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…
Aside from the obvious appeal of this smörgásbord of dirty movie delights, cult director Frank Henenlotter hosts a good history of soft-core film smut in all its forms. Includes excellent clips and input from one of the ‘greats’ in this field, David F. Friedman. Remember, it’s for educational purposes only. That’s Sexploitation! Blu-ray Severin Films…
Don’t let your boss see this movie, it’ll give them ideas. Writer-director Kaneto Shindo reduces the human drama to its basics, as an isolated family endures a backbreaking existence of dawn ’til dusk toil to eke out a living. It’s a beautiful but humbling ode to adaptability and human resolve. And the show has no…
Here’s something special, a Godard movie about people as much as concepts, and the dialogue doesn’t sound as if it belongs in cartoon bubbles. Jean-Luc Godard turns his intellect to the subject of relationships and reveals a lot about himself. It’s a beautiful show too — with the incredible Macha Méril visually cut up for…
Banished by Josef Goebbels and threatened by the Reich, the creative core of the German film industry found itself in sunny Los Angeles, many not speaking English but determined to carry on as writers, directors and actors. More than simply surviving, they made a profound impact on Hollywood moviemaking. Cinema’s Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood…
This one will get to you. Director Deniz Gamze Ergüven takes on a difficult subject — the terrible treatment of young girls by relatives enforcing conservative moral prerogatives. Sidestepping issues of religion, she makes a powerful case for the rights of women, with the help of five marvelous young actresses; her show is funny, scary…
An exercise in dizzy disorientation, this Cornell Woolrich crazy-house noir pulls the rug out from under the audience at least three times. You want delirium, you got it — the secret words for today are “Obsessive” and “Perverse.” Innocent Robert Cummings is no match for sicko psychos Peter Lorre and Steve Cochran. The Chase Blu-ray…
What is this — a naughty sex odyssey as absurdist art? Or a non-PC slice of sleazy art film exploitation? Either way it’s a (minor) Polanski masterpiece of direction, influenced by the Italian setting. Is this what turns Polanski on? The entire excercise is a Kafka comedy of erotic discomfort. What? Blu-ray Severin 1972 /…
Robert Wagner as a social climbing psycho killer? I knew it! ‘Mr. CinemaScope Smile’ grins only once or twice in this movie, and then only to fool an unsuspecting woman. A great cast brings tension to Ira Levin’s outrageous tale of murder. Joanne Woodward has a powerful role, but this time out my heart throbs…
Stand back, watch the fur fly and don’t forget to duck — this is surely the most psychologically toxic play ever adapted for film. The legends Liz and Dick are terrific, and Mike Nichols conquers the screen in his first job of direction. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Blu-ray Warner Archive Collection 1966 / B&W…
What’s contemporary Europe got that we ain’t got? Powerful, serious filmmaking like that by Christian Petzold, starring the impressive Nina Hoss. Their sixth collaboration is a loaded narrative that takes some pretty wild narrative themes — plastic surgery, hidden identities — and spins them in a suspenseful new direction. Phoenix Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 809…
The dirty book of the ’60s became an all-star dirty movie with Brando, Burton, Starr, Coburn, Matthau, Astin, Aznavour and Huston all wanting a taste of the Swedish nymphet Ewa Aulin. Camerawork by Rotunno, designs by Dean Tavoularis, effects by Doug Trumbull — and the best material is Marlon Brando making goofy faces as a…
It’s a different Bogart — a character performance in a Nicholas Ray noir about distrust anxiety in romance. Gloria Grahame is the independent woman who must withhold her commitment… until a murder can be sorted out. Which will crack first, the murder case or the relationship? In A Lonely Place Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 810…