The Saragossa Manuscript Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
When a movie is loved by such diverse folks as Martin Scorsese, Luis Bunuel, and Jerry Garcia, you know it ...
Read More Petite Maman Is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
I don't get out, practically at all, so this PotW is going a little different, just like a few of ...
Read More In the Line of Duty: I-IV Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Michelle Yeoh recently became the first Asian actress to win an Academy Award. She won it for her starring role ...
Read More Branded to Kill 4K UHD is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Please bare with me. I don't get out much, nor have instant access to all the cinematic things that a ...
Read More Anna May Wong Collection Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Well, hello there, old friends. It is your old pal Mat Brewster ready for another round of Pick of the ...
Read More The Seventh Seal 4K UHD Is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Ingmar Bergman wasn't the most upbeat filmmaker. His films were dark, bleak, and pessimistic. But isn't that what life itself ...
Read More The Maltese Falcon (1941) 4K UHD is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Sam Spade, Ruth Wonderly, the Fat Man, Joel Cairo, Wilmer, and Effie are timeless characters that inhabit The Maltese Falcon, ...
Read More Inland Empire is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Legendary filmmaker David Lynch just may be movie history's strangest and most diabolical director. His films tread a knife's edge ...
Read More Mildred Pierce 4K UHD Is Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Seeing Mildred Pierce, legendary director Michael Curtiz's celebrated 1945 adaptation of the James M. Cain novel and owning my own ...
Read More Dazed and Confused 4K UHD is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Richard Linklater's 1993 classic Dazed and Confused is not the deepest of films about the complexities of teenage life, but ...
Read More Three Colors Trilogy 4K UHD is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
The late, great Krzysztof Kieslowski, legendary Polish filmmaker, remains one of the most renowned directors in the history of cinema, ...
Read More This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection Is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
This POTW is going to be a little different because the film I'm choosing for this is one I haven't ...
Read More Imitation of Life (1934) is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Despite the popularity of Douglas Sirk's 1959 version of the celebrated Fanny Hurst novel, I actually prefer the original 1934 ...
Read More Criterion’s The Adventures of Baron Munchausen is the Pick of the Week
By Gordon S. Miller |
Welcome or welcome back, whichever is applicable. If you have left over gift cards or cash from the holidays and ...
Read More Carrie 4K UHD is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
What else can one say about Brian De Palma's masterful 1976 Stephen King adaptation Carrie? It's one of the greatest ...
Read More The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 4K UHD is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, legendary genre director Tobe Hooper's wild and viciously bonkers follow-up to his groundbreaking and still ...
Read More Reservoir Dogs 4K UHD Is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Iconic filmmaker (and equally iconic film buff) Quentin Tarantino burst onto to scene with his legendary 1992 blood-soaked debut Reservoir ...
Read More Daisies is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
When I first watched Věra Chytilová's 1966 game-changer Daisies, I was immediately struck by its approach to youthful rebellion, its ...
Read More Return of the Living Dead 4K UHD is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Ever since George A. Romero's masterpiece Night of the Living Dead was unleashed in 1968, everyone wanted to do their ...
Read More Night of the Living Dead 4K UHD is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
What else can you say about George A. Romero's highly influential 1968 masterpiece Night of the Living Dead?! It's one ...
Read More Poltergeist 4K UHD is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
What else can one say about Tobe Hopper's 1982 classic Poltergeist that hasn't already been said? It's a film about ...
Read More Blow Out 4K UHD is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Despite the constant comparisons to Hitchcock, celebrated director Brian De Palma does have a style all his own. Yes, he's ...
Read More Child’s Play 4K UHD is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Let's just get this out of the way. Child's Play (1988), directed by genre icon Tom Holland, still has one ...
Read More Tenebrae 4K UHD is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Of course, Dario Argento is one the great Italian masters of horror. His films are usually light of plot and ...
Read More Marty is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Today, 1955's Marty may not seem like an obvious choice for Best Picture, but make no mistake, it was refreshing ...
Read More The Virgin Suicides 4K is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Sofia Coppola has always been a filmmaker of immense interest. She loves zeroing in on the trials and tribulations of ...
Read More Shaft (1971) is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
I have to admit that I am not usually well-versed in the films of the now-famous Blaxploitation genre. I have ...
Read More The Tales of Hoffman is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Powell and Pressburger was a filmmaking duo for the ages. Their films were unlike anything you had ever seen, even ...
