Recommended Once upon a time in a land far, far away, there was a newborn baby girl named Ella. Usually in these sorts of stories, the fairy godmother doesn’t show up for a few chapters, but Lucinda (Vivica A
DVD Talk Collector Series One of the all-time great boxing movies, Body and Soul (1947) instantly became the template even for the great ones that followed. Champion and The Set-Up (both 1949) told similar stories, while The Harder They Fall (1956), also excellent, is practically a remake of Body and Soul only told from the perspective of a cynical publicist rather than the fighter. Body and …
Highly Recommended THE FILM: Please Note: The images used here are taken from promotional materials and stills provided by The Criterion Collection, not the Blu-ray edition under review. John Schlesinger’s followup to his acclaimed hit Midnight Cowboy (1969), though it didn’t win the Oscars and still isn’t as widely known or venerated as its predecessor, still stands as his best, most personal …
Recommended THE MOVIE: Please Note: The stills used here are taken from promotional materials not the Blu-ray edition under review. The chance to peer at the building blocks of a master filmmaker’s career, particularly when it is a heretofore little seen debut film, should generate much interest and even celebration, but at the same time, it’s best to temper one’s excitement and manage …
Skip It The Courier is a tired thriller, filled with tired actors playing tired characters, wrapped up in a tired story. There is exactly one scene in the movie where anyone looks like they’re making an effort, and it’s the only scene in the movie that’s memorable or interesting
DVD Talk Collector Series THE MOVIE: Please Note: The stills used here are taken from promotional materials and Criterion’s original 2002 DVD included in the package and not the Blu-ray edition under review.
Recommended The Lady Blu Ray Review Click onimage to view Blu-ray screenshot with 1080pResolution Read the entire review
Highly Recommended THE FILM: Please Note: The images used here are taken from promotional materials provided by Janus Films , not the Blu-ray edition under review. How might one go about transforming the rundown, low-rent districts, shipyards, and other workaday views in a non-tourist-attraction French port city into a visually lovely, sweet setting for a storybook-like political-fable film …
Highly Recommended THE MOVIE: Melancholia opens with a series of painterly images, accompanied by Wagner and presented in agonizingly slow motion. That presentation gives the otherwise befuddling tableaus a weight and significance that we don’t fully grasp–except for the final one, which encompasses nothing less than the end of the world
Highly Recommended THE FILM: Please Note: The screen captures used here are taken from promotional materials provided by Sony Pictures Classics, not the Blu-ray edition under review. It happens to the best of them, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’m talking about the “maturing” of some prominent, long-running filmmakers–John Waters, Pedro Almodovar, David Cronenberg–who started out as …