Is he a feisty French everyman or a selfish jerk? &nbsp:Are we talking about the fictional character Antoine Doinel, or the actor Jean-Pierre Léaud?  François Truffaut hit on a genuine New Wave breakthrough, combining drama with ‘interview’ material, but soon proceeded to thrillers and dramas in a standard no-nouvelle vague format. Criterion assembled DVDs of…

Resuming his career after WW2, George Stevens assumed the mantle of Hollywood’s most serious producer-director. His ‘super-western’ is a beautiful piece of filmmaking with an optimistic view of American virtues in conflict. It’s a visual delight, and a genre throwback to unrealistic fights and a hero who may as well be the god of Pioneer…

Howard Hughes’ meddling fingerprints are all over this resort-set noir thriller. Even with RKO’s dynamite stars Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell above the title, the mogul’s endless rewrites and re-shoots guaranteed that it couldn’t earn a profit. Vincent Price, Tim Holt, Charles McGraw and Raymond Burr toil in a show split between light comedy and…

The Tale of Oiwa’s Ghost 2.35:1 – 1961 – 94 Min. Radiance Films – Blu-ray Starring Yoshiko Fujishiro, Tomisaburô Wakayama Written by Tai Katô Directed by Tai Katô No silent film star ever suffered quite so much as Yoshiko Fujishiro, the star-crossed heroine of The Tale of Oiwa’s Ghost. Fujishiro plays Oiwa, a prototypically obedient…

When the big boss croaks, veepees maneuver to take the top slot in a furniture company. Ernest Lehman’s first big screenplay was brought to the screen by Robert Wise and a cast of All Stars: William Holden, June Allyson, Barbara Stanwyck, Fredric March, Walter Pidgeon, Shelley Winters, Paul Douglas, Louis Calhern, Dean Jagger and Nina…

Crime fighting gets personal in Fritz Lang’s progressive police vengeance saga. It’s Glenn Ford as an ex-cop against the mob, and his only assists come from a doomed bargirl, a handicapped woman, and the moll of mobster Lee Marvin. Every scene has tension or implied violence, much of it directed toward women. It was a…

Mario Bava’s big-scale fumetti adaptation hits 4K, an event of major interest in the fantasy fan-scape. John Phillip Law, Marisa Mell and Terry-Thomas are as brilliant as ever, and Ultra HD makes the picture even brighter and sharper. Ennio Morricone’s music is still a delight — the movie doubles as a psychedelic concert. Paramount or…

Let’s clear up a common misconception. Unlike The Blob, ‘The Stuff’ doesn’t eat you. You Eat It … and then it eats you!  Larry Cohen takes a page from Professor Quatermass for this satirical slap at blind consumerism and unregulated commerce, in a thriller packed with ooky glob-monsters and people hollowed out like Halloween pumpkins….

And now for something completely different — an art-film creation that’s a surreal delight. Jean-François Laguionie’s allegorical animated fable extends what conventional, ‘organic’ animation could do in 1985. The still images alone fire the imagination. It’s an art-house short subject writ large, that we’re grateful to have seen, especially so handsomely remastered in 4K Ultra…

Reissued for the delight of ’80s horror fans is Tibor Takács’ and Randall William Cook’s ode to bibliophile terror, subcategory facial mutilation. David Chakin’s screenplay allows a demented anti-hero from a scary book to invade our reality: Malcolm Brand gives himself a surgical mix-match appearance by straight-razoring features from the faces of his victims. The…

We didn’t know that this seven-season success had racked up so many ‘TV firsts’ on its scoreboard. Clint Walker clicked with America as a roving cowboy do-gooder, solving problems and perforating bad guys on a tri-weekly basis. The series is now more impressive in this deluxe remaster; Warners entreé into broadcast TV emphasized quality in…

Take a cinematic trip 2,500 miles into the depths of the Earth, courtesy of a Cold War- era retelling of Jules Verne. Seven scientists search for a haven from the coming nuclear holocaust ‘deep deep down’ by traveling in a drilling submarine-tank they call a Cyclotram. Produced by effects specialists Jack Rabin and Irving Block,…

Brazil 1.85:1 – 1985 – 143 Min. Criterion – 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray Starring Jonathan Pryce, Michael Palin, Robert De Niro, Kathleen Helmond Written byTerry Gilliam, Tom Stoppard, Charles McKeown Directed by Terry Gilliam It’s Christmastime in what appears to be wartime Britain yet the only sign of a blitz is the rampant kidnapping…

A second 4K release for the Billy Wilder-I.A.L. Diamond classic?  Yes, but the advantage goes to the extras, which include unique input from the stars and especially the director. It’s a career best show for Marilyn Monroe, and Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis give everything they’ve got to a pair of cross-dressing musicians, roles that…

What a terrible title … but it does describe a playwright’s effort to solve the ‘Ireland problem’ with a single cheerful thriller about anti-English terrorism during World War 2. Basil Dearden’s direction is mostly good, and we love the cast: John Mills, Dirk Bogarde, Elizabeth Sellars, Robert Beatty, Barbara Mullen, Eddie Byrne, Joseph Tomelty, Liam…

This gem is too charming to ever become old or creaky; a new viewing confirms it as a pleasing confection for Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart, a fairy tale with a slightly caustic edge. Filmmaker Billy Wilder caught a lot of flak for ‘brutalizing’ his actresses, when he’s really a romantic softie … with a…

Steven Soderbergh fashions a thinking-fan’s spy picture about the hunt for a traitor among a group of agents that socialize together. Married agents Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender are a warm couple in a ‘cool’ business, with a domestic arrangement that allows for ‘professional mistrust’ … neither can be expected to trust anyone on faith…

This gem of a romantic comedy is as fresh now as it was 86 years ago. Mitchell Leisen’s lightest farce is also a comic triumph for the writing team of Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder. Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, John Barrymore and Mary Astor make the most of delightful characters and a vivid Paris created…

What a surprise … an early sound western that’s solid gold genre entertainment. John Huston adapted W.R. Burnett’s violent retelling of the Wyatt Earp story without an ounce of moralizing. Walter Huston is magnificent as the lawman ‘Saint Johnson,’ a town-taming killer who can’t abide thugs and despots. The show is serious, and so is…

Filmed in the high MGM style, this polished tragic romance stars Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone and Robert Young as Germans having a rough time in the 1920s Weimar Republic, while Margaret Sullavan’s disillusioned beauty succumbs to a dreaded Movie Disease. It is also a prime example of the negative effect of Hollywood’s Production Code. MGM…

One of the more prestigious ’60s movie musicals was this extremely popular roadshow item, but late-career director Carol Reed wasn’t treated kindly by the critics. It certainly looks attractive on Sony’s new 4K remaster… the stylized art direction comes across well. Ron Moody, Shani Wallis and Oliver Reed star, with Mark Lester and Jack Wild…

Let’s go back to the days of ‘The Matrix’ when the newfangled CGI toolbox was employed to visualize virtual Sci-fi fantasy dystopias, the kind that operate by the rules of an all-powerful writer … we can almost hear the ghost of Philip K. Dick rattling its chains, just off-camera. Alex Proyas’ enclosed virtual domain may…