Read More Mississippi Masala is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Interracial and intercontinental romance isn't as explored in film as often as it should. Acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair's gorgeous 1992 ...
Read More The Alfred Hitchcock Classics Collection Volume 2 is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
As everyone knows and has always said, Hitchcock is the ultimate "Master of Suspense". When it comes to their own ...
Read More From the Journals of Jean Seberg is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Iconic actress Jean Seberg was ahead of her time. She was also a woman of her time, having a few ...
Read More Jockey is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
This week may not have the most notable releases, but there are a few that I will highlight, including a ...
Read More The Godfather Trilogy 4K UHD is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
What else can one say about The Godfather saga? The whole trilogy (at least parts 1 & 2) set the ...
Read More Hester Street is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
As I mentioned in my recent review, I think that Hester Street, the late Joan Micklin Silver's fantastic 1975 film, ...
Read More Alligator 4K Ultra HD is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Some ideas sound really absurd on paper, but when they're put on the screen, they sometimes manage to sneak up ...
Read More Miller’s Crossing is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
The Coen Brothers are a dynamic directing duo for the film history books. They don't make films within one particular ...
Read More The Piano is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
As I mentioned before, acclaimed director Jane Campion still seems to be undervalued and understated in most film circles (which ...
Read More The Celebration is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Although I have only seen one film from the Dogme 95 movement, which was Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves ...
Read More All My Sons is the Pick of the Week
By Gordon S. Miller |
Happy New Year, CS readers. Hope to see you around these parts often throughout 2022. Arthur Miller was an important ...
Read More Krampus: The Naughty Cut is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
As a person who has somewhat gotten over the holidays, I prefer my Christmas movies to be bleak, mean-spirited, and ...
Read More Mulholland Dr. 4K is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Singular filmmaker David Lynch is one of the most original directors in the history of film. His stylish, and at ...
Read More La strada is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Italian neorealism was an influential but rather short new wave of cinema. The movement held a mirror up to portray ...
Read More Deep Red is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
The legendary Dario Argento is arguably the Italian master of horror. Despite their fairly standard plots, his films seem to ...
Read More Misery 4K is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
What else can one say about director Rob Reiner's still iconic 1990 adaptation of Stephen King's 1987 novel that hasn't ...
Read More Melvin Van Peebles: Essential Films is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
When legendary filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles passed away last week, it understandably caused a ripple in film history, especially in ...
Read More Mona Lisa is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Neo noirs are contemporary films from 1970s and '80s that do take themes and elements from classic noirs, but they ...
Read More Ashes and Diamonds is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
When it comes to war, there is the always the complicated struggle between fulfilling a sense of duty, or rebelling ...
Read More Nashville is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
The late, great filmmaker Robert Altman remains one of the most beloved directors in the history of cinema. His use ...
Read More The Dead Zone (Collector’s Edition) is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
As many of us know, Stephen King is the modern master of literary horror. Most of his works delve deep ...
Read More Working Girls is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Prostitution continues to be a stigmatized profession. Most people look down upon it, meaning that they think that it is ...
Read More Pariah is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
There are always films in the LGBTQ genre that center on white gay society and their issues of growing up, ...
Read More Streetwise/Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Documentaries are not always front-and-center in the film spectrum, and that rattles me. Documentaries have the powerful ability to showcase ...
Read More Mommie Dearest Is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
When it comes to cautionary tales of celebrities and their children, I think 1981's Mommie Dearest is the mother of ...
Read More National Lampoon’s Animal House 4K is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
There have been many comedies about college life, such as Revenge of the Nerds, Old School, and Neighbors. As fun ...
Read More Speed 4K is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Say what you will about the '90s, and I'll most likely agree with you. Just like the 1980s, it was ...
Read More Memories of Murder is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Seeing Bong Joon Ho's Parasite awhile back, I realized that I've missed out on a lot of great, and unique ...
Read More Thundarr the Barbarian: The Complete Series is the Pick of the Week
By Gordon S. Miller |
Over the past couple of years, I finally caught up with Steve Gerber's run on Howard the Duck, a subversive ...
Read More World of Wong Kar Wai is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
The great Wong Kar Wai, now-iconic filmmaker, has become one of the masters of modern contemporary cinema. He's one of ...
Read More Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
As many film buffs know, legendary filmmaker Sam Peckinpah remains one of the greatest and most unpredictable directors in the ...
Read More Doctor Who: Revolution of the Daleks is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Well, hi there. It has been a long time since I've written one of these. Dave has done such a ...
