Speedy Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: The End of an Era
By Gordon S. Miller |
Not only is "Speedy" the title character played by Harold Lloyd in his last silent film and last appearance as ...
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The Immortal Story Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Marvel of Deep Emotion and Haunting Spareness
By Davy |
We all knew that Orson Welles was mad, but we also knew that he had the ability to make cinematic ...
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The In-Laws (1979) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: So Funny It Never Wears out Its Welcome
By Gordon S. Miller |
While there's a lot of hand-wringing and pearl-clutching that goes on whenever a sequel or remake is announced in Hollywood, ...
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La Chienne Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Early Renoir is a Delight
By Mat Brewster |
Life has not gone well for Maurice Legrand (Michel Simon). He works as a cashier for a hosiery company and ...
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Le Amiche Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Antonioni Drains the Passion from Melodrama
By Dusty Somers |
It's tempting to label Michelangelo Antonioni's fourth feature film Le Amiche a transitional work, as it shuns Neorealism and embraces ...
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The Naked Island Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: The Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
By Steve Geise |
Kaneto Shindo's film about the daily struggles of a poor farming family has one major hook: a total absence of ...
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Barcelona Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Innocent Imperialists Abroad
By Kent Conrad |
The first thing to get about Barcelona is the movie is sympathetic to its protagonists. Fred and Ted are cousins ...
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Brief Encounter Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Small but Poignant
By Mat Brewster |
Christ, David Lean knew how to compose a shot. I swear you could take all of his movies, put them ...
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The American Friend Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Tense Blend of Suspense and Character Study
By Davy |
There have been a few cinematic adaptations of famed author Patricia Highsmith's stories, such as 1951's Strangers on a Train, ...
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The Emigrants / The New Land Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Profound Cinematic Experience Like No Other
By Davy |
There have been many films about the dangerous journey of immigrants to America, the land of prosperity and new beginnings, ...
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Bitter Rice Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: The Beauty of the Downtrodden
By Steve Geise |
Long before Dino De Laurentiis was a noted Hollywood producer, he produced Italian films such as this 1949 drama. Interestingly, ...
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Night and the City Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Jules Dassin’s Marvelous London Noir
By Gordon S. Miller |
Based on the novel of the same name by Gerald Kersh, although director Jules Dassin claims never to have read ...
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Jellyfish Eyes Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Surprisingly Unsurprising
By Steve Geise |
The most surprising thing about unconventional artist Takashi Murakami's first feature-length directorial effort is that it is entirely conventional. Based ...
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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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A Special Day Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Special Performances from Italian Screen Legends
By Steve Geise |
The setup for this Italian film is deceptively simple, but belies the impact of the performances by its two stars, ...
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The Honeymoon Killers Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Striking Portrait of Isolation
By Dusty Somers |
The only film ever directed by opera composer Leonard Kastle, The Honeymoon Killers wears its influences on its sleeve, but ...
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Two Days, One Night Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Devastatingly Beautiful
By Mat Brewster |
In the industrial town of Seraing, Belgium, Sandra (Marion Cotillard) has been on sick leave from her manufacturing job after ...
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The French Lieutenant’s Woman Criterion Collection Review: Parallel Tales Rooted in Forbidden Passions
By Lorna Miller |
Based on the John Fowles novel, The French Lieutenant's Woman tells parallel tales rooted in forbidden passions and the complexity ...
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My Beautiful Laundrette Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: The Film Stands the Test of Time
By Davy |
When discussing some of the most influential LGBT films, Stephen Frears' 1985 modern classic My Beautiful Laundrette usually is one ...
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Limelight Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Chaplin’s Coda
By Shawn Bourdo |
My Chaplin journey hasn't been linear. I didn't start with the silent shorts and work my way through The Kid ...
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Here Is Your Life Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: An Engrossing and Enervating Debut
By Dusty Somers |
A film that's both engrossing and enervating at turns, Here is Your Life kicked off the feature-film career of Swedish ...
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The Killers (1946) / (1964) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: An Intriguing Double Feature
By Gordon S. Miller |
Like taking a comparative literature class, The Killers from the Criterion Collection offers a great opportunity to see how artists ...
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Five Easy Pieces Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: One Easy Role to Nicholson’s Stardom
By Steve Geise |
A year removed from his breakout supporting turn in Easy Rider, Jack Nicholson moved to headliner status in this 1970 ...
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The Friends of Eddie Coyle Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Crime, Lowkey, and Unsentimental
By Kent Conrad |
Released about a year after Coppola's crime epic, The Godfather, The Friends of Eddie Coyle was seen by some critics ...
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Odd Man Out Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Deft and Thrilling Storytelling
By Davy |
There have been many films about personal and conflicted crisis of conscience, such as American Beauty (1999), The Apostle (1997), ...
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A Brief History of Time Criterion Collection Review: A Quirky, Idiosyncratic Tribute
By Davy |
Everyone knows the story of Stephen Hawking, the iconic physicist, cosmologist, author, and director of research. They also know that ...
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The Thin Blue Line Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Paradigm Shift
By Shawn Bourdo |
Rarely do you watch a film and actually pinpoint where a genre actually changes. You watch Clerks or Pulp Fiction ...
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Gates of Heaven / Vernon, Florida Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Loving the Absurd
By Greg Barbrick |
“I love the absurd,” says Errol Morris in one of the extras on the new Criterion Collection Blu-ray edition of ...
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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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