The Yellow Wallpaper (2021) Movie Review: Beautiful but Lacks the Horror
By Darcy Staniforth |
In 1890, Charlotte Perkins Gilman penned her story “The Yellow Wallpaper.” This feminist tale documents a woman named Jane’s battle ...
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Damn Yankees Blu-ray Review: Lola Wants (and Gets) 4K
By Elizabeth Periale |
How much do you love your favorite baseball team? Or, more accurately, how much do you hate the New York ...
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SXSW 2021 Movie Review: Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free
By Gordon S. Miller |
Mary Wharton's Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free opens with title cards revealing in 2020 a collection of 16 mm ...
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Born to Lead: Jim Calhoun Movie Review
By Rons Reviews |
As we head into the 2021 NCAA Men’s basketball tournament, it seems like a perfect time for the documentary, Born ...
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SXSW 2021 Movie Review: Alien On Stage: Unlikely Heroes Played by Even Unlikelier Heroes
By Mark Buckingham |
The movie Alien is defined by a number of characteristics -- high tension, elaborate special effects, a grim tone, and ...
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SXSW 2021 Movie Review: ‘Language Lessons’ Reminds Us of the Value of Connection
By Matthew St.Clair |
Given how it’s been a year since the COVID-19 pandemic happened, the thought of watching an entire film involving people ...
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Baby Doll Blu-ray Review: Let’s Play House, Baby
By Joe Keaton |
Scripted by playwright Tennessee Williams, who got sole credit for this adaptation of two of his shorter plays, “Twenty-Seven Wagons ...
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SXSW 2021 Movie Review: ‘See You Then’ Is a Vital and Intimate Telling of Womanhood
By Matthew St.Clair |
For a short, 74-minute movie about two old flames reuniting over the course of one night, See You Then manages ...
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SXSW 2021 Movie Review: ‘Potato Dreams of America’ Is Imaginatively Profound
By Matthew St.Clair |
Queer youth goes on a journey of self-discovery while concealing their identity out of fear. A simple story that we’ve ...
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Southland Tales Blu-ray Review: Strange but Strangely Compelling
By Kent Conrad |
Stepping in through the door right when the millennium was opening up and carrying with it a sense of doom ...
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Touki bouki Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Deserves to be Seen and Discovered
By Davy |
I must admit that African cinema usually goes way over my head. I mostly gloss over it in favor of ...
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Crossfire (1947) Blu-ray Review: Film Noir with a Message
By Mat Brewster |
Crossfire, Edward Dmytryk's 1947 film which crosses classic noir tropes with an anti-racist message, is now getting a nice-looking Blu-ray ...
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The Parallax View Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: The Second Entry in Pakula’s Political Paranoia Trilogy
By Gordon S. Miller |
Based on Loren Singer's 1970 novel of the same name, Alan J. Pakula's The Parallax View is the second entry ...
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On-Gaku: Our Sound Movie Review: A Lo-fi Delight
By Mat Brewster |
On-Gaku: Our Sound is a lo-fi animated treat from director Kenji Iwaisawa about a trio of high school delinquents who ...
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Smooth Talk Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Teen’s Roller Coaster Ride from Innocence to Harsh Reality
By Elizabeth Periale |
1985's Smooth Talk, directed by Joyce Chopra (Murder in a Small Town, The Lemon Sisters, Blonde), follows restless teenager Connie ...
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Laurel or Hardy: Early Solo Films of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy Blu-ray Review
By Gordon S. Miller |
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are a legendary comedy duo that had international success with both their silent and sound ...
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The Vigil Movie Review: A Minimalist Exercise in Paralyzing Grief
By Matthew St.Clair |
A limited setting, an ominous score, and a “things go bump in the night” storyline. All are three simple yet ...
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Crisis (2021) Movie Review: Surprisingly Disappointing
By David Wangberg |
With heavy inspiration drawn from movies like Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic, Nicholas Jarecki’s Crisis takes a look at America’s addiction to ...
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On Moonlight Bay Blu-ray Review: Day and MacRae Play on the Bay
By Steve Geise |
Booth Tarkington is most famously remembered as the author of the Pulitzer Prize winning novels The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice ...
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Lady Sings the Blues Blu-ray Review: Good Morning Heartache
By Joe Keaton |
Allow me to state this upfront: In Lady Sings the Blues (1972; dir. Sidney J. Furie), Diana Ross gives a ...
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Scooby-Doo! The Sword and the Scoob DVD Review
By Shawn Bourdo |
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided the writer with a free copy of the DVD reviewed in this Blog Post. The ...
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Chop Shop Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Miracle of Independent Cinema
By Davy |
With his wonderful 2005 Man Push Cart, filmmaker Ramin Bahrani beautifully captured the grim circumstances of being an immigrant in ...
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Man Push Cart Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Essential Cinema
By Davy |
Foreigners in a foreign land express the often grim, depressing, but sometimes hopeful studies of immigrants desperate to survive a ...
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JSA: Joint Security Area Blu-ray Review: Death on the DMZ
By Kent Conrad |
There's only one place along the Korean DMZ that soldiers from the North and South stand across from one another, ...