Read More Smooth Talk is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
There have been so many tales of adolescence and teenage portraits of sexual and social mores than most people can ...
Read More Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Since Sam Raimi introduced Spider-Man into the summer blockbuster tradition 16 years ago, there have been no fewer than seven ...
Read More Spider-Man: Homecoming is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Towards the end of Captain America: Civil War, there is a sweeping scene in which Captain America and Black Widow ...
Read More The Hateful Eight is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Last Friday, I loaded the family into the car and we spent Easter weekend in our old stomping grounds in ...
Read More Black Mama, White Mama is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Every once in awhile you have to ask yourself whether you want the much beloved, critically acclaimed, and highly influential ...
Read More Brooklyn is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Though it was nominated for a slew of awards (including Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay, and Actress at the Academy Awards), ...
Read More Macbeth (2015) is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
What's left to say about Shakespeare? What could I possible write that would convey his brilliance? Nothing of course. He ...
Read More Creed and Room are the Picks of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
The Oscars will be airing in a few hours from when I'm writing this (and likely a few hours before ...
Read More Fargo: Season Two is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
When they announced they were making a TV show out of the excellent Coen Brothers films, Fargo, I was skeptical. ...
Read More Black Mass Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
For as long as I can remember, I've always wanted to watch gangster movies. There is just something about the ...
Read More Spectre is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I have many fond memories of watching James Bond. I remember my dad taking me to see him in the ...
Read More Bridge of Spies Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
We're less than a month away from the Oscars and I've seen exactly three of the nominated films - four ...
Read More Doctor Who: Series Nine, Part Two is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I have very vague memories of watching Doctor Who as a kid. This was the '80s when the long=scarfed Tom ...
Read More Criterion’s Inside Llewyn Davis is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Many times in these pages I've mentioned my extraordinary love for both the Criterion Collection and the Coen Brothers. When ...
Read More The Martian is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I subscribed to the auteur theory before I even knew what that was. That is to say as I began ...
Read More Sicario is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
A great big thanks to Davy for helping me out last week. Extra credit since I gave him about a ...
Read More Bone Tomahawk Is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
Since everyone is getting over the Christmas holidays, I think they are just too stuffed with food and having to ...
Read More Pan is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
If the weeks leading up to Christmas are a bonanza for home-video collectors, then the actual week of Christmas is ...
Read More Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
It's easy to get cynical and annoyed with all the remakes, reimaginings, rehashes, and sequels that seem to come out ...
Read More Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase Two is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
When I picked Phase One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as my Pick of the Week back in April of ...
Read More Cooties Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I don't know about you, but I had a mighty fine Thanksgiving. The weather outside was frightful, but inside was ...
Read More Ikiru is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Not long ago my aunt was diagnosed with cancer. They initially thought it was in her lungs, which made for ...
Read More The Collected Works of Hayao Miyazaki Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I remember distinctly the first time I ever watched a Hayao Miyazaki film. I was still single, but heavily into ...
Read More Mr. Holmes is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
By my count, there have been over 800 kajillion filmic adaptations of Sherlock Holmes. Within the last few years we've ...
Read More Pixar’s Inside Out is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
It was a tough October. I got strep throat and followed it with a nasty virus that turned into an ...
Read More Edgar Allan Poe’s Black Cats Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Autumn is by far my favorite season. The dog days of summer slip into the cool, crisp nights of fall. ...
Read More Jurassic World Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I was 17 when Jurassic Park came out in 1993. Even then, I knew it wasn't a great film, artistically ...
Read More Nakatomi Plaza Die Hard Collection is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Forgive me if I begin this Pick of the Week with a bit of a rant. In all forms of ...
Read More Tremors 5: Bloodlines Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I was 14 when the original Tremors came out. I loved it. We all did, my family and me. It ...
Read More Mad Max: Fury Road Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
My parents were early adapters to the home-video market. They were given a Betamax sometime in the early '80s, but ...
Read More Two Days, One Night Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
My DVD/Blu-ray collection is divided up into a few different categories. There are TV shows, foreign films, my main collection, ...
Read More Day For Night is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
As someone who has never made a film but absolutely loves watching them, I'm completely fascinated by movies about making ...
Read More Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I have a good friend who is probably the smartest guy I've ever met. I like to joke that he's ...
Read More Orphan Black: Season Three is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I have this completely random rule that I have to watch at least 10 movies every month. Now to all ...
Read More White God is the Pick of the Week
By Luigi Bastardo |
As a certain Italian schlockumentary once reminded us many moons ago, it's a dog's world out there. And some distant ...
