Love & Basketball Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Love Story That Feels Fresh
By Davy |
There are so many cinematic tales of young love that spans time that are riddled with clichés. They usually have ...
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Mona Lisa Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Neo-noir with a Mystic Smile
By Mat Brewster |
The first time I remember seeing Bob Hoskins was as Eddie Valiant the hard-boiled, yet ultimately soft-hearted detective working for ...
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The Damned Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Demonstrative Descent into Family Destruction
By Davy |
In almost every family, there is, arguably, a hidden sense of evil. When the soul gets twisted and corrupted, so ...
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Beasts of No Nation Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Not Soon Forgotten
By Davy |
I may have used the phrase "War is Hell" in one my previous reviews, but you can't describe war as ...
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Ashes and Diamonds Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Polish Masterpiece
By Mat Brewster |
A little over a decade ago my wife and I lived in Shanghai, China. At the time, and probably still ...
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Deep Cover Criterion Collection Blu-Ray Review: Neo-Noir with a Message
By Mat Brewster |
Russell Stevens (Laurence Fishburne) is a good cop. He's also a black man. And a good, black cop is exactly ...
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Pickup on South Street Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Sam Fuller Blends Film Noir with a Cold War Spy Thriller
By Gordon S. Miller |
Samuel Fuller directed and wrote the screenplay for Pickup on South Street, a movie that blends film noir with a ...
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Visions of Eight Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: An Octathlon of Olympic Shorts
By Davy |
I'm not what you'd call an enthusiast of sports. Honestly, I don't like, watch, or play sports. I've never been ...
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World of Wong Kar Wai Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: What a Wonderful World
By Steve Geise |
Wong Kar Wai burst into the international film scene in the 1980s and has remained an icon ever since. While ...
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Trances Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Beautiful Audiovisual Journey
By Darcy Staniforth |
During a four-month period, filmmaker Ahmed El-Maanouni followed the politically and peace-minded avant-pop band Nass El Ghiwane on their tour ...
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Flowers of Shanghai Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Mise-ry en Scene
By Steve Geise |
This Taiwanese movie was based on a novel about “flower houses” of 19th century Shanghai, high class establishments where courtesans ...
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Fast Times at Ridgemont High Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Standout Comedy
By Gordon S. Miller |
Amy Heckerling's Fast Times at Ridgemont High was written by Cameron Crowe, who went undercover at a San Diego high ...
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Masculin Feminin Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Tres Chic
By Steve Geise |
Jean-Luc Godard’s study of young love in Paris pulses with style but doesn’t have much of a story. The film ...
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Irma Vep Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Great Milestone in Olivier Assayas’s Body of Work
By Davy |
There have been so many films about the often chaotic circumstances and behind-the-scenes drama about the making of a film. ...
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The Furies (1950) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Fascinating Film of Familial Conflict
By Gordon S. Miller |
Based on Niven Busch's 1948 novel of the same name, which Criterion has included in paperback, Anthony Mann's The Furies ...
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Memories of Murder Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: The South Korean Zodiac
By Mat Brewster |
A woman has been brutally raped and murdered. Her body was shoved into a drain ditch. Detective Park Doo-man (Song ...
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History Is Made at Night (1937) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Love Crosses the Atlantic
By Kent Conrad |
Director Frank Borzage, who grew up with Hollywood, making (and acting in) silents from 1916 and remaining active up to ...
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Secrets & Lies Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Cinema at Its Best
By Davy |
Legendary British director Mike Leigh is one of cinema's greatest and most profound humanists. He crafts beautifully painful portraits of ...
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Céline and Julie Go Boating Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Long, Strange, Riveting Film
By Mat Brewster |
Julie (Dominique Labourier), a young woman with big, curly red hair, sits on a park bench distractedly reading a book ...
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Touki bouki Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Deserves to be Seen and Discovered
By Davy |
I must admit that African cinema usually goes way over my head. I mostly gloss over it in favor of ...
