Norway gets the old-fashioned disaster film genre up on its feet again with a well-made, scary story set in a Northern fjord, where a devastating tsunami is a genuine threat. Fine acting by fresh faces helps as well — with no BS or hype to get in the way, we find ourselves as anxious as…
Sally Field bounces back in this story of mismatched love – or a romantic delusion… that is 3/4 charm and 1/4 wishful thinking. The May-October romance isn’t an outright farce like Harold and Maude, so a few of the comic situations are somewhat wince-inducing. Or am I just feeling my own ‘October’ discomfort? Field fans…
Here’s a sterling example of what Hollywood excelled at back in the golden age: Robert Montgomery, Evelyn Keyes, Claude Rains and Edward Everett Horton star in possibly the most magical of movies known as Film Blanc. A cosmic goof leaves a man with fifty years yet to live without a body — so heavenly troubleshooters…
Michelangelo Antonioni’s pre-international breakthrough drama is as good as anything he’s done, a flawlessly acted and directed story of complex relationships — that include his ‘career’ themes before the existential funk set in. It’s one of the best-blocked dramatic films ever… the direction is masterful. Le amiche Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 817 1955 / B&W…
John Ford puts a Technicolor sheen on Monument Valley in this second cavalry picture with John Wayne, who does some of his most professional acting work. Joanne Dru plays coy, while the real star is rodeo wizard Ben Johnson and the dazzling cinematography of Winton C. Hoch. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon Blu-ray Warner Archive…
Marleen Gorris’ sightly absurdist, slightly magic realist movie about a strong woman who takes charge in a rural Dutch community is a fable about a kind of matriarchal utopia — where decisions are made with patience and understanding, the weak are protected and women aren’t abused. It’s an Oscar winner for Best Foreign film —…
I guess Howard Hughes had a soft spot for Minnesota Nazis. William Cameron Menzies directs a Cold War thriller about an insidious germ warfare conspiracy, an early paranoid suspense tale with apocalyptic consequences. But the story behind the movie’s making — and then remaking — is even more fantastic. The Whip Hand DVD-R The Warner…
Robert Mitchum all but snoozes through this promising war-espionage thriller that pits lazy Gestapo agents against clueless partisans in occupied Greece. It’s got great locations and a good cast, but director Robert Aldrich seems off his feed — there’s not a lot of excitement to be had. The Angry Hills DVD-R The Warner Archive Collection…
That naughty boy Federico Fellini goes all out with this essay-hallucination about women, a surreal odyssey that hurls Marcello Mastroianni into a world in which women are no longer putting up with male nonsense. It’s an honest (if still somewhat sexist) effort by an artist acknowledging illusions and pleasures that he knows are infantile. City…
Robert Altman’s murder tale reeks of insider access and Hollywood hipster BS; its main claim to greatness is its fifty-plus star cameos. It may no longer seem as smart as it looked in 1992, but they don’t make ’em any slicker than this. The Player Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 812 1992 / Color /1:85 widescreen…
This breakout hit comedy western gave a lift to star Jane Fonda and especially to Lee Marvin, in an unexpected comedy role that won him a Best Acting Oscar. Lee characteristically said that he owed half of the award to ‘some horse out in the valley somewhere.’ Cat Ballou Blu-ray Twilight Time Limited Edition 1965…
Not funny enough, or too hip for the house? I found the Coen Bros.’ send-up of old-fashioned movie madness good fun, with some great new actors. If you like droll comedy combined with spot-on recreations of old movie genres, this show can’t lose. And there has to be somebody out there who wants to see…
Bogie’s back and Bacall’s got him! Or, at least she’s got his voice, and a bundle of bandages. A David Goodis hardboiled crime tale becomes an absurd pile of coincidences and accidental relationships, all wrapped up (literally) in a giant plastic-surgery gimmick. Bogart and his new bride Bacall are charming, but there’s a show -stealer…
