An Autumn Afternoon Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Master’s Final Masterpiece
By Dusty Somers |
Before he died of cancer on his 60th birthday in 1963, Yasujiro Ozu left us with one final masterpiece in ...
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Young Mr. Lincoln Criterion Collection DVD Review: Ford’s Greatest Overlooked Film
By Greg Barbrick |
Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) may be the greatest overlooked film John Ford (1894 - 1973) ever made. To call a ...
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The Vanishing (1988) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Thriller as Character Study
By Kent Conrad |
The missing person is the greatest motif of the mystery story. Even if the murder story is more common (and ...
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The Night Porter Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Nazi Love Story
By Mat Brewster |
Normally I'd say that the space between True Art and exploitation is wide and wandering, but if The Night Porter ...
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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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AFI Fest 2014 Review: Two Days, One Night
By Gordon S. Miller |
After a brief absence from her solar-panel plant job, Sandra (Marion Cotillard) gets word on a Friday afternoon that she ...
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PlayTime Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Hulot vs. Modernization
By Davy |
As we film buffs know the works of Chaplin, Godard, Dreyer, and Antonioni, we are able to see their versions ...
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All That Jazz Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Lord of the Dance
By Steve Geise |
Joe Gideon is tired. Tired of women, tired of choreography, tired of drugs, and yet inexplicably driven to continue pursuing ...
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Insomnia (1997) Criterion Collection Review: An Influential Thriller
By Shawn Bourdo |
I sat down to write this upon the day of hearing of the passing of Robin Williams. He took a ...
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Persona Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: An Absolute Must Have
By Mat Brewster |
Everyone agrees that Ingmar Bergman is one of the greatest director's of world cinema. Almost no one disagrees that his ...
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Persona (1966) Criterion Collection Review: Chilling, Strange, and Metaphysical
By Davy |
In my own opinion, no other film in history has garnered so much critical analysis as Ingmar Bergman's 1966 masterpiece, ...
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Hearts and Minds (1974) Criterion Collection Review: A Riveting Documentary of the Vietnam War
By Greg Barbrick |
The Academy Award-winning Hearts and Minds is the most riveting war documentary I have ever seen. The raw footage and ...
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Like Someone in Love Criterion Collection Review: An Authentic Illusion
By Cinema Sentries |
Written by S. Edward Sousa Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kariostami has spent a lifetime constructing films meant to blur the line ...
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Riot in Cell Block 11 Criterion Collection DVD Review: Stuck in Folsom Prison
By Critical curmudgeon |
Directed by Don Siegel, the 1954 movie Riot in Cell Block 11 offers a gritty, authentic look at the prison ...
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Il Sorpasso Criterion Collection Review: An Endearing, Incisive Road Movie
By Dusty Somers |
The comedy of Dino Risi's road movie Il Sorpasso hums along beautifully, just like the gorgeous Lancia Aurelia convertible one ...
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Master of the House Criterion Collection DVD Review: As Boring as it is Important
By Mat Brewster |
As a self-confessed film buff, I have to admit that my knowledge is severely lacking when it comes to silent ...
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The Hidden Fortress Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: The Gold Standard
By Steve Geise |
A long time ago in a country far, far away, esteemed director Akira Kurosawa filmed a grand adventure that took ...
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Kagemusha Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: And a Thief Shall Lead Them
By Gordon S. Miller |
From his debut as a director with Sanshiro Sugata (1943) through to Red Beard (1965), director Akira Kurosawa averaged releasing ...
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Ran Criterion Collection DVD Review: Akira Kurosawa’s Final Masterpiece
By Gordon S. Miller |
Ran is Kurosawa's last masterpiece from a man who made many. He made three more films afterwards, but none came ...
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Tess Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Polanski’s Vision of Victorian England
By Greg Barbrick |
Tess is an unforgettable film, and one of the finest of Roman Polanski's career. The fact that it lost to ...
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King of the Hill (1993) Criterion Collection Review: Soderbergh Goes Mainstream (Or Does He?)
By Dusty Somers |
For those who insist on dividing Steven Soderbergh's filmography into the reductive “one for me” and “one for them” categories, ...
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Fantastic Mr. Fox Criterion Collection Review: It is Quote-Unquote Fantastic
By Mat Brewster |
Like most great directors, Wes Anderson has created a very distinctive style for his films. They live in a world ...
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Naked Lunch Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Enter the Interzone
By Gordon S. Miller |
By incorporating elements of William S. Burroughs' life into the screenplay, David Cronenberg's Naked Lunch is not a straight adaptation ...
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Jules and Jim Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Seminal French New Wave Love Triangle
By Greg Barbrick |
The greatest literature is often inspired by true events, and the story behind Francois Truffaut's Jules and Jim (1962) is ...
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The Long Day Closes Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Terence Davies’ Personal Vision of Liverpool
By Critical curmudgeon |
Terence Davies plumbs his Liverpool upbringing in 1992's brilliantly dense The Long Day Closes, a film that is as much ...
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La vie de bohème Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Aki Kaurismäki Does Tragedy and Comedy Equally Well
By Dusty Somers |
The Film Finnish great Aki Kaurismäki's take on Paris bohemian life, La vie de bohème, doesn't end well for its ...
