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3 Classic Films by Claude Chabrol
Being called the French Hitchcock does Claude Chabrol a disservice, as his dark thrillers approach mystery and suspense almost completely through character,…
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By Sidney Lumet
A lengthy talk-fest interview of the underrated filmmaker, who takes us through his life story as a personal journey, not a string…
Fear of the Velvet Curtain
JOSEF VON STERNBERG’S ANATAHAN (1953)
One of the most unusual, and unusually moving swansongs in cinema history, Josef Von Sternberg’s Anatahan (a.k.a. The Saga of Anatahan) returns…
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The Boy Friend
It's hard to think of a musical that would benefit more from a Blu-ray boost than Ken Russell's kaleidoscopic all dancing, all…
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The Gate
Screen horror gets a fun-ride boost with the adventures of a trio of home-alone kids squaring off against demons from, 'right in…
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Breakout / Der Mann Ohne Nerven
Charlie Bronson cashed in big with this lightweight action thriller co-starring Jill Ireland and Robert Duvall. Did Duvall get involved because the…
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Arrival
Yep, yet another fleet of giant alien spaceships has Earth surrounded, but Denis Villeneuve's movie is not your garden variety invasion fantasy.…
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A Walk in the Sun
Lewis Milestone's poetic character study of an infantry landing in Italy gives us a full dozen non-cliché portraits of men in war,…
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Loving
The story of Mildred and Richard Loving could easily have become a sledgehammer epic about social injustice. Writer-director Jeff Nichols instead sticks…
Fear of the Velvet Curtain
NOSTALGIA AIN’T WHAT IT USED TO BE
Nostalgia just ain’t what it used to be. When the poster for American Graffiti (1973) asked the question “Where were you in…
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The Edge of Seventeen
Teen comedies can be annoying, but every year seems to bring a good one. What work nicely are thoughtful movies that acknowledge…
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Manchester by the Sea
A major Oscar contender, Kenneth Longergan’s Manchester by the Sea is certainly sobering, yet is nowhere near as depressing as the initial…
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Hacksaw Ridge
Combat movies fascinate this reviewer — if you look at the Savant review index you’ll see that I review practically every war…
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Valkoinen Peura (The White Reindeer)
A few years back the pioneering disc boutique Mondo Macabro imported a number of exotic Eastern horror films, such as Purana Mandir…
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One Million Years B.C.
Here’s a title we haven’t seen in a while, and that we’ve never seen at this level of quality. Hammer Films’ most…
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When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth
When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth didn’t get much attention when released here early in March of 1971. Only film fanatics obsessed with…
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Inferno 3-D
(Note, 1.18.17: Twilight Time will be releasing a domestic disc of this title on May 16, licensed for U.S. distribution.) A fine…
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Gabriel Over the White House (revisited)
A Review Revisit. The unique political fantasy Gabriel Over the White House has become painfully topical lately. This is an update of…
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Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Connected film festival attendees learned about Pedro Almodóvar before everybody else, especially if they had an understanding of new developments in Spanish…
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Love in the Afternoon
A favorite of Billy Wilder-philes, Love in the Afternoon is a strong expression of the ‘romantic-Lubitsch’ vein in Wilder’s work. It’s essentially…
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What a Way to Go!
Want to know what the producer of Planet of the Apes was up to, before that milestone movie? Arthur P. Jacobs was…
Fear of the Velvet Curtain
KNEEJERK REACTIONS TO THE OSCAR NOMINATIONS AND THE FINAL WORD ON 2017
Even when you live in Los Angeles, as I do, if you’re not in the network of critics groups and press screening…
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Mildred Pierce
James M. Cain’s 1941 novel Mildred Pierce offers a venal and self-destructive view of America not with a story of respectable bourgeois…
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The Lair of the White Worm
Wild man director Ken Russell struck back against commercial indifference with this alternately elegant and outrageous horror offering, that excepting a few…
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Dr. Orloff’s Monster
Arguing the merits of Jesús Franco seems a blind alley to me. I know academic film writers that have seen dozens of…