Recommended The Movie: The 1933 romantic comedy Perfect Understanding , newly released on Blu Ray by the Cohen Film Collection, might best be described as a vanity project. Gloria Swanson performed double duty as actress and producer with this luxurious British production, resulting in an enjoyable yet quirky experiment. Swanson had a lot riding on Perfect Understanding .
Highly Recommended THE FILM Please Note: The images used here are from promotional materials and stills provided by The Criterion Collection , not the current Blu-ray edition under review. If one were forced (against one’s will, it would have to be) to pick and choose and split hairs among the near-uniformly excellent, inspired, and distinctive-visioned films of English writer-director Mike …
Highly Recommended The Film: Hayao Miyazaki didn’t have a grand future in mind when he originally created Totoro, one of plush toys, hash-tags , and enduring cameo appearances . He didn’t even really have a movie in his sights when he began the initial creative process: My Neighbor Totoro started out as a children’s book, a straightforward departure for the filmmaker after Nausicaa of the Valley …
Highly Recommended THE FILM Please Note: The images used here are stills provided by director Hal Hartley’s Possible Films website, not the current Blu-ray edition under review. Of all that the revival/re-release DVD/Blu-ray imprint Olive Films has given cinephiles to be ecstatically grateful for, its systematic, ongoing reissue, in carefully preserved and cleaned-up new editions, of the works …
Recommended Reviewed by Glenn Erickson In 1984 Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus kicked their production company Cannon Films upstairs into the big leagues, inking showy deals at Cannes. No more Breakin’ and Electric Boogaloo ; the high pressure team of Mo and Yo initiated projects with stars like Sally Fields and Julie Andrews, imported Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky and even took on a …
Rent It The Film: The Barretts are in the middle of a rough patch: while Lacy (Keri Russell) struggles to sell houses around their suburban neighborhood, namely fixer-upper opportunities, her unemployed husband, Daniel (Josh Hamilton), hunts for a coveted architecture position at a time when the pickings are slim. As lack-of-payment notices keep rolling in and their financial struggles hamper …
Recommended Pals of the Saddle (1938), the first of John Wayne’s eight “Three Mesquiteers” movies for Republic Pictures, B-Westerns he made during 1938-39, also happens to be the last released by Olive Films. Olive’s Blu-ray releases have consistently been outstanding, with these lowly little movies, pictures heretofore available only via public domain labels using horrifically bad video …
Recommended Boss Season 2 Blu-ray Review Click onan image to view the Blu-ray screenshotwith 1080p resolution Read the entire review
Rent It The Movie: The John Wayne melodrama Three Faces West is nothing if not timely, tackling issues of rural poverty, the dust bowl, European expatriots in the U.S., and the threat of fascism all within the span of 80 minutes. A product of Wayne’s longtime employers at Reupublic Pictures, the 1940 film arrives on DVD and Blu Ray as the latest in Olive Pictures’ line of handsomely reissued …
Rent It THE FILM: Click an image to view Blu-ray screenshot with 1080p resolution. I lamented the aging of steadfast movie hero Clint Eastwood in my review for Trouble with the Curve , and have similar feelings about Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin in Stand Up Guys . I guess it’s time to accept that my acting heroes are not getting any younger, and, particularly in Pacino’s case, it …