Director Tom Tykwer follows up the deadly dull The International with a coolly ironic take on modern relationships.

An Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, Bullhead possesses a crippling lack of insight into its steroid-addled protagonist.

Strong performances, including a turn by the great Isabelle Huppert, make the film worthwhile, but its script lets the actors down.

Richard Lester’s adaptation of the Spike Milligan and John Antrobus play is a sharp piece of surrealism.

Time travel humor, estranged friends, and adoption struggles are among the subjects of the 2012 Oscar-nominated live-action short films.

A pair of beautiful and idiosyncratic Canadian films, one ode to books and one to tall tales, and Pixar’s latest compete.

Despite featuring a muddled stew of ideas on race relations, performances from Calvin Lockhart and a young Jeff Bridges elevate the material.

Not exactly a forgotten masterpiece, Peter Hyams’ debut feature still has plenty going for it.

Francesco Rosi’s bullfighting film is an intimate and immediate experience.

Alberto Lattuada’s overlooked The Overcoat is a smart blend of bureaucratic satire, tragicomic character piece and surrealist fantasy.

Steven Soderbergh’s seemingly opposite sensibilities mix marvelously in this four-time Oscar winner.

Displaying many of the same problems — only magnified — that plagued 2011’s Page One: Inside the New York Times, this 2004 effort from the same filmmakers underwhelms.

Alex Cox’s anarchic, funny and beautiful evocation of the punk era gets a solid Blu-ray upgrade.

Father-and-son team Claude and Nathan Miller hamstring their promising film with structural issues and a cop-out ending.

The undeniable charisma of Sabu is on full display in this collection of three of his first four films.

An utterly underwhelming high-def disc of Jean-Jacques Beineix’s similarly lackluster sophomore feature.

The Blu-ray treatment is superb for this never-before-released-on-DVD biopic, but it’s too bad the source material doesn’t earn it.

Alberto Lattuada’s 1970 film is a slyly satiric jab at the inflamed male libido.

There’s little to recommend about this uninspired B-picture about pulp magazine star The Shadow.

The subjects of Under Fire are compelling storytellers, but they’re surrounded by stylistic clutter in this Oscar shortlisted doc.

Ken Russell’s film about Russian composer Tchaikovsky is no tired biopic.

Breillat’s second fairy tale adaptation proves to be a good fit with her pet theme of sexual awakening.