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Pretty in Pink (35th Anniversary) Movie Review: Still Pretty, Still (Very) Pink
By Elizabeth Periale |
Pretty in Pink turns 35 this year. It was a peak '80s film - featuring teen romance, members of the ...
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Mandabi Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Unexpected Money Leads to Lots of Problems
By David Wangberg |
One of the things that Ousmane Sembène’s second feature film does that so few films do is, take lesser-known actors ...
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San Francisco Blu-ray Review: The King of the Barbary Coast Finds His Queen
By Joe Keaton |
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 is the backdrop for this handsomely mounted 1936 MGM production, which spends far too ...
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The Last Starfighter Blu-ray Review: Tailor Made for 1980s Gamers
By Mat Brewster |
As a kid growing up in the 1980s, I loved video games. In the summer, my cousins and I would ...
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Malcolm & Marie Movie Review: A Frustratingly Distressing Acting Showcase
By Matthew St.Clair |
Malcolm & Marie, the new Netflix drama starring John David Washington and Zendaya as our titular couple whose relationship is ...
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Jack and the Beanstalk (1952) Blu-ray Review: Abbott and Costello Meet the Giant
By Mat Brewster |
When I was a kid, my uncle and cousins were all huge Three Stooges fans. I much preferred Abbott and ...
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Beautiful Girls (25th Anniversary) Movie Review: Love in the ’90s
By Elizabeth Periale |
Miramax is releasing 1996's Beautiful Girls on digital for its 25th anniversary on February 9 and DVD on February 23. ...
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Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone Blu-ray Review
By Gordon S. Miller |
Timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the The Godfather Part III , director/producer/co-writer Francis Ford Coppola recut the ...
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Tremors (1990) 4K Ultra HD Review: Monster Movie in Perfection
By Kent Conrad |
Tremors takes place in a town called Perfection (population: 14). It’s an ironic name, because the only thing perfect about ...
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More Than Miyagi: The Pat Morita Story Movie Review
By Rons Reviews |
Whether you knew him from Sanford and Son, Happy Days, The Karate Kid films, or the many other characters the ...
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Sundance 2021 Review: Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
By Gordon S. Miller |
During the summer of 1969, a remarkable music festival was held in New York that featured some of the world's ...
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The Go-Go’s Movie Review: Girls Rock. Duh.
By Elizabeth Periale |
The Go-Go's documentary, which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and won two awards, “Best Music Documentary” and “Most Compelling ...
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Sundance 2021 Review: Playing with Sharks
By Gordon S. Miller |
Playing with Sharks tells the story of Valerie (Hayes) Taylor, an amazing marine/shark conservationist. Well known in her home country ...
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The Court Jester Blu-ray Review: Danny Kaye Stars in a Comic Masterpiece
By Gordon S. Miller |
Paramount Pictures' The Court Jester, a grand musical comedy that showcases the talents of its star Danny Kaye, is a ...
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Tesla (2020) Blu-ray Review: Electrifying
By David Wangberg |
To call Michael Almereyda’s Tesla an unconventional biopic would be an understatement. It’s an oddball and brazen approach to the ...
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Sundance 2021 Review: ‘Ma Belle, My Beauty’ Is a Simple and Exotic Polyamorous Romance
By Matthew St.Clair |
Historically, cinema has had a fixation with monogamous two-person couples and love triangles involving two people vying for the affections ...
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Sundance 2021 Review: Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It
By Gordon S. Miller |
Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It tells the fascinating story of the triumphs and tragedies ...
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Sundance 2021 Review: ‘Censor’ Is a Perceptive Fever Dream
By Matthew St.Clair |
When you’re deeply unsatisfied with the job that you have, it can feel like your soul is being crushed. Especially ...
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Survivor Ballads: Three Films by Shohei Imamura Blu-ray Review: Stories of Hardship and Endurance
By Kent Conrad |
Shohei Imamura was one of the grandmasters of Japanese cinema in the second half of the 20th century. His first ...
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Saint Maud Movie Review: A Devilishly Terrific Directorial Debut
By Matthew St.Clair |
Typically, horror films centering on young women in peril involve them being put in a group that gets picked off ...
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My Rembrandt Movie Review: Portraits of Obsession
By Elizabeth Periale |
Strand Releasing has released the art world documentary My Rembrandt, which opened in theaters on January 22, 2021 and is ...
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The Pajama Game Blu-ray Review: Fosse Rising
By Joe Keaton |
The Pajama Game (1957) is very much of its time. That’s part of its charm. Adapted from a hit Broadway ...
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Batman: Soul of the Dragon Blu-ray Review: Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting
By Gordon S. Miller |
Batman: Soul of the Dragon is the 41st film in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line. Under their Elseworlds ...
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Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review
By Gordon S. Miller |
Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue tour was in support of his album Desire, released January 5, 1976 between the two ...
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The Ascent Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Larisa Shepitko’s Masterpiece
By Davy |
The Ukranian-born Larisa Shepitko (one of the greatest female filmmakers of all-time) had only made a few features and short ...
Read More Joint Security Area Blu-ray Review: Friendship and Murder in the DMZ
By Mat Brewster |
I first came to Park Chan-wook's films, like I suspect a lot of other Americans did, through Oldboy, his 2003 masterwork ...
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