Read More Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau is the Pick of the Week
By Davy |
As an extreme film lover, I'm always torn between variety. Sometimes, there is too much to choose from, and it ...
Read More The Fugitive: The Complete Series is the Pick of the Week
By Gordon S. Miller |
Hello, PotW readers. Mat 's desktop computer went to that great IT department in the sky over the weekend, so ...
Read More The Imitation Game is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Whenever a film based upon real events comes out, there is always a lot of discussion over how historically accurate ...
Read More Into the Woods is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
A funny thing happened on the way to posting this week's pick. Yesterday, I wrote the words you will read ...
Read More The Soft Skin is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Before she became a stay-at-home mom (and forced me to get a real job, le sigh) my wife taught French ...
Read More Pride (2014) Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
When I'm not writing about movies and televisions shows, I run The Midnight Cafe, a little blog that deals in ...
Read More Arrested Development: Season 4 Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
So often when writing this series I have to admit that I haven't seen the things that I pick, or ...
Read More Guardians of the Galaxy Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
My recent visit to Wizard World solidified the fact that while I like geeky things I am not in anyway ...
Read More Austin City Limits Celebrates 40 Years Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I've been blogging now for a little over ten years. I started back in 2004 when my wife and I ...
Read More Drunk History: Seasons 1 & 2 Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I have an unusual sense of humor. I generally don't find the things that the apparent majority of people find ...
Read More It Happened One Night Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
When I bought my first DVD player back in 1999 I vowed that I would only buy really great movies ...
Read More Lots of TV Series Sets Are the Picks of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
You've got to love the (extended) Christmas season. It seems like every year it gets pushed farther and farther up ...
Read More Stanley Kubrick: The Masterpiece Collection Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
For nearly as long as I can remember and certainly for as long as I've taken cinema seriously, I've been ...
Read More Deliver Us from Evil (2014) Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
In case you've been stuck inside without any form of media (or a calendar) over the last month, Halloween is ...
Read More Snowpiercer Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
My in-laws have been spending the week with us. Mostly this is just swell as they are wonderful people who ...
Read More X-Men: Days of Future Past Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I like the idea of X-Men more than I usually like the execution. The mutant concept with all of the ...
Read More Sleeping Beauty: Diamond Edition is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
There is a fairly constant discussion in my home over the television. Or rather how much of it my child ...
Read More Chef Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
In college, I had a friend who majored in theater. One day he hit me up to help him out ...
Read More The Exorcist: The Complete Anthology and Halloween: The Complete Collection Are the Picks of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
A couple of years back I decided to finally sit down and watch the notoriously graphic horror movie A Serbian ...
Read More Eraserhead Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
People always carry on about how wonderful children are - how amazing and beautiful they can be, how they change ...
Read More A Long Way Down Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I first heard of Nick Hornby through the movie version of his musically obsessed book High Fidelity. The film stars ...
Read More Line of Duty: Series 2 Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
It seems like forever since I've had a really challenging pick of the week. Hardly at all this summer have ...
Read More Blandings: Series 2 Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I can't remember when I first heard of P.G. Wodehouse. He seems to just always exist in my memory. I ...
Read More Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Some folks wax nostalgic about the days when MTV actually played music videos; I get all teary eyed thinking about ...
Read More The Railway Man Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
My wife, like all red-blooded women (and more than a few red-blooded men) loves Colin Firth. She practically drools anytime ...
Read More Community: The Complete Fifth Season is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
We finally got high speed internet last Wednesday. It is a little ridiculous how excited I am about it. I ...
Read More Noah (2014) Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I went to see Noah with a group of friends on opening weekend. We were a pretty diverse bunch in ...
Read More The Essential Jacques Demy Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Living with my parents is beginning to take its toll. After much looking and consideration, we decided to move into ...
Read More Under the Skin is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Random story: my father recently got on my mother's computer which is set up slightly different than his own device. ...
Read More Nymphomaniac Volume I & Volume II Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I suppose every film lover keeps some sort of list of films they feel they should watch at some point. ...
Read More Cannibal Holocaust Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
In the small town in Oklahoma where I grew up, we had a surprisingly big video store. They had taken ...
Read More A Hard Day’s Night Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
A few weeks after we got married my wife and I caught a showing of A Hard Day's Night at ...
Read More The Grand Budapest Hotel Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Over the last few years, I've regularly complained that the local cineplexes all show the same overblown blockbusters and none ...
