or, Savant picks The Most Impressive Discs of 2016 Above, from 1989: In Bronson Caverns, Savant and the intrepid Todd Stribich encounter an omen from the menacing future. I guess 2016 is going down on the record books as an, ‘interesting’ year, for reasons that are all too evident. Whenever some sage survivor has to…

Federico Fellini’s best non-narrative feature is an intoxicating meta-travelogue, not just of the Eternal City but the director’s idea of Rome past and present. The masterful images alternate between nostalgic vulgarity and dreamy timelessness. Criterion’s disc is a new restoration. Fellini’s Roma Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 848 1972 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 120…

It’s a powerful plea against the death penalty, but also an Oscar bid for a fiery actress. And don’t forget the cool jazz music score. On top of this Robert Wise adds a formerly- taboo sequence, a realistic depiction of an execution in the gas chamber. Of such things were gritty, hard-hitting reputations made. I…

A big, loud, lusty western battle movie with sexy stars and zero brains, this was a big hit back in ’69, just before The Wild Bunch rebooted the entire genre. Jim Brown, Raquel Welch and Burt Reynolds burn up the screen with action, even though the actual acting is on the weak side. 100 Rifles…

Good neighbor policy? Wartime exigencies inspired an intra-hemisphere cultural exchange, with the movies seizing on the new popularity of Latin music. Republic’s contribution gives us the great songs of Ady Barroso and a full soundtrack of his compositions — in a featherweight musical romance, of course. Brazil Blu-ray Olive Films 1944 / B&W / 1:37…

Just what is the dreaded ‘Process 97’?  Henry Hathaway’s docu-drama combined newsreel ‘reality’ with a true espionage story from the files of the F.B.I., creating a thriller about spies and atom secrets that dazzled the film-going public. But how much of it was true, and how much invented? The House on 92nd Street Blu-ray KL…

Success in the ’90s gave Robert Altman the opportunity to experiment once again. Several short stories by Raymond Carver interlock in a mosaic of Los Angeles populated by scores of actors in ensemble mode. Clocking in at three hours, Altman’s epic has all the time and space it needs. Short Cuts Blu-ray The Criterion Collection…

Will somebody explain the sheep and the bear? Luis Buñuel really knows how to disturb people. This, his most characteristic surreal drama proposes an impossible, irrational situation – which isn’t all that different from the reality we know. Petty social rules, jealousies and bitterness make life hell for group of dinner guests stuck with each…

All sing the praises of Frank Borzage, a gentle director fully committed to the idea of romance in an imperfect world. Sally Eilers and James Dunn make a go of marriage, despite their personal flaws and difficulties with communication. It’s hard to believe that films of this vintage portray behaviors as sensitive as this. Bad…

Psycho launched a thousand twisted sickos and pathological relationships in films, but none can best Noel Black’s fascinating, funny romance between a newly-released arsonist and a fetching high schooler, hungry for freedom and lacking a moral compass. The pairing of Anthony Perkins and Tuesday Weld is inspired. Pretty Poison Blu-ray Twilight Time 1968 / Color…

Joan Crawford controls every aspect of this glamorous, Oscar nominated noir about a murderous marriage double-cross. Good acting enlivens a by-the-book, gimmick-laden plot, with every moment designed to flatter the star. Sudden Fear Blu-ray The Cohen Film Collection 1952 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 110 min. / Street Date December 13, 2016 /…

Robert Siodmak’s superb noir classic pits two graduates of Little Italy against one other: a crook who can deceive relatives and seduce strangers into helping him, and the cop who wants to put him out of business. Starring the great Richard Conte, with Victor Mature in what might be his best role. Cry of the…

Does anybody still care about great movies for small children? If so, here’s a good one. A big, furry green dragon named Elliot is the kind of playmate every lonely kid wants. It’s a non-musical rethinking of the old 1977 movie, made with taste, discretion, and plenty of heart. Pete’s Dragon Blu-ray + DVD +…

