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 Elizabeth Periale |
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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Crash (1996) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: An Anti-Erotic Film
By Kent Conrad |
"Prophecy is dirty and ragged", says Vaughan, while complaining about the cleanliness of the tattoo he gets on his chest. ...
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Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Two Takes Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review
By Davy |
As a passionately dedicated lover of film, I really enjoy that not every film has to be a cliche, meaning ...
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Mouchette Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: So Beautiful, So Sad
By Mat Brewster |
The opening scene to Mouchette, Robert Bresson's 1967 drama, finds a young man tying little loops of wire to branches ...
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The Irishman (2019) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Welcome Addition to Martin Scorsese’s Filmography
By Gordon S. Miller |
Martin Scorsese's epic The Irishman makes a fitting bookend to his gangster films as one mobster tells his story while ...
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The Hit Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Gem of Film by Stephen Frears
By Davy |
The action film always comes with cliches, meaning that they usually contain car chases, explosions, and non-stop action. Sometimes these ...
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Parasite (2019) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Rich Fam, Poor Fam
By David Wangberg |
One of the hardest things for a filmmaker to do is blend multiple genres together and do it so seamlessly. ...
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The Gunfighter Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: The Price of Fame
By Gordon S. Miller |
Set in the Southwest Territory of the 1880s, a Texan named Jimmy Ringo (Gregory Peck) was known the fastest gun. ...
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Claudine Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Ahead of Its Time
By Davy |
In the 1970s, the blaxploitation genre of film exploded, and it was usually centered on stories of masculine black men, ...
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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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Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project No. 3 Criterion Collection Box Set Review
By Steve Geise |
Legendary writer/director and noted film buff Martin Scorsese established The Film Foundation's World Cinema Project in 2007 to restore and ...
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Christ Stopped at Eboli Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Emotionally Captivating
By David Wangberg |
Listed as one of the 1,001 movies you need to see before you die, Christ Stopped at Eboli is a film of ...
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Beau Travail Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Mysterious, Haunting, and Transformative
By Davy |
The great and visionary director Claire Denis is one the greatest cinematic poets of our time. She's a provocative and ...
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Toni Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: An Influential French Drama
By Mat Brewster |
In 1934, acclaimed French director Jean Renoir left the studio in Paris and headed for the countryside in the south ...
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Town Bloody Hall Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Verbal Battle of the Sexes
By Davy |
Documentaries, more than any other category of film, successfully (or sometimes unsuccessfully) captures reality at its most uncomfortable means. Whatever ...
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The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Angela Winkler Is Sensational
By Davy |
In today's uncivilized world where humanity comes second (or dead last) to politics and where the police take the law ...
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Taste of Cherry Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Not to Everyone’s Taste
By Steve Geise |
Abbas Kiarostami's understated film won the prestigious Palme d'Or Award at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, leading to its initial ...
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Marriage Story Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Emotionally Brutal and Full of Life
By Davy |
I'm not an expert on marriage, but seeing many films about it, I guess I can at least say that ...
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Portrait of a Lady on Fire Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Burning Bright
By Steve Geise |
Writer/director Celine Sciamma's latest film is both exhilarating and depressing: spellbinding because of its absolute excellence and disheartening because it ...
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The Cameraman Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Star Begins to Fade
By Gordon S. Miller |
Although a talented filmmaker, Buster Keaton wasn't a great business man and his box-office struggles caused him to sign on ...
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An Unmarried Woman Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Bold and Groundbreaking
By Davy |
As I mentioned in my Pick of the Week recently, the 1970s were a very pivotal time for women. There was the ...
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When We Were Kings Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Marvelous Time Capsule of Muhammad Ali in 1974
By Gordon S. Miller |
Leon Gast's When We Were Kings documents the "Rumble in the Jungle," the legendary boxing match between undefeated heavyweight champion George Foreman ...
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Matewan Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Labor Pains
By Gordon S. Miller |
John Sayles' Matewan is a dramatization of the Matewan massacre (1920), a battle that took place in the town of Matewan, West ...
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Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Intro to Italian Neorealism 101
By Gordon S. Miller |
In reaction to what many were experiencing in Italy under Mussolini and after World War II, the Italian neorealism movement ...
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Three Fantastic Journeys by Karel Zeman Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Trips Worth Taking
By Gordon S. Miller |
I've been a big fan of movies for most of my 50-odd years on this planet and have enjoyed a ...
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Antonio Gaudí Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Tone Poem of Gaudí, Barcelona, and Art
By Elizabeth Periale |
Antonio Gaudí, a film by Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara (1927-2001), is a tone poem of Gaudí, Barcelona, and art - ...
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Charade Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: An Enjoyable Film
By Gordon S. Miller |
While the bloated excess of Cleopatra (1963) bankrupted 20th Century Fox and helped bring an end to the Classic Hollywood ...
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Teorema Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Pasolini’s Most Accessible Work
By Davy |
The late director Pier Paolo Pasolini was a very controversial filmmaker to begin with. His often taboo-breaking subject matter didn't ...
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Tunes of Glory Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: An Acting Tour de Force
By Mat Brewster |
I have been on a bit of an Alec Guinness kick of late. He's an actor I knew and loved ...
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Old Joy Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Quite Reflective and Moving
By Davy |
Director Kelly Reichardt has become one of my favorite directors. She is one of the very few maverick filmmakers of ...
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All About Eve Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: All the World’s a Stage
By Steve Geise |
Best Picture Oscar winners don't always age well, but as All About Eve approaches its 70th anniversary, it's every bit as entertaining ...
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Now, Voyager Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Superior Tearjerker
By Davy |
With her saucer eyes, unparalled intensity, and unbridled non-vanity, Bette Davis has been and still is regarded as one of ...
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The Circus Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: The Tramp Plays the Big Top
By Gordon S. Miller |
Made between his classic films The Gold Rush and City Lights, Charlie Chaplin's The Circus presents an entertaining outing for the Tramp who once again ...
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Polyester Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: John Waters’ First Big-Budget Film
By Jade Blackmore |
Polyester, John Waters' first big budget, mainstream film, was released by in 1981 by New Line Cinema. Its $300,000 budget ...
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Shampoo Criterion Collection Review: Long Hair Don’t Care
By Joe Keaton |
Few films capture the mood of late '60s Los Angeles quite like Shampoo does; and few films of the '70s—that hallowed, so-called ...
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The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Gentle Ozu Comedy
By Kent Conrad |
The first thing to get used to in an Ozu film is the camera perspective. He never (or at least ...
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The Koker Trilogy Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: The Rise of Abbas Kiarostami
By Steve Geise |
This series of Iranian films is a trilogy in only the loosest sense, as they don't share overlapping casts or ...
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The BRD Trilogy Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Fassbinder at His Best
By Mat Brewster |
When World War II ended, Germany was due a reckoning. As a nation, they had to come to terms not ...
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