Read More True Detective: Season 1 Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
A big thanks to Gordon for handling this column last week while I was away. As he noted I've moved. ...
Read More Barbary Coast Is the Pick of the Week
By Gordon S. Miller |
I don't know if Mat's mentioned it, but he and his family are in the process of moving to another ...
Read More An Adventure in Space and Time Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Though I do remember watching some Tom Baker-era Doctor Who as a kid, one probably needs to call me a ...
Read More The Monuments Men Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
It occurs to me that the Classic Hollywood Star no longer exists. Stars like Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant, and Audrey ...
Read More Her Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Spike Jonze is an immensely talented, eternally creative, and absolutely brilliant artist. Yet I can't say that I really like ...
Read More Veronica Mars (2014) Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
There has been so much great TV playing over the last decade that its really impossible to keep up with ...
Read More Mr. Selfridge: Season 2 Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I'll probably be labeled a terrible dad for admitting this, but there has been a lot of television watching in ...
Read More Master of the House Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
You know its a slow week for new releases when a friggin' Tyler Perry movie is the number-one seller on ...
Read More Philomena Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
My wife tends to avoid sad films, sad songs, sad everything. She says life is tough enough on its own ...
Read More August: Osage County Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I was born and raised in Oklahoma. This isn't necessarily something I'm proud of. I mean I didn't really do ...
Read More Broadchurch: The Complete First Season Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
It is a little embarrassing to say now, but I came to Doctor Who a bit late in the game. ...
Read More The Wolf of Wall Street Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
About this time every year when we get our tax refund back, the wife and I give ourselves a hundred ...
Read More American Hustle Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
My mother often says I was born in the wrong decade - that I should have grown up in the ...
Read More Inside Llewyn Davis Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
If I were to remove my critic's hat when you asked me to name my favorite director, I'd likely go ...
Read More 12 Years a Slave Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
The 86th Academy Awards show was on last night. It was watched by a lot of people. Usually I'm one ...
Read More Gravity Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I'm really not a Sandra Bullock fan. She's attractive and certainly charming, and I really can't knock her acting chops, ...
Read More Game of Thrones: The Complete Third Season Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
In the months after my daughter was born, I watched an enormous amount of movies and television. As anyone who ...
Read More Ender’s Game Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
In the world of science fiction I consider myself a fan, but not a fan-boy. By which I mean that ...
Read More Dallas Buyers Club Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I believe I first saw Matthew McConaughey as "past his prime, but still picking up high school girls" David Wooderson ...
Read More Blue Jasmine Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
When I was a pubescent teenager, I used to stay up late on Friday and Saturday nights watching the USA ...
Read More Rififi Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
In the middle of Jules Dassin's 1954 film noir Rififi, which is the father of all heist movies, lies a ...
Read More Top of the Lake Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Some weeks you gotta ignore the masses and pick what you want. Okay, admittedly I pretty much do that every ...
Read More Don Jon Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Welcome back. I decided to take last week off because me, the wife and the wee one were off visiting ...
Read More Prisoners Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
While I am very much a fan of horror, gore, violence, and bloody, anger-filled cinema, my wife is most certainly ...
Read More Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
With some regularity we invite various people, usually university students, over to the house to watch films. Several of them ...
Read More Dead Like Me: The Complete Series Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I really thought that the first week of December would find us with loads of great new releases. I really ...
Read More Breaking Bad: The Complete Series Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Who knew a show about an average, normal guy turned very, very bad (or as show creator/runner Vince Gilligan used ...
Read More The World’s End Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
The Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy is not so much a trilogy as it is three films made by the same ...
Read More Nosferatu (1922): Deluxe Remastered Edition Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
My transition from a kid who really liked going to the movies to a full-blown cineaste was long and slow. ...
Read More The Right Stuff: 30th Anniversary Edition Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Halloween has just ended. Thanksgiving is still weeks away. Is it too early to start thinking about Christmas? The makers ...
Read More Monsters University Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Pixar. Its name is associated with quality. The company almost single-handedly ushered in a new era of brilliant animation that ...
Read More The Vincent Price Collection Is the Pick of the Week
By Gordon S. Miller |
Aside from Christmas, I can't think of another holiday that guides people's viewing habits like Halloween. Horror movies become all ...
Read More Love Actually: Tenth Anniversary Edition Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
For much of my life I was a hum-bug. I hated Christmas and all its crass commercialism. I do like ...
Read More Much Ado About Nothing (2012) Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I have a geek confession to make. I'm not really a fan of Joss Whedon. I don't hate him. He's ...
