Recent Film DVD Reviews

Page 3 of 73      Go to:  <  1 2 3 4 5 >  Last »

Wednesday, October 21 2009

The Tales of Hoffmann

By Chadwick Jenkins

This is perhaps the only filmed opera that one could view with the sound turned off and the viewer would still come away mesmerized.

Tuesday, October 20 2009

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

By Bill Gibron

What did Dr. Seuss ever do to Hollywood? How did the genial children's author, responsible for many of the most memorable kid lit classics of all time turn into such a cinematic pariah?

Dusan Makavejev: Free Radical

By David Ray Carter

This brilliant and controversial director is the most successful and important figure in Serbian cinema. As with most Eastern European filmmakers, this equates to him being practically unknown in the West.

Friday, October 16 2009

Throne of Blood

By Chadwick Jenkins

In Throne of Blood, Ambition appears as something outside of the human character that preys upon pride and contributes to the demise of the prideful.

Thursday, October 15 2009

The Girlfriend Experience

By Jesse Hassenger

The camera continually zeroes on Sasha Grey's face: pretty, unknowable, sometimes out of focus.

Wednesday, October 14 2009

Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie

By W. Scott Poole

If you are on the search for Sasquatch, look elsewhere. Jay Delaney's film is about friendship on the economic margins of American society.

Monday, October 12 2009

Homicide: The Criterion Collection

By Chris Barsanti

In Homicide's electric pop of language, Mamet provides a grand kind of stage for the ugly catalyst of jealousy and racial hatred that curdles in just about every character’s mind

Sunday, October 11 2009

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

By Bill Gibron

"Snow White proved that realism and heart had a place in the genre ... It would become the blueprint for every animated feature to come."

Wednesday, October 7 2009

Assassination of a High School President

By Ben Travers

Though it never made it to the big screen, this high school set neo-noir proves it deserved slightly better if only for one reason: Bruce Willis.

Tuesday, October 6 2009

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

By Cyrus Fard

This classic 1971 adaptation of Dahl’s story is even more enchanting in high definition, giving a new generation the chance to enter Wonka’s colorful factory.

Sunday, October 4 2009

Dark Country

By David Ray Carter

As Dark Country twists and turns, the confusion of the characters is ultimately matched, if not surpassed, by the confusion of the viewer.

Thursday, October 1 2009

The Wizard of Oz: 70th Anniversary Collector’s Edition

By Bruce Dancis

I'm left with amazement over this film's spectacular look, its memorable songs, remarkable cast, the glorious Technicolor world of Munchkinland, and that it was ever made at all.

Gervaise

By Chadwick Jenkins

In Gervaise, we seek to forgive the main character only to find ourselves complicit in her downfall.

Wednesday, September 30 2009

Traveling with Yoshitomo Nara

By Sarah Boslaugh

“This is a story from an age not so long past. There was an artist who always worked alone. Neither has he been bothered nor has he bothered anyone.”

Le Jour se lève

By Chadwick Jenkins

By embodying the contradictions of poetic realism, Le jour se lève projects beauty and hope as both necessary to working class existence and impossible for the disenfranchised to attain.

Tuesday, September 29 2009

Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death

By Alistair Dickinson

While Wallace and Gromit are as likable and fun to watch as ever, the producers seem to have taken a cue from the titular wacky-inventors, and put the series on auto-pilot.

Monday, September 28 2009

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

By Bill Gibron

Maybe home video will resurrect this film's flailing fortunes. Unlike many of the season's shoddy adventures, this one deserves a second chance.

Away We Go

By Jesse Hassenger

Another movie about and/or aimed at educated, self-aware 20-and-30-somethings, a certain portion of which, of course, hate nothing more than a movie trying to entertain them or depict them in any way.

Sunday, September 27 2009

Fireproof

By David Ray Carter

While the first half of the film is typical dramatic fare, Fireproof’s second half makes no attempt to hide its cinema-as-sermon intentions.

Friday, September 25 2009

Mayerling

By Chadwick Jenkins

A study in romantic nihilism, Mayerling captivates by transmuting the acceptance of death into the ultimate proof of love.

Page 3 of 73      Go to:  <  1 2 3 4 5 >  Last »