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The Parallax View Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: The Second Entry in Pakula’s Political Paranoia Trilogy
By Gordon S. Miller |
Based on Loren Singer's 1970 novel of the same name, Alan J. Pakula's The Parallax View is the second entry ...
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Smooth Talk Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Teen’s Roller Coaster Ride from Innocence to Harsh Reality
By xoxoxoe |
1985's Smooth Talk, directed by Joyce Chopra (Murder in a Small Town, The Lemon Sisters, Blonde), follows restless teenager Connie ...
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Chop Shop Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Miracle of Independent Cinema
By Davy |
With his wonderful 2005 Man Push Cart, filmmaker Ramin Bahrani beautifully captured the grim circumstances of being an immigrant in ...
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Man Push Cart Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Essential Cinema
By Davy |
Foreigners in a foreign land express the often grim, depressing, but sometimes hopeful studies of immigrants desperate to survive a ...
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Mandabi Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Unexpected Money Leads to Lots of Problems
By David Wangberg |
One of the things that Ousmane Sembène’s second feature film does that so few films do is, take lesser-known actors ...
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Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review
By Gordon S. Miller |
Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue tour was in support of his album Desire, released January 5, 1976 between the two ...
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The Ascent Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Larisa Shepitko’s Masterpiece
By Davy |
The Ukranian-born Larisa Shepitko (one of the greatest female filmmakers of all-time) had only made a few features and short ...
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Three Films by Luis Buñuel Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: The Don’s Swan Songs
By Steve Geise |
As Luis Buñuel neared the end of his life, he swore each time he made a film that it would ...
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Pierrot le Fou Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Still Feels Modern and Fresh
By Davy |
The legendary and unclassifiable filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard is reaching his 90th birthday this year (in just two months from now), and ...
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Festival (1967) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Better Than Woodstock
By Mat Brewster |
In the early part of the 20th Century, various folklorists, including John Lomax, wandered about the country documenting the songs ...
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Bob Dylan: Dont Look Back Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Glimpses into the Heart of the Artist
By Mat Brewster |
By the time Bob Dylan toured England in the Spring of 1965, he’d released five albums (two of which went ...
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It Happened One Night Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: The Original Runaway Bride
By Steve Geise |
It's hard to imagine now, but there was a time in cinematic history when romantic comedies were extremely rare. That ...
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Two-Lane Blacktop: Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Monte Hellman’s Masterpiece
By Cinema Sentries |
Written by Luigi Bastardo As anyone who has ever experienced a truly awkward moment of puberty is well aware, growing ...
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Godzilla (1954) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: The King of Monsters is Back
By Todd Karella |
In 1954 one of the world's biggest monster movies was released to the big screen. Created and directed by Ishiro ...
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Godzilla (1954) The Criterion Collection DVD Review: The Legendary Monster Makes its Debut
By generaljabbo |
In 1954, Japan was still reeling from the effects of the World War II atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ...
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Design For Living Criterion Collection DVD Review: The Pre-Codiest of the Pre-Codes
By Will McKinley |
When I was a guest on the Turner Classic Movies podcast last fall, I engaged in a bit of premeditated ...
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The Killing Criterion Collection DVD Review: A Day at the Races
By Joe Garcia III |
The Criterion Collection has scored big again with the DVD release of The Killing, Stanley Kubrick's 1956 film noir classic. ...
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Leon Morin, Priest Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Sex and Religion on the Mind
By Dusty Somers |
The Film Léon Morin, Priest is a somewhat atypical film for director Jean-Pierre Melville and star Jean-Paul Belmondo, at least ...
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The Makioka Sisters Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: No Joy No Luck Club
By Steve Geise |
Director Kon Ichikawa’s late career work centers on the relationships between four adult sisters as they run their family kimono ...
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Criterion Collection Eclipse Series #27 DVD Review: Raffaello Matarazzo’s Runaway Melodramas
By Cinema Sentries |
Written by Greg Barbrick Raffaello Matarazzo (1909 – 1966) was an Italian director who specialized in some of the most ...
