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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 | Aug 17, 2013

Written by Kristen Lopez In 1942, the U.S. hadn't entered World War II and audiences were unaware of the horrific ...

Shoah Criterion Collection DVD Review: Superb Release of Haunting, Tragic Film

By Kent Conrad | Aug 16, 2013

Shoah is a film about trains. Inside its nearly 10 hours of running time, the image and movement of the ...

The Thin Red Line Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: An Impressive Movie

By Shawn Bourdo | Aug 8, 2013

There's something to be said about be prolific. Take Alfred Hitchcock's work for example - there are runs of three-four ...

The Ice Storm Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Person’s Body Is His Temple

By Critical curmudgeon | Aug 7, 2013

There is a moment in Ang Lee's The Ice Storm, now available on Criterion Collection Blu-ray, where the 14-year-old Mikey ...

3:10 To Yuma (1957) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: The High Cost of Living

By Gordon S. Miller | Jul 26, 2013

Though the story of a lone man standing up for what is right is a common Western motif, Delmer Daves' ...

Babette’s Feast Criterion Collection DVD Review: Eye- and Mouth-Watering Delights

By Mat Brewster | Jul 22, 2013

About once a month, we host a Foreign Film Night at our house. We invite a few friends over, we ...

Jubal Criterion Collection DVD Review: An Underrated Western Gem

By Cinema Sentries | Jul 21, 2013

Written by Brandie Ashe Delmer Daves' 1956 film Jubal is sometimes dismissed as simply a cowboy retelling of William Shakespeare's ...

Lord of the Flies (1963) Criterion Collection DVD Review: Lightning Struck Twice

By Greg Barbrick | Jul 20, 2013

William Golding was 43 years old when his first book was published. The year was 1954, and the title of ...

Lord of the Flies (1963) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: The Definitive Version of a Classic Text

By Cinema Sentries | Jul 17, 2013

Written by Kristen Lopez I vividly remember the Lord of the Flies unit in my seventh grade class. I'm not ...

The Life of Oharu Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Mizoguchi’s Breakthrough Masterpiece

By Dusty Somers | Jul 16, 2013

The Film The film that made Kenji Mizoguchi an international sensation and the first in a string of masterpieces that ...

The Life of Oharu Criterion Collection DVD Review: The Downward Spiral

By Steve Geise | Jul 12, 2013

While watching this film, I was reminded of another tale of a classy lady who gradually becomes marginalized: Anna Karenina. ...

Life Is Sweet Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Mike Leigh’s International Breakout

By Shawn Bourdo | Jul 2, 2013

Mike Leigh films can be comedies but you'd never put the phrase "light hearted" in front of that description. His ...

Brazil Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Dreams and Nightmares Courtesy of Terry Gilliam

By Gordon S. Miller | Jun 28, 2013

Terry Gilliam's dystopian classic Brazil, a film about a man fighting against an oppressive system, led to life imitating art ...

Safety Last! Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Time Is Money

By Critical curmudgeon | Jun 26, 2013

The matter of Harold Lloyd's lack of fame has been of much discussion over the years. He is often cited ...

Things to Come Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: An Overly Didactic Technical Marvel

By Dusty Somers | Jun 25, 2013

The Film An impressive technical achievement, even if its didacticism threatens to overwhelm all other elements, H.G. Wells' Things to ...

Safety Last! (1923) Criterion Collection DVD Review: A Silent Comedic Masterpiece

By Greg Barbrick | Jun 25, 2013

The three comedic geniuses of the silent film era were Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd. For various reasons, ...

By Steve Geise | Jun 21, 2013

You know how Game of Thrones gets really confusing with the various warring clans populated by so many characters that ...

Things To Come (1936) Criterion Collection DVD Review: An Unforgettable Piece of Cinematic History

By Greg Barbrick | Jun 19, 2013

H.G. Wells has had a number of books turned into classic films, including The Island of Lost Souls (1932), and ...

Medium Cool Criterion Collection DVD Review: The Theatrics of Observation and Social Crisis

By Critical curmudgeon | Jun 19, 2013

Filmmaker Haskell Wexler's Medium Cool walks the tender line between fiction and non-fiction, using the cinema vérité method to beg ...