3-D IMAX goes back to outer space for a repeat of some space shuttle material and an extended CGI look at how a Martian landing might be accomplished. It’s a grab bag of film sources, and only partly in original 3-D material. Shout! presents it in both 4K Ultra-HD and Blu-ray 3-D, but so far…
This four-feature set is the weirdest cinematic treasure box of the year, a sort of anti-matter film school. Three of the films are derived from a single Yugoslavian picture rejected by Roger Corman. His acolytes Jack Hill and Stephanie Rothman proceeded to add serial killings, supernatural hauntings, a goofy vampire, and an ending that could…
What in the world — an A + top-rank film noir gem hiding under the radar, and rescued (most literally) by the Film Noir Foundation. Ann Sheridan and Dennis O’Keefe trade dialogue as good as any in a film from 1950 — it’s a thriller with a cynical worldview yet a sentimental personal outlook. Woman…
Clark Gable is still sufficiently frisky in this late career western to attract four well-chosen frontier women — who in this case happen to be a quartet of robbers’ wives, sitting on a rumored mountain of ill-gotten gains. Raoul Walsh abets the comedy-drama, as Gable’s fox-in-a-henhouse tries to determine which hen can lead him to…
Noir if I can help it! Sultry Lizabeth Scott out-‘fatals’ every femme we know in this wickedly ruthless tale of unadulterated female venality. Rough creep Dan Duryea meets his match, as do other unfortunate males that get between Liz and a plump bag of blackmail loot. The Film Noir Foundation’s restoration is a valiant rescue…
Luis Buñuel’s most direct film about revolutionary politics brandishes few if any surreal touches in its clash between French star Gérard Philipe and the Mexican legend María Félix. Borrowing the climax of the opera Tosca, it’s an intelligent study of how not to effect change in a corrupt political regime. La fièvre monte à El…
All hail Buster Keaton! The Great Stone Face’s pre-feature output is a comedic treasure trove that allows us to watch a performing genius perfect his filmic persona. Lobster’s all-new restorations debut some alternate scenes and fix a number of broken jump cuts. It’s the whole shebang — the earlier Fatty Arbuckle shorts and Buster’s later…
Nicolas Roeg’s bizarre blend of high drama, searing sex and over-the-top brutality waited a year, only to be given a tiny American release. It then dropped out of sight. We’re now in a better position to appreciate the show’s great actors – especially Theresa Russell, the boldest and bravest actress of the 1980s. Eureka Blu-ray…
This is not your garden-variety horror picture — its scares stem from primal guilt and fear of supernatural demons and devils that we can’t entirely dismiss because people still believe in them enough to do terrible things. Robert Eggers’ first film is the best-reviewed horror picture of its year, and quite an achievement. The VVitch:…
A major talent of the New German Cinema finds his footing out on the open highway, in a trio of intensely creative pictures that capture the pace and feel of living off the beaten path. All three star Rüdiger Vogler, an actor who could be director Wim Wenders’ alter ego. Wim Wenders’ The Road Trilogy…
Remember Charlie Chaplin’s ‘The Killer with a Heart?’ You too will be frustrated by this well-produced story of a slum kid who commits an unpardonable crime… except that a do-gooder priest wants to pardon him. Dana Andrews and Farley Granger star but the good work is in the smaller roles of this urban tragedy. Edge…
Cad, bounder, dastard… look those words up in an old casting directory and you’ll probably find a picture of George Sanders. Albert Lewin’s best movie is a class-act period piece with terrific acting from Sanders, Angela Lansbury, Ann Dvorak, John Carradine, Warren William and many more, and a powerful ’40s picture that most people haven’t…
Bernard Herrmann music + weird landscapes = Nirvana. This big-star western tale has an unbreakable story but terrible dialogue and weak characters. Yet for fans of adventure filmmaking it’s a legend thanks to a thunderous Bernard Herrmann music score that transforms dozens of uncanny, real Mexican locations into something other-worldly. Garden of Evil Blu-ray…