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The Great Dictator Criterion Collection DVD Review: The Most Courageous Act of His Remarkable Career
By Cinema Sentries |
Written by Greg Barbrick Charles Chaplin’s The Great Dictator (1940) is undoubtedly his most controversial film. It is also one ...
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The Great Dictator Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Charlie Chaplin Still Gives Hope Today
By Shawn Bourdo |
When we last saw Charlie Chaplin in 1936 at the end of Modern Times, The Tramp and his muse, “the ...
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The Times of Harvey Milk Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: History in the Making
By Gordon S. Miller |
The Times of Harvey Milk is an outstanding documentary that presents an important chapter in the United States civil rights ...
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Diabolique (1955) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Crime and Punishment
By Steve Geise |
There’s a clear point part way through this French classic where it drops its conventional nature and morphs into an ...
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Diabolique (1955) Criterion Collection DVD Review: Influential Horror that Stands the Test of Time
By Cinema Sentries |
Written by Greg Barbrick Henri-Georges Clouzet’s Diabolique (1955) is a classic suspense/horror film. Although Clouzet was maligned as “old guard” ...
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Army of Shadows Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Different Kind of Spy Thriller
By Gordon S. Miller |
Writer/director Jean-Pierre Melville’s Army of Shadows (1969) opens with a powerful image: an extended take of a long line of ...
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Something Wild Criterion Collection DVD Review: Jonathan Demme’s Vision of a Yuppie Nightmare
By Cinema Sentries |
Written by Greg Barbrink ”It’s better to be a live dog, than a dead lion.” So says Charlie Driggs (Jeff ...
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Something Wild Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Jonathan Demme’s Film is a Wild Thing
By Shawn Bourdo |
The Criterion Collection is on a serious roll this Spring. I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing White Material (a superb ...
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Pale Flower Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Essential Japanese New Wave
By Steve Geise |
Although this is a Japanese film, the words that immediately come to mind to describe it are largely French: a ...
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Sweetie (1989) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Wonderful, Symbolic-Laden Story
By Shawn Bourdo |
I recently was able to sit down and review White Material (2009) – a film directed by a female director ...
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White Material Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Presages Current Events
By Shawn Bourdo |
Claire Denis makes movies that almost seem commissioned by The Criterion Collection. The French filmmaker shoots in long, beautiful, quiet ...
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The Complete Monterey Pop Festival Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Marvelous Time Capsule
By Gordon S. Miller |
During the Summer of Love, the weekend of June 16-18, 1967 to be specific, the Monterey International Pop Music Festival ...
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Seven Samurai Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Cinematic Masterpiece of Epic Proportions
By Gordon S. Miller |
The premise of Seven Samurai is a simple one: a group of farmers hire seven samurai to deal with bandits ...
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Le Cercle Rouge Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Short on Plot, Long on Mise en Scene
By Steve Geise |
At first glance, Le Cercle Rouge seems like a fairly conventional crime drama, a perception that is upheld by the ...
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Fish Tank Criterion Collection DVD Review: The Struggle to Escape Family Traditions
By Cinema Sentries |
Written by Greg Barbrick. After viewing the Criterion Collection edition of Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank (2009), I cannot imagine a ...
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Fish Tank Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: An Andrea Arnold Primer
By Steve Geise |
British writer/director Andrea Arnold won the 2009 Cannes Jury Prize and 2010 BAFTA (Outstanding British Film) for this gritty coming-of-age ...
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Amarcord Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Parade of Unforgettable Characters
By Steve Geise |
Federico Fellini’s films are widely perceived as an acquired taste, with their odd flights of fancy, peculiar characters and avoidance ...
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Still Walking Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Most Personal Film
By Steve Geise |
In the aftermath of his own mother’s death, director Hirokazu Kore-eda crafted his most personal film to date, a quiet ...
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Still Walking Criterion Collection DVD Review: A Masterpiece of Japanese Cinema
By Cinema Sentries |
Written by Greg Barbrick. Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Still Walking (2008) has just been issued as part of The Criterion ...
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