One of the pleasures of being a cinephile is watching a young filmmaker find their voice and get better as they make more movies. There’s something exciting in seeing potential in an artist early on and then seeing that promise fulfilled and hopefully exceeded. Writer/director Jane Schoenbrun first got noticed with 2021’s We’re All Going…
Trailers From Hell Guru Allan Arkush’s The Last Reel video essay series hits the open road! In 1968, Allan was 20 years old and yearning to be his own Jack Kerouac. He and his best friend hitchhiked across the country. This was reckless and ill-advised, but — to paraphrase Steppenwolf — they were looking for…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies, and many more, at Trailers From Hell. This week, a trio of movies about people who operate way outside the norm. There are crazy wine pairings to go with each. Maniac Cop is a 1988 slasher flick which the…
Like so many collectors, special CineSavant reviewer ‘B’ has been waiting forever for a decent disc of Frank and Eleanor Perry’s hard-to-forget 1969 film about three restless, careless teenagers idly summering on Fire Island. Beautifully restored on Blu-ray by The Warner Archive, it is back in circulation as few of us have seen it, in…
King Creole – 4K 1958 – 115 Min. – 1.78:1 Kino Lorber – 4K Blu-ray Starring Elvis Presley, Carolyn Jones, Dolores Hart Written by Herbert Baker, Michael V. Gazzo Directed by Michael Curtiz If you’ve never seen a movie or read a book, you might be surprised by the twists and turns of King Creole,…
Wonder of wonders — restored to HD, Warners’ ode to high art generates big magic through Shakepeare’s giddy romantic comedy. Newcomer Olivia de Havilland romps with Dick Powell, Ross Alexander and Jean Muir, while James Cagney, Joe E. Brown, Frank McHugh and Co. clown it up like happy idiots. Backed by the music of Mendelssohn,…
Jack Nicholson’s second breakthrough film and the first to show his dramatic range is Bob Rafelson and Carole Eastman’s portrait of an unsettled drifter. Bobby Dupea is described by Criterion as an alienated & irresponsible cad — but one caught between a heritage in the arts and a trailer park working man’s life. It’s a…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies, and many more, at Trailers From Hell. This week, a trio of Shakespeare movies. You didn’t know they had movies back then, did you? A wine pairing will be given for each. From 1996, we have Looking for Richard….
Severin Slays with disc virtuosity … by reaching into the BBC archives for a 4K remaster of Peter Watkins’ searing ‘documentary’ of nuclear war in England’s County Kent. With minimal resources and maximum creativity, Watkins’ atomic horrorshow was deemed excellent yet was banned from the airwaves, starting a censorship controversy that still hasn’t cooled down….