John Huston’s primal heist film is an almost perfect movie, with a score of unforgettable characterizations. A solid crime noir, it concerns itself with the human ironies in the ‘left handed form of human endeavor.’ The Asphalt Jungle Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 847 1950 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 112 min. / available…

Fox’s first official monster movie is a terrific-looking but mostly flat mystery that tries its utmost not to be a horror film at all. It’s a head scratcher that will interest fans of the expressive John Brahm, and help completists scratch another werewolf film off their gotta-see lists. The Undying Monster Blu-ray KL Studio Classics…

Remember the warning to avoid ‘crossing the streams’ in Ghostbusters?  Director Geoff Murphy enjoyed a world-wide release for this eerie sci-fi fantasy about a scientist who becomes unstuck in time-space, alone in an empty world. The Quiet Earth Blu-ray Film Movement 1985 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 91 min. / Street Date December 6,…

  I have a back file of reader notes asking for a Blu-ray for John Huston’s Moby Dick, and more pointedly, wondering what will be done with its strange color scheme. I wasn’t expecting miracles, but this new Twilight Time disc should make the purists happy — it has approximated the film’s original, heavily muted…

Can an old-fashioned monster movie still work in the 1980s? The dedicated cast for this overachieving chiller takes its story of ‘Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers’ in directions most punk-era horrors do not. C.H.U.D. Blu-ray Arrow Video (U.S.) 1984 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 96 + 88 min. / Street Date November 22, 2016 /…

True-Crime Terror! Richard Fleischer and Edward Anhalt’s riveting serial killer makes extensive use of split- and multi-screen imagery. One of the most infamous murder sprees on record fudges some facts but still impresses as a novel approach. The Boston Strangler Blu-ray Twilight Time 1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 116 min. / Street Date…

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger officially become ‘The Archers’ for this sterling morale-propaganda picture lauding the help of the valiant Dutch resistance. It’s a joyful show of spirit, terrific casting (with a couple of surprises) and first-class English filmmaking. One of Our Aircraft is Missing Blu-ray Olive Films 1942 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy…

The USSR’s Cinerama knockoff proved a ‘good business’ between the rival superpowers, when some producers imported and re-edited six Soviet Kinopanorama travelogues to make an action- & culture-packed 3-panel Cinerama attraction. In some ways it’s one of the best. Cinerama’s Russian Adventure Blu-ray + DVD Flicker Alley 1966 / Color / Smilebox widescreen / 127…

If anybody’s dreams are interesting, Akira Kurosawa’s should be, and this late career fantasy is a consistently rewarding string of morality tales and visual essays that pop off the screen. Some of the imagery has input from the famed Ishiro Honda. Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 842 1990 / Color / 1:85 widescreen…

A World War, a solemn vow, and a promise betrayed lead to a ‘night of the living war dead’ — all cooked up by the director of Napoleon, Abel Gance. The early, famed pacifist fantasy is back in near-perfect condition and restored to its full length (for one version, anyway). It’s a reworking, not a…

Milestone wraps up its ‘Project Shirley,’ an in-depth study of the independent director of The Connection and Portrait of Jason. Practically all of Shirley Clarke’s small and experimental films are here from the early 1950s forward, plus a wealth of biographical film. The Magic Box: The films of Shirley Clarke, 1929-1987 Blu-ray The Milestone Cinematheque…

David Cronenberg puts Canada on the horror map with yet another early career ick-fest, about a vampiric woman armed with a new mutant organ. Marilyn Chambers is the dangerous female who spreads a plague of bloody murder. Fun for the whole family. Rabid Blu-ray Scream Factory 1977 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 91 min….

Sheltered in my Los Angeles bubble, I can’t believe that this crime movie had an accurate measure of the true pulse of the country. Texan outlaws rob banks to fight what appears to be a rigged system; the Texas Ranger who tracks them realizes that much of the population feels the same exact way. Jeff…