‘The Other Side of Madness’ Is the Most Obscure Charles Manson Film
If truth is stranger than fiction then the truth about some films, such as the Charles Manson film The Other Side of Madness, feels as strange as reality ever gets.
Michael Barrett
The Mystery of History in Jia Zhangke’s ‘I Wish I Knew’
In Jia Zhangke's documentary, I Wish I Knew, many discuss the pivotal year of 1949, the year the Chinese Communist Party officially took over China, reaching Shanghai. It was also the year my mother, putting a finger in the wind, left China with my sister.
Silent Classic ‘The City Without Jews’ Wavers Between Satire and Grim Prophecy
It's the privilege of satire to apply one's opponents' "logic" towards a reductio ad absurdum, as we see in The City without Jews.
The Best Classic Films on Blu-ray in 2020
Many formats have come and gone and streaming competes, to a degree, but these best classic films offered on Blu-ray in 2020 prove irresistible.
Robert Altman’s Quirky ‘Popeye’ Boasts a Can Full of Geniuses
Robert Altman's busy, mobile style perfectly captures and mirrors E.C. Segar's rowdy, rambunctious Popeye comic.
John Ford Silent Westerns ‘Straight Shooting’ and ‘Hell Bent’ Raise a Ruckus
We're treated to many eye-catching examples of John Ford's talents in Universal's 4K restoration of silent westerns Straight Shooting and Hell Bent, now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber.
Flirting with Demons at Home, or, When TV Movies Were Evil
Just in time for Halloween, a new Blu-ray from Kino Lorber presents sparkling 2K digital restorations of TV movies that have been missing for decades: Fear No Evil (1969) and its sequel, Ritual of Evil (1970).
The Poetry of Murder in Jean Renoir’s ‘Toni’
Renoir's Toni is a grim piece of work saturated in summer sunshine and tree-speckled shadows.
Exploitation Shenanigans ‘Test Tube Babies’ and ‘Guilty Parents’ Contend with the Aftermath
As with so many of these movies about daughters who go astray, Test Tube Babies blames the uptight mothers who never told them about S-E-X. Meanwhile, Guilty Parents exploits poor impulse control and chorus girls showing their underwear.
Audrey Hepburn + Rome = Grace, Class, and Beauty
William Wyler's Roman Holiday crosses the postcard genre with a hardy trope: Old World royalty seeks escape from stuffy, ritual-bound, lives for a fling with the modern world, especially with Americans.