Read More The Wizard of Oz 75th Anniversary Edition Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I want to say that it is impossible to hate The Wizard of Oz, but if the internet has taught ...
Read More Doctor Who: The Complete Seventh Series Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I watched Doctor Who periodically as a kid. It wasn't a show I loved, or made sure I was home ...
Read More The Bling Ring Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Sofia Coppola has only directed five films in her entire career. I've only seen three of them, and I wasn't ...
Read More Friday the 13th: The Complete Collection Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I grew up in the late '80s/early '90s and slasher flicks informed my early film life. Sort-of. My parents wouldn't ...
Read More Five Dolls for an August Moon Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
It is a weird week for releases. There is a ton of television coming out - both old and new ...
Read More The Great Gatsby (2013) Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I read The Great Gatsby when I was in high school, or possibly early in college. Whenever it was, I ...
Read More Amour Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I rarely go to the theatre anymore - too much trouble, too expensive, and audiences are way too obnoxious. Even ...
Read More The Mindy Project: Season One Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I have an odd relationship with the American version of The Office. For the first few seasons, I loved it. ...
Read More The Sapphires Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Sometimes it pisses me off knowing that I'm gonna die before so much cool stuff is invented. Every day I ...
Read More Banshee: The Complete First Season Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
There is so much good, interesting TV on these days I can hardly keep track. At the beginning of this ...
Read More Trance Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I don't always love Danny Boyle's movies, but they are always interesting. From the pounding music and jump-cuts of Trainspotting ...
Read More Evil Dead (2013) Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
People love to slag on sequels and especially remakes. Whenever one is announced, the Internet explodes with righteous anger calling ...
Read More Spring Breakers Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
It makes a certain amount of sense that actresses who have spent their childhoods on squeaky clean television shows to ...
Read More The House I Live In Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Several months ago I made a very deliberate decision to avoid the news in general and politics in specific. It ...
Read More Upside Down Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Every week as I write this column, I am amazed at just now many movies are released each week. Hundreds ...
Read More Stoker Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
It is a great week to be a movie fan. This week's DVD/Blu-ray releases have a little something for everyone. ...
Read More Wild Strawberries Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
From time to time in this weekly series I like to discuss the ways and means to which I choose ...
Read More Breaking Bad: The Fifth Season Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
With but a half season to go Breaking Bad is very near to completely proving itself to be one of ...
Read More The Grass Is Greener Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I guess Memorial Day weekend doesn't really rate in the DVD-seller's handbook. There is a whole lot of not-much coming ...
Read More Rick Steves Europe: All 100 Shows (2000-2014) Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
My wife and I love to travel. At last count we have visited 21 other countries. That isn't a brag, ...
Read More Cloud Atlas Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Sometimes you gotta go with your gut. I tend to take this Pick of the Week thing a little too ...
Read More Band of Outsiders Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I can't remember the first time I watched a foreign language film. I remember watching some on Bravo (back when ...
Read More Star Trek: The Next Generation: Seasons 1-3 Are the Picks of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I am not what one would consider to be a trekkie (or a trekker or if you want to get ...
Read More The Impossible (2012) Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Sometimes it seems that we are constantly engulfed in tragedy. If it isn't a school shooting, it is an earthquake ...
Read More Django Unchained Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
The very last scene of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Volume 2 shows Uma Thurman's character cuddling with her daughter. It ...
Read More Hyde Park on Hudson Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Who would have thought that Dr. Peter Venkman could be so poignantly fragile as Herman Blume in Rushmore? Who in ...
Read More Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One: Avengers Assembled is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I am not much for comic book movies. This is likely due to me not having read many of the ...
Read More Lincoln Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Time and time again Daniel Day-Lewis proves himself to be our greatest living actor. He doesn't make a lot of ...
Read More Les Miserables Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
For a large part of my life I've been a theatre geek by accident. In high school, I took several ...
Read More Life of Pi Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
It is good to see that in this post-Oscar season we're finally getting large crops of interesting DVD releases. This ...
Read More Wreck-It Ralph Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Like a million other boys I grew up playing video games. I cannot begin to fathom how many countless hours ...
Read More The Master (2012) Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Though I had only seen but one of the nominated films, I sat with my wife and watched the entirety ...
Read More Game of Thrones: The Complete Second Season Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I came to George RR Martin's epic fantasy series A Song of Fire and Ice through the TV show Game ...
Read More Skyfall Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
The conclusion of the whole internet debacle is that I now have satellite internet. The commercials all hype the high ...
Read More Picks of the Last Three Weeks
By Mat Brewster |
Cinema Sentries has been without a Pick of the Week, where we comment on the new DVD/Blu-ray releases, for the ...
