Medium Cool Criterion Collection DVD Review: The Theatrics of Observation and Social Crisis
By Critical curmudgeon |
Filmmaker Haskell Wexler's Medium Cool walks the tender line between fiction and non-fiction, using the cinema vérité method to beg ...
Read More Life Is Sweet Criterion Collection DVD Review: The Chocolate Thrust of Life Itself
By Critical curmudgeon |
Mike Leigh's wonderful Life Is Sweet is less a film about something and more a film about the thrust of ...
Read More 
Wild Strawberries Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Beautiful, Complex, Symbolic Film
By Mat Brewster |
I am 37 years old. With luck, I'll live another 37 before I die. At the middle of my life, ...
Read More 
Masaki Kobayashi Against the System DVD Review: Angry and Elegant Political Films
By Dusty Somers |
Known for his exemplary samurai film Harakiri and three-part World War II humanist epic The Human Condition, Masaki Kobayashi wasn't ...
Read More 
Jubal Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Shakespeare in the Wild West
By Luigi Bastardo |
While traditional and contemporary adaptations of William Shakespeare's works have been coming and going since someone figured out how to ...
Read More
Medium Cool Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Living Document of America’s Rebellion
By Cinema Sentries |
Written by Kristen Lopez The Criterion Collection presents a slice of American history with director/cinematographer Haskell Wexler's, Medium Cool. Filmed ...
Read More 
3:10 to Yuma (1957) Criterion Collection DVD Review: You Gotta Trust Delmer Daves on This One
By Greg Barbrick |
The opening shot of 3:10 to Yuma (1957) sets the film up as perfectly as anything I have ever seen. ...
Read More 
Pierre Etaix: Criterion Collection DVD Review: Affordable Pricelessness
By Luigi Bastardo |
For many of the "average" citizens living within the confines of the continental United States of America, the concept of ...
Read More 
Band of Outsiders Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: An Odd, Wonderfully Fun Film from the French New Wave
By Mat Brewster |
During the 1950s a number of film critics began to criticize French cinema. It was too traditional, too literal, too ...
Read More
Pierre Etaix Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Bringing Etaix’s World to Life
By Critical curmudgeon |
“The defining characteristic of comic cinema,” says French comic, clown and filmmaker Pierre Etaix, “is that it begins with a ...
Read More Richard III Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Ravishing Technicolor Beauty
By Dusty Somers |
The Film The last of Laurence Olivier's three Shakespeare adaptations, Richard III is unquestionably one of the great Shakespeare films, ...
Read More 
Richard III (1955) Criterion Collection DVD Review: A Tremendous Film
By Greg Barbrick |
One of the most striking aspects of the newly restored Richard III (1955) is its magnificent use of color. As ...
Read More 
Repo Man Criterion Collection DVD Review: Punk All Over
By Greg Barbrick |
The seamy underbelly of Los Angeles has been explored in numerous films over the years. A few of my favorites ...
Read More 
Ministry of Fear Criterion Collection DVD Review: (Don’t) Let Them Eat Cake
By Cinema Sentries |
Written by Brandie Ashe Stephen Neale, a handsome young Brit, stares at a clock on the wall, counting down the ...
Read More 
Gate of Hell Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Not Quite Heavenly, but Far from Hellish
By Steve Geise |
Celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, this Oscar-winning Japanese film has fallen off the radar over the past few decades ...
Read More 
Umberto D. Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: An Old Man and His Dog
By Gordon S. Miller |
One of the last great films from the Italian neorealism movement, Vittorio De Sica's Umberto D. focuses on the struggles ...
Read More 
Pier Paolo Pasolni’s Trilogy of Life Criterion Collection DVD Review: Make Mine Bunuel
By Luigi Bastardo |
As one of those individuals that became the slightly pretentious artsy-fartsy feller during his teenage years whilst growing up in ...
Read More 
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 |
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp is epic in scope, though not scale, as ...
Read More 
Badlands Criterion Collection DVD Review: An Exploration of Isolation, Realism, Self-Image, and Violence
By Critical curmudgeon |
Terrence Malick's debut explores isolation, realism, self-image, and violence with the filmmaker's lyrical elegance, setting the footing for an opus ...
Read More 
Ugetsu Criterion Collection DVD Review: What Price Desire?
By Gordon S. Miller |
Kenji Mizoguchi is considered one of the masters of Japanese cinema, striking a balance between the contemplation of Ozu and ...
Read More
Badlands Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Birth of a Legend
By Steve Geise |
Forty years ago, writer/director Terrence Malick's first feature film announced the arrival of an important new voice. Through the ensuing ...
Read More 
The Blob (1958) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: An Oldie but Goodie Returns in High Def
By Mark Buckingham |
Watching The Blob (1958) and then watching The Blob (1988) reveals much about how American culture changed over three decades. ...
Read More 
The Kid with a Bike Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Another Major Work from the Dardennes
By Dusty Somers |
The Film It's time for yet another reminder to be grateful for the Dardennes, those Belgian masters of unmatched cinematic ...
Read More 
Being John Malkovich Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich
By Gordon S. Miller |
In Being John Malkovich, the brilliant feature-film debut of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze, an unhappily married couple ...
Read More 
Sansho the Bailiff Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: The Ties That Bind
By Steve Geise |
Based on the movie title, one would expect Sansho to be the main character. One would be wrong. In fact, ...
Read More 
Chronicle of a Summer Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Fascinating Glimpse into Paris in 1960
By Mat Brewster |
I have very recently decided to become a full-blown Francophile. My wife is one. and while I've stuck my toes ...