By Critical curmudgeon | Jun 14, 2013

Mike Leigh's wonderful Life Is Sweet is less a film about something and more a film about the thrust of ...

Wild Strawberries Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Beautiful, Complex, Symbolic Film

By Mat Brewster | Jun 10, 2013

I am 37 years old. With luck, I'll live another 37 before I die. At the middle of my life, ...

Masaki Kobayashi Against the System DVD Review: Angry and Elegant Political Films

By Dusty Somers | Jun 7, 2013

Known for his exemplary samurai film Harakiri and three-part World War II humanist epic The Human Condition, Masaki Kobayashi wasn't ...

Jubal Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Shakespeare in the Wild West

By Luigi Bastardo | May 29, 2013

While traditional and contemporary adaptations of William Shakespeare's works have been coming and going since someone figured out how to ...

Medium Cool Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Living Document of America’s Rebellion

By Cinema Sentries | May 28, 2013

Written by Kristen Lopez The Criterion Collection presents a slice of American history with director/cinematographer Haskell Wexler's, Medium Cool. Filmed ...

3:10 to Yuma (1957) Criterion Collection DVD Review: You Gotta Trust Delmer Daves on This One

By Greg Barbrick | May 22, 2013

The opening shot of 3:10 to Yuma (1957) sets the film up as perfectly as anything I have ever seen. ...

Pierre Etaix: Criterion Collection DVD Review: Affordable Pricelessness

By Luigi Bastardo | May 20, 2013

For many of the "average" citizens living within the confines of the continental United States of America, the concept of ...

Band of Outsiders Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: An Odd, Wonderfully Fun Film from the French New Wave

By Mat Brewster | May 10, 2013

During the 1950s a number of film critics began to criticize French cinema. It was too traditional, too literal, too ...

Pierre Etaix Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Bringing Etaix’s World to Life

By Critical curmudgeon | May 8, 2013

“The defining characteristic of comic cinema,” says French comic, clown and filmmaker Pierre Etaix, “is that it begins with a ...

By Dusty Somers | May 7, 2013

The Film The last of Laurence Olivier's three Shakespeare adaptations, Richard III is unquestionably one of the great Shakespeare films, ...

Richard III (1955) Criterion Collection DVD Review: A Tremendous Film

By Greg Barbrick | Apr 24, 2013

One of the most striking aspects of the newly restored Richard III (1955) is its magnificent use of color. As ...

Repo Man Criterion Collection DVD Review: Punk All Over

By Greg Barbrick | Apr 16, 2013

The seamy underbelly of Los Angeles has been explored in numerous films over the years. A few of my favorites ...

Ministry of Fear Criterion Collection DVD Review: (Don’t) Let Them Eat Cake

By Cinema Sentries | Apr 14, 2013

Written by Brandie Ashe Stephen Neale, a handsome young Brit, stares at a clock on the wall, counting down the ...

Gate of Hell Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Not Quite Heavenly, but Far from Hellish

By Steve Geise | Apr 12, 2013

Celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, this Oscar-winning Japanese film has fallen off the radar over the past few decades ...

Umberto D. Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: An Old Man and His Dog

By Gordon S. Miller | Apr 12, 2013

One of the last great films from the Italian neorealism movement, Vittorio De Sica's Umberto D. focuses on the struggles ...

Pier Paolo Pasolni’s Trilogy of Life Criterion Collection DVD Review: Make Mine Bunuel

By Luigi Bastardo | Apr 2, 2013

As one of those individuals that became the slightly pretentious artsy-fartsy feller during his teenage years whilst growing up in ...

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: It’s a Man’s Life in the Formerly Modern Army

By Gordon S. Miller | Mar 30, 2013

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp is epic in scope, though not scale, as ...

Badlands Criterion Collection DVD Review: An Exploration of Isolation, Realism, Self-Image, and Violence

By Critical curmudgeon | Mar 28, 2013

Terrence Malick's debut explores isolation, realism, self-image, and violence with the filmmaker's lyrical elegance, setting the footing for an opus ...