Certified Copy Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Certified Original
By Steve Geise |
An esteemed English author named James Miller (William Shimell) has written a book on the value of copies versus original ...
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Eclipse Series 32: Pearls of the Czech New Wave DVD Review: Gems Indeed
By Luigi Bastardo |
You never really know what to expect from the more “arty” contributions the world of international cinema has to offer ...
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3 Women Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: 2 Actresses Can’t Save 1 Film
By Gordon S. Miller |
Writer/producer/director Robert Altman’s 3 Women is powered by the standout performances of Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall playing two offbeat ...
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Island of Lost Souls (1932) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Of Monsters and Men
By Gordon S. Miller |
The first of many adaptations of H.G. Wells’ novel The Island of Dr. Moreau, Erle C. Kenton’s Island of Lost ...
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La haine Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Seething Portrait of a Vicious Cycle
By Dusty Somers |
The Film Mathieu Kassovitz’s 1995 triumph La haine doesn’t pull any punches — it’s right there in the title, which ...
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A Hollis Frampton Odyssey Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: An Essential Collection of Avant-Garde Treasures
By Dusty Somers |
The Films There isn’t much experimental film represented within the Criterion Collection library, but when the good folks there do ...
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Tiny Furniture Criterion Collection DVD Review: Lena Dunham’s Semi-Autobiographical Micro-Budget Mumblecore
By Cinema Sentries |
Written by handyguy Nearly every character in Tiny Furniture is annoying, irritating, exasperating - and that's exactly what makes the ...
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The Organizer Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Relevant in Today’s Political Climate
By Cinema Sentries |
Written by Lisa McKay The Organizer, a 1963 film from Italian director Mario Monicelli and one of this month’s new ...
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Late Spring Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Moving Look at a Family’s Season of Change
By Steve Geise |
Writer/director Yasujiro Ozu is widely regarded as one of the most important Japanese directors of all time, generally second only ...
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A Night to Remember (1958) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Stunning Presentation for a Genuine Classic
By Luigi Bastardo |
“I don’t think the Board of Trade regulations visualized this situation.” —Capt. Edward John Smith (Laurence Naismith), upon learning his ...
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The War Room Criterion Collection DVD Review: The Men Behind the Man from Hope
By Will McKinley |
It takes a lot to out-charisma Bill Clinton, but legendary political strategist James Carville does it in The War Room, ...
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David Lean Directs Noel Coward Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Four Distinctly British Films From a Fruitful Partnership
By Dusty Somers |
Before his name became synonymous with the widescreen epic, David Lean began his directorial career working closely with playwright Noël ...
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Dazed and Confused Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: An Authentic, Evocative Slice of Life
By Gordon S. Miller |
Set on the last day of school on May 28, 1976 in Austin, Texas, writer/director Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused ...
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A Night to Remember Criterion Collection DVD Review: The Best Film about the Titanic Disaster
By Greg Barbrick |
The 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic will be April 14, 2012, and it is being recognized with ...
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David Lean Directs Noel Coward Criterion Collection DVD Boxset Review: Box of Delights
By Steve Geise |
Although best remembered for his widescreen epics such as Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago, and The Bridge on the River ...
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Letter Never Sent Blu-ray Criterion Collection Review: A Survival Flick from Russia?
By Luigi Bastardo |
A survival flick from Russia? Well, I suppose if there was one civilization that has learned to adapt, it was ...
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Anatomy of a Murder Criterion Collection DVD Review: Anatomy of a Classic
By Luigi Bastardo |
Surprisingly, during all those years that I spent sitting in front of my television as a kid, watching one classic ...
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Letter Never Sent Criterion Collection DVD Review: Kalatozov’s Take on Man Vs. Nature
By Critical curmudgeon |
Russian director Mikhail Kalatozov and cinematographer Sergey Urusevsky only worked together on three films, but each has left an indelible ...
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The Last Temptation of Christ Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Still Controversial
By Steve Geise |
Nearly a quarter of a century ago, famed director Martin Scorsese sparked a firestorm of controversy via the release of ...
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Beauty and the Beast (1946) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Jean Cocteau Creates Magic
By Gordon S. Miller |
Jean Cocteau, a renaissance man of the arts, appears to be the first filmmaker to bring Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de ...
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Vanya on 42nd Street Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Timeless Theatrical Experiment
By Steve Geise |
Seemingly random individuals are filmed roaming the streets of New York’s Broadway area before separately converging on a dilapidated theater. ...
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Vanya on 42nd Street Criterion Collection DVD Review: Chronicling the Last Days of Multiple Eras
By Greg Barbrick |
As it turned out, Vanya On 42nd Street (1994) was the final film completed by legendary director Louis Malle. Although ...
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Tiny Furniture Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: One Character in Search of a Relationship
By Shawn Bourdo |
It’s important to start off with a confession. I love “coming of age” films. It’s a genre that never seems ...
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World on a Wire Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: The Nature of Unnatural Reality
By Steve Geise |
Two business colleagues at a supercomputer research facility are enjoying a pleasant conversation before one of them declares that he ...
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World on a Wire Criterion Collection DVD Review: A Superb Piece of Science Fiction
By Greg Barbrick |
What if everything you thought you knew was nothing but a fabrication? This is but one of the many themes ...