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Grey Gardens (1976) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: An S-T-A-U-N-C-H Classic
By Dusty Somers |
The Film A landmark in documentary filmmaking and possibly the most well known work from the school of direct cinema, ...
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City Lights Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Well Received and Slightly Defiant
By Shawn Bourdo |
The Criterion Collection has returned to the well again this month. They are releasing the fifth film in their Charlie ...
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The Uninvited (1944) Criterion Collection DVD Review: Who ‘Ya Gonna Call?
By Luigi Bastardo |
In today's era of mishmash horror moviemaking - wherein there's a new Paranormal Activity flick released every other year - ...
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John Cassavetes: Five Films Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Independent Spirit
By Steve Geise |
Whether or not you enjoy the directorial efforts of John Cassavetes, it's impossible to overlook his contribution to the rise ...
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I Married a Witch Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Veronica Lake Bewitches, Bothers, and Bewilders
By Cinema Sentries |
Written by Kristen Lopez Halloween may be over, but any time is a good time for a new Halloween classic ...
Read More La Notte Criterion Collection DVD Review: They Don’t Make ‘Em Like This Anymore
By Mark Buckingham |
La Notte is definitely a film from a different era where plots were not entirely clear until the third act, ...
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Blue Is the Warmest Color Movie Review: A Compelling Story About Love and Life
By Gordon S. Miller |
Abdellatif Kechiche's Blue Is the Warmest Color is a beautiful, coming-of-age story set over the course of about 10 years ...
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I Married a Witch Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Low on Magic, High on Fumes
By Critical curmudgeon |
Directed by René Clair, I Married a Witch is low on magic and high on fumes. Its major selling feature ...
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Eyes Without a Face Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Mesmerizing, Poetic Film
By Mat Brewster |
In the 1950s French critics and cultural purveyors thought that horror films were beneath them. Monsters and gore were not ...
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I Married a Witch Criterion Collection DVD Review: Truly Bewitching
By Greg Barbrick |
Forget Elizabeth Montgomery in Bewitched; the most beautiful witch of all time is Veronica Lake in I Married a Witch ...
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La Cage aux Folles Criterion Collection DVD Review: Classic French Farce Bliss
By Luigi Bastardo |
Eighteen years before the enjoyable-but-ultimately-uncalled-for remake, The Birdcage hit theater screens across the world, La Cage aux Folles first introduced ...
Read More 3 Films by Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: On the Verge of a New Cinematic World
By Dusty Somers |
The FilmsThough their collaborations were largely overshadowed by the scandal of their romance, Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman proved to ...
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3 Films by Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman Criterion Collection DVD Review: The Definitive Journey
By Greg Barbrick |
When Roberto Rossellini's Rome, Open City (1945) won the Grand Prize at Cannes in 1946, he was recognized as the ...
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La Cage aux Folles Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: “Utter Hell” to Make, Pure Heaven to Watch
By Critical curmudgeon |
Director Édouard Molinaro considered the making of his La Cage aux Folles as "utter hell," but it's hard not to ...
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The Earrings of Madame de … Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: The Direction of Max Ophuls Dazzles Like a Diamond
By Gordon S. Miller |
Director Max Ophuls' penultimate film The Earrings of Madame de ... is a classic French '50s melodrama that rivals its ...
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The Devil’s Backbone Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: One of Guillermo del Toro’s Most Personal Films
By Lorna Miller |
Guillermo del Toro is one of the most interesting directors currently making films because of his unique vision and style. ...
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Slacker Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Formally Fascinating, Warmly Hilarious Film
By Dusty Somers |
The FilmRichard Linklater's Slacker is a film that sounds like a doodle on paper, a fun little experiment from the ...
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Autumn Sonata Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Utterly Sad and Nearly Perfect
By Mat Brewster |
Our monthly Foreign Film Night is typically very sparsely attended. This is not unexpected as one cannot plan for a ...
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The Spy Who Came in from the Cold Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Masterfully Acted and Presented
By generaljabbo |
The 1960s Cold War era proved a fertile time for the spy movie genre. James Bond offered a glamorous, high-tech ...
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The Devil’s Backbone Criterion Collection DVD Review: Hell Is for Children
By Luigi Bastardo |
During the mid '90s, my fascination with all things foreign and artsy-like led me into the welcoming arms of two ...
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The Big City Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Girl Power
By Steve Geise |
Prior to The Big City, director Satyajit Ray had never tackled a contemporary project, choosing to focus on explorations of ...
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Charulata Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Indian Film, European Sensibility
By Steve Geise |
This is not a Bollywood film, at least not in the accepted modern-day definition of the term. Half a century ...
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Babette’s Feast Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Tale of Love, Life, and Food
By Luigi Bastardo |
Gabriel Axel's multiple award-winning film Babette's Feast takes place almost entirely in a tiny, remote, 19th century village somewhere near ...
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To Be or Not to Be (1942) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: You’ll Get a ‘Terrific Laugh’ Out of This One
By Cinema Sentries |
Written by Kristen Lopez In 1942, the U.S. hadn't entered World War II and audiences were unaware of the horrific ...
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