Read More To Rome with Love Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Woody Allen is New York City. The celebrated director set the majority of his films in the city, and often, ...
Read More The Hour 2 Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
With the huge success of Mad Men there have been a number of shows who have tried to capture a ...
Read More Cosmopolis Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
You might have noticed the absence of The Pick of the Week here at Cinema Sentries last week. The reason ...
Read More Masters of the Universe: 30th Anniversary Limited Edition Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
With essentially every television show and movie ever made now available at the click of a button, nostalgia is taking ...
Read More The Ultimate Buster Keaton Collection Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
One of the more liberating things about college was to find people just as passionate about movies as I was. ...
Read More The Dark Knight Trilogy Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
With his Dark Knight Trilogy, Christopher Nolan not only created one of the greatest comic-book adaptations but one of the ...
Read More Luck: The Complete First Season Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
You would think that the Tuesday after the big Black Friday/Small Business Saturday/Cyber Monday madness that we'd have a week ...
Read More Doctor Who Limited Edition Gift Set Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Just the other day I was complaining to my wife that the new Doctor Who series is incredibly expensive here ...
Read More Lawrence of Arabia (50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition) Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
The phrase "They don't make them like they used to" is trite, banal, and way over-used, yet sometimes, it's also ...
Read More Rashomon Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Not to get too philosophical for a post about upcoming DVD releases, but as I've gotten older the nature of ...
Read More Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Halloween is quite possibly my favorite holiday. I love all the decorations, the excitement of all the little children (and ...
Read More Blade Runner 30th Anniversary Collector’s Edition Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
There comes a time in every movie fan and critics life when he must make certain admissions. Perhaps it is ...
Read More Mad Men: Season Five Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I came late to the Mad Men game, not watching an episode until about a year and a half ago, ...
Read More Prometheus Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Used to be people gathered around the water cooler to chat about television, movies, and music They'd get a refreshment ...
Read More Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Halloween has become one of my favorite holidays. In the 10 years we've been married, the wife and I have ...
Read More Bond 50: The Complete 22 Film Collection Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I've always had something of an odd relationship with James Bond. My parents were never huge fans of the franchise ...
Read More Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Through four films and a television series, Indiana Jones has become one of the great heroic icons of all time. ...
Read More 30 Rock: Season 6 Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
In 2006, network television released two separate series about the behind-the-scenes shenanigans of Saturday Night Live-esque sketch comedies. Studio 60 ...
Read More The Harry Potter Wizard’s Collection Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I'm a child of the '80s therefore I am a Star Wars man. As a kid, I watched the original ...
Read More Homeland: The Complete First Season Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
A few weeks back my family and I took a vacation in Florida. We surfed, we swam, we walked, we ...
Read More Bernie Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
There are times when I feel really clued in. On those days I'm caught up with and can talk intelligently ...
Read More Community: The Complete Third Season Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
It took me awhile to catch onto Dan Harmon's smart, quirky, meta-comedy Community, but now that I have, I have ...
Read More Marley Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
In my mind there is a connection between Bob Marley and Che Guevera. I doubt the two ever met and ...
Read More The Grand Illusion Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Jean Renoir's classic film, The Grand Illusion, has had a long, strange journey since its release in 1937. The German's ...
Read More The Last Days of Disco Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
The original G.I. Joe animated series is currently streaming on Netflix. I loved that show as a kid. I have ...
Read More Singin’ in the Rain: 60th Anniversary Edition Is the Pick of the Week
By Dusty Somers |
Far and away the most popular American film musical ever made, Singin' in the Rain lives up to its reputation. ...
Read More Muddy Waters & the Rolling Stones: Live at the Checkerboard Lounge, Chicago 1981 Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Legendary rock band the Rolling Stones were steeped in the early Chicago blues style (in fact their name comes from ...
Read More The Pirate Movie Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I was recently reading an article about how It's a Wonderful Life would never have been a much beloved classic ...
Read More Hinoshi Inagaki’s The Samurai Trilogy Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Sometimes when I look at the new releases one blaring question comes straight to my mind: why haven't I watched ...
Read More Lina Wertmuller Collection (Love & Anarchy, The Seduction of Mimi, All Screwed Up) is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
After my sophomore year in college I took some summer classes. Summer at this college was intensely boring as the ...
Read More Harold and Maude Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
There are a few really interesting titles coming out this week, and I had a hard time deciding which one ...
