Tonight marks the conclusion of TCM’s 14-week series, Women Make Film. One of the best movies featured in the series is now available to watch in a beautiful 4K Blu-ray restoration. No home library is complete without it. From Boulder … Continue reading BEAU TRAVAIL
Every moment he felt that … he was drawing nearer and nearer to what terrified him. —Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich Ivan Beckman (Danny Huston) is one of those Hollywood agents that earn enough to afford a home in the … Continue reading IVANSXTC.
2020 marks the 30th anniversary of The Film Foundation—the nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and preserving motion picture history. To date, the Foundation has rescued and restored 850 features and shorts, among them two Laurel & Hardy classics: Sons of … Continue reading Laurel & Hardy: The Definitive Restorations
Mr. Hekmati (Parviz Fannizadeh) has come to Tehran. He’s a schoolteacher, and in tow, he has a lamp, a mirror, and books. He drops the lamp, the mirror falls, and the books are spilled on the ground. An inauspicious entrance … Continue reading DOWNPOUR
The death of moviegoing in 2020 has hurt in a myriad of ways, but in every loss an opportunity. Few have risen to the occasion like The Criterion Collection, both on their streaming channel and via their handsomely packaged Blu-ray/DVD … Continue reading THE CAMERAMAN
“The canon is the canon,” Mark Cousins said at the 2019 Telluride Film Festival. “It’s robust. It’s resistant to change. It’s impervious to truth.” That truth he’s referring to is the canon’s sexism. And its racism. It’s elevation by way … Continue reading Ida Lupino: Filmmaker Collection
While theatrical moviegoing in 2020 might be defunct, home viewing has seemingly gotten all the better. And not just in the breadth of streaming selections, but in the sheer amount of quality physical discs released. The Criterion Collection remains the … Continue reading LE PETIT SOLDAT
You just got to play detective, don’t you? Do I go around playing piano? — Capt. Flood, Black Angel 1946’s Black Angel isn’t the most well-known film noir adapted from a Cornell Woolrich novel. That honor goes to 1944’s Phantom Lady, the story of a … Continue reading Blu Tuesday: BLACK ANGEL
Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time. That’s the line that opens the story Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. The story of Billy Pilgrim, World War II, sexual desire, post-war suburban malaise, the firebombing of Dresden, Germany, free will vs. fate, and … Continue reading Blu Tuesday: SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE
Silent pictures are the purest form of cinema. —Alfred Hitchcock For many, he was the Master of Suspense. The eyes and hands behind Rear Window, Vertigo, North By Northwest, Psycho, and The Birds. The droll voice and the rotund figure behind the popular TV show, Alfred … Continue reading Blu Tuesday — Hitchcock: British International Pictures Collection