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Three Outlaw Samurai Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Genre-Defining Samurai Film
By Shawn Bourdo |
The Samurai genre and the Western are so closely tied by themes and storylines that it’s amazing the great Japanese ...
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Godzilla (1954) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: The King of Monsters is Back
By Todd Karella |
In 1954 one of the world's biggest monster movies was released to the big screen. Created and directed by Ishiro ...
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Three Outlaw Samurai Criterion Collection DVD Review: Three is the Magic Number
By Steve Geise |
When peasants stage an uprising against their greedy local magistrate, they find an unlikely ally in the form of a ...
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If…. Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Portrait of the Student as an Angry Young Man
By Gordon S. Miller |
Director Lindsay Anderson’s If…. is a film that catches the viewer off guard when its true intention is revealed and ...
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The Moment of Truth Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Heady Symphony of Sound and Image
By Dusty Somers |
The Film Francesco Rosi doesn’t waste his time on extraneous details in The Moment of Truth, a lean symphony of ...
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Godzilla (1954) The Criterion Collection DVD Review: The Legendary Monster Makes its Debut
By generaljabbo |
In 1954, Japan was still reeling from the effects of the World War II atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ...
Read More Belle de Jour Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: How Severine Got Her Groove Back
By Steve Geise |
A young, wealthy housewife goes for a horse-drawn carriage ride in the idyllic French countryside with her dashing husband. So ...
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Traffic Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Thrilling and Uncompromising Look at the War on Drugs
By Dusty Somers |
The Film One of the predominant narratives used in describing Steven Soderbergh’s career is that he’s a director capable of ...
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Sabu! Criterion Collection DVD Review: Adventures With The Immensely Charming Child Star
By Dusty Somers |
Plucked from obscurity as an elephant handler in southern India and vaulted to international stardom largely by the efforts of ...
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Design For Living Criterion Collection DVD Review: The Pre-Codiest of the Pre-Codes
By Will McKinley |
When I was a guest on the Turner Classic Movies podcast last fall, I engaged in a bit of premeditated ...
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Solaris (1972) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Explorations in Outer and Inner Space
By Gordon S. Miller |
Director Andrei Tarkovsky used Stanislaw Lem’s 1961 science fiction novel Solaris as the basis for his story about a man ...
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Branded to Kill Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Legendary Piece of Cinema You Should Not Miss
By Shawn Bourdo |
I was born in 1967. And in the tradition of all petulant teenagers – I grew to have disdain for ...
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Kiss Me Deadly Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Pulp Science Fiction
By Gordon S. Miller |
When Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer debuted in I, Jury (1947) he was possibly the hardest of hardnosed detectives there was, ...
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Design for Living Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Delightfully Risque Pre-Hayes Code Romp
By Luigi Bastardo |
”It’s amazing how a few insults can bring people together in three hours.” ”It was certainly good to hear all ...
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America Lost and Found: The BBS Story Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review
By Gordon S. Miller |
The story told in Criterion’s The BBS Story box set is a major chapter in the output of producers Bob ...
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Tokyo Drifter The Criterion Collection DVD Review: A Blast of Swinging Tokyo
By Greg Barbrick |
Seijun Suzuki’s Tokyo Drifter (1966) is a delirious Pop Art explosion. Working under the yoke of the Japanese Nikkatsu Studio, ...
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Tokyo Drifter Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Style Over Substance
By Steve Geise |
Iconic director Seijun Suzuki’s film isn’t very impressive from a story standpoint, but is packed with wall-to-colorful-wall visual flair. It’s ...
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Branded to Kill Criterion Collection DVD Review: Suzuki’s Absurd Deconstruction of Yakuza Crime Films
By Greg Barbrick |
There has never been a crime film quite like this. Director Seijun Suzuki’s Branded To Kill (1967), did not merely ...
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Three Colors Trilogy Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. Forever
By Shawn Bourdo |
Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Three Colors Trilogy is a series of three films that were released in 1993 and 1994. ...
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The Rules of the Game (1939) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Jean Renoir, Je T’aime
By Luigi Bastardo |
I have no choice but to dismiss you. It breaks my heart, but I can’t expose my guests to your ...
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12 Angry Men Criterion Collection DVD Review: Explosive Drama in the Jury Room
By Greg Barbrick |
The stifling, claustrophobic feeling director Sidney Lumet perfected in films such as Dog Day Afternoon (1975), and Network (1976) was ...
Read More Identification of a Woman Criterion Collection DVD Review: Searching for a Way out of the Fog
By Darcy Staniforth |
Identification of A Woman is the story of Niccolo Farra (Tomas Milian) a middle-aged Italian filmmaker who is searching for ...
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Rushmore Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Wes Anderson’s Best Film Dazzles in High-Def
By Dusty Somers |
The Film By and large, there’s been quite a backlash against the films of Wes Anderson, and even though I’m ...
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Dazed and Confused Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Celebrating Being Caught Between Dreaming and Adulthood
By Shawn Bourdo |
Can one film ruin a genre? I guess you can look at it from two angles. Did Titanic ruin the ...
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Fanny & Alexander Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Bergman’s Documentary Trumps Feature Film
By Steve Geise |
As a newcomer to Fanny & Alexander, I was surprised to learn that the original format of the project was ...
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