Read More Breaking Bad: The Complete Fourth Season Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Whenever I hear people grumble about how bad television is these days, I just roll my eyes and mutter under ...
Read More Summer Interlude and Summer With Monika Are the Picks of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I've barely made a dent in the 64 films that director Ingmar Bergman made in his lifetime, but the handful ...
Read More Sherlock: Season Two Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I have a very mixed relationship with Sherlock Holmes - I am both utterly fascinated with the character, and more ...
Read More Being John Malkovich Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I suppose it is fair to say that the majority of filmgoers primarily see films based on who is in ...
Read More La Haine Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
My wife teaches French at university while I stay at home and raise our one-year-old daughter. It is an unconventional ...
Read More George Harrison: Living in a Material World Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
One of my dark, secret musical confessions is that I don't particularly like George Harrison's album All Things Must Pass. ...
Read More The Organizer Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
A couple of weeks ago I talked about how, in choosing each week's pick, I pretend someone gives me a ...
Read More Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Say what you will about Tom Cruise's personal life, his weird religion, or his lack of real acting chops, but ...
Read More The Iron Lady Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I've been doing these Pick of the Week posts for awhile now and so I've developed a sort-of rule system ...
Read More Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Since nearly the moment she was born my daughter has loved Sesame Street. She's entranced by it. For the longest ...
Read More David Lean Directs Noel Coward Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
This week, the Criterion Collection is releasing a boxed set of four films written by playright Noel Coward and directed ...
Read More The Muppets (2011) Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Like millions of other kids I grew up watching many of Jim Henson's creations including Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, ...
Read More The Adventures of Tintin (2011) Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
My wife is a nerdy Francophile - she adores everything French especially its arts. I didn't know it before we ...
Read More Game of Thrones: The Complete First Season Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I got about half-way through Game of Thrones when it first came out before tuning out. This was not long ...
Read More Hugo Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I think I mentioned before in this series that I haven't seen very many films in the theatre this year. ...
Read More J. Edgar Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
There's an old Seinfeld joke where Jerry and George are talking about bringing a date to a party. Jerry insists ...
Read More The Rum Diary Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
For the last week my wife and I have both had terrifically terrible head colds. We create create quite the ...
Read More Downton Abbey: Series Two Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
In the first few weeks after my daughter was born my wife, my mother-in-law, and myself spent a great deal ...
Read More The Magnificent Ambersons Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Years ago when I was just out of high school (or possibly just out of college - who can remember ...
Read More U2: From the Sky Down Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
You know it is a heck of a week for movie releases when the top seller on Amazon is a ...
Read More Belle de Jour Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
My wife is a Francophile, that is to say she is a great lover of all things French. She learned ...
Read More Boardwalk Empire: The Complete First Season Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I'm generally terribly behind on my TV watching. I am, what they call now, a cord cutter. I don't have ...
Read More Justified: The Complete Second Season Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
This first week of January has already picked up some steam from the dismal choices we had in the last ...
Read More The Borgias: Season One Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
If I was in charge of releasing movies each week I don't suspect I would put my big pictures out ...
Read More Midnight in Paris Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
My brother is four years older than me so when I was just a kid he was a lusty teenager ...
Read More Rise of the Planet of the Apes Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
If it isn't already distinctly clear from reading my weekly picks, let me state it directly now: I rarely get ...
Read More The Lady Vanishes (1938) Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
With Christmas right around the corner one would imagine the movie studios would be releasing a slew of awesome movies ...
Read More 30 Rock: Season 5 Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
If it were up to Mat Brewster the regular guy, the non-writer, the man with the statuesque physique but ever ...
Read More 12 Angry Men Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
There are several interesting films coming out on Blu-ray this week and it was hard to just pick one of ...
Read More Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I came to the Harry Potter universe a little late. I didn't see the first movie until the fourth one ...
Read More Cars Collector’s Edition Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
For the longest time it seemed that Pixar could do no wrong. Over the last 16 years they have consistently ...
Read More Laurel & Hardy: The Essential Collection Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
I'm not entirely sure I've ever seen a Laurel and Hardy film. In fact, the only Laurel and Hardy anything ...
Read More Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory 40th Anniversary Edition Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Roald Dahl wrote children's books that are full of dark, sardonic humor, mean and nasty villains, and a complete lack ...
Read More The Tree of Life Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
Terrence Malick has only directed five feature films in his nearly 40-year career. I'd say he lacked ambition except that ...
Read More Ken Burns’ Prohibition Is the Pick of the Week
By Mat Brewster |
It is a great big week for Blu-ray releases, but I've got to give the edge to a regular DVD ...
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