Read More 
The Ballad of Narayama Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Kinoshita’s Kabuki Theatre Envisions Ubasute
By Critical curmudgeon |
The concept of ubasute is at the centre of The Battle of Narayama, the 1958 film by Japanese director Keisuke ...
Read More 
Pina Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Striking Elegy for an Artistic Giant
By Dusty Somers |
The Film Wim Wenders' gorgeous and touching tribute to modern dance pioneer Pina Bausch is a film birthed out of ...
Read More 
Following Criterion Collection DVD Review: Glimpse a Genius Just Finding His Voice
By Shawn Bourdo |
In 1999, a 28-year-old Christopher Nolan couldn't possibly have seen himself directing such big budget films like Inception and The ...
Read More 
Two-Lane Blacktop: Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Monte Hellman’s Masterpiece
By Luigi Bastardo |
As anyone who has ever experienced a truly awkward moment of puberty is well aware, growing up is an inevitable ...
Read More
Following Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Christopher Nolan’s Memorable Debut
By Gordon S. Miller |
Before creating his own following with the sensational Memento, Christopher Nolan made his feature-film directorial debut with Following. It is ...
Read More 
Ivan’s Childhood Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: War is Hell, but Looks Superb
By Steve Geise |
On the surface, this film might not seem to offer much enticement for viewing considering its decidedly downbeat subject matter ...
Read More 
The Tin Drum Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Schlöndorff’s German Fable
By Critical curmudgeon |
A dazzlingly dark and often very funny fable, The Tin Drum is a terrific motion picture. The 1979 film by ...
Read More
The Tin Drum Criterion Collection DVD Review: Familial Insanity Mirrors Nazi Germany
By Greg Barbrick |
For a film that won both the Palme d'Or and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, The Tin ...
Read More 
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) Criterion Collection DVD Review: See the Master of Suspense Invent Himself
By Mat Brewster |
In 1934, Alfred Hitchcock was not considered the great director we know him as today. Nor was he the Master ...
Read More 
Purple Noon Criterion Collection DVD Review: A Treat for the Eyes and a Test for the Nerves
By Jade Blackmore |
Purple Noon (Plein Soleil), Rene Clement's 1960 film based on Patricia Highsmith's novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, is more brooding ...
Read More
Purple Noon Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: The Talented Mr. Delon
By Steve Geise |
Remember The Talented Mr. Ripley? Director Anthony Minghella's 1999 adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's crime novel helped launch Jude Law to ...
Read More 
The Qatsi Trilogy: (Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, Naqoyqatsi) Criterion Collection DVD Review: Fans Should Be Very Pleased
By Greg Barbrick |
When Koyaanisqatsi (1983) came out, my girlfriend at the time talked me into seeing it with her. She was very ...
Read More
Trilogy of Life Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Three Films, Countless Tales
By Critical curmudgeon |
Italian filmmaker, poet, philosopher, writer, and sometimes actor Pier Paolo Pasolini has certainly generated his fair share of controversy. He's ...
Read More 
La Jetee / Sans Soleil Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Stay for the Stills, Run from the Motion
By Steve Geise |
Director Chris Marker's two most well-known works have been compiled into one Criterion release, but only one of them is ...
Read More 
Weekend (1967) Criterion Collection DVD Review: For the True Cinephile
By Cinema Sentries |
Written by Kristen Lopez I probably shouldn't have jumped at the first opportunity to review a film like Weekend (or ...
Read More 
Rashomon (1950) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Restoration Shows Improvements, Not Perfection
By Steve Geise |
If you're reading this review, chances are you're fully familiar with this classic film and just have two questions: how's ...
Read More 
Sunday Bloody Sunday Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: You Can’t Always Get What You Want
By Michelle Prather |
John Schlesinger's Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), the highly anticipated follow-up to Midnight Cowboy (1969) is an honest, often somber, account of what lovers will ...
Read More
Rashomon Criterion Collection DVD Review: The Best of the Best
By Greg Barbrick |
Director Akira Kurosawa (1919-1998) was known as “The Emperor” of Japanese film for a few reasons. For those he worked ...
Read More 
Rosemary’s Baby Criterion Collection DVD Review: A Masterful Film
By Greg Barbrick |
There have been countless movies that were either so shocking, or just captured the zeitgeist of the culture so well ...
Read More 
The Game (1997) Criterion Collection DVD Review: Edgy and Uneven, But It Grows on You
By Luigi Bastardo |
There's nothing taking time out of your everyday boring routine to play a fun game with your friends. In the ...
Read More 
Les Visiteurs du Soir Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Medieval Tale of Love and Fate
By Luigi Bastardo |
In late 1942, when the surreal French fantasy Les Visiteurs du Soir was first released in good ol' gai Paris, ...
Read More 
In the Mood for Love Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: An Astonishing Meditation on Longing
By Critical curmudgeon |
Wong Kar-wai's wonderful, stunning In the Mood for Love sparkles on Blu-ray thanks to Criterion Collection. The 2000 film, nominated ...
Read More 
The War Room Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Peek Behind the Campaign Curtain
By Gordon S. Miller |
While the campaigns for United States President seem to grow increasingly relentless with every cycle, especially in so-called battleground states, ...
Read More 
The Forgiveness of Blood Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Nik Full of Angst
By Steve Geise |
Remember Maria Full of Grace? Writer/director Joshua Marston's 2004 film about a Colombian drug mule garnered international acclaim and recognition ...
Read More
Recent Comments