New movies to the Criterion Channel

~ Lincoln Spector

Here are seven films that came to the Criterion Channel recently:

A Raging Bull (1980)

Martin Scorsese put a cap on 70’s cinema with this study of boxer Jake La Motta. It isn’t an easy film to watch; the experience is akin to a fierce pummeling. But it’s worth it. Robert De Niro gives one of the great physical performances in cinema, changing from a taut athlete to a man who has let himself go. He’s also making things difficult for the people close to him. Scorsese and cinematographer Michael Chapman make brilliant use of black and white, allowing us to experience the emotional brutality of the fights.

A- The Master (2012)

Paul Thomas Anderson based The Master on Scientology and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard (Philip Seymour Hoffman). But this is no more a critique of Hubbard’s cult than Citizen Kane is an attack on Hearst newspapers. It’s the story of two very different men and the strange, dependent relationship between them. One very strange film. Read my full review.

A- The Ladykillers (1955)

In the 1950s, Britain’s Ealing Studios made several droll and wonderful comedies starring Alec Guinness. In the best of the films, Guinness leads a gang on a complex heist. Too complex. When the sweet, old landlady finds out that her tenants are not real musicians but criminals, their only option is to kill her–a task that proves far more difficult than they expected. Not to be confused with the Coen Brothers remake.

B+ My Week with Marilyn (2011)

Norman Mailer said that his famous wife, Marilyn Monroe, could turn on her movie star persona like a switch. You see that happen in My Week with Marilyn, a movie owned entirely by Michelle Williams’ beat-perfect performance as Monroe. Set during the filming of The Princess and the Showgirl (not a memorable movie), it studies Monroe as her success was peaking and the insecurities that would destroy her were beginning to do real damage.

B+ Mulholland Dr. (2001)

The plot is both extremely conventional and almost non-existent, and I’m not even going to try to explain it. And yet almost every individual scene feels like a masterpiece. As you would expect from writer/director David Lynch, it’s heavy on atmosphere, complexity, and erotica. You can almost reach out and touch the weirdness. Naomi Watts is just amazing. Even Ann Miller of the old MGM musicals plays a part.

B Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

Yes, it’s a very sexist title, but consider when the movie was made. Marilyn Monroe wants a man with millions. Jane Russell wants one with muscles. These two best friends take an ocean cruise. The story isn’t much. The comedy isn’t as good as you’d expect from director Howard Hawks. But the songs and dances, especially Anyone Here for Love and Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friends, are classics. Most people consider this a Monroe movie, but Russell’s performance makes Monroe look like a mannequin.

D Cruising, (1980)

Now that the controversy has passed, we can see William Friedkin’s 1980 gay S&M murder mystery for what it is: a mess. While it may offer nostalgia for older gay men who miss their wilder days, it has little to offer the rest of us. As a study of a unique subculture at a particular time that’s lost forever, it’s shallow and exploitative. As a murder mystery, it’s poorly structured and unsatisfying. As a character study, it offers an uninteresting character who’s hardly worth studying. Al Pacino, as an inexperienced, heterosexual cop going undercover in New York’s leather scene, mostly just looks confused. Read my full-length review.

Other films you (and me) might want to see:

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Published by Lincoln Spector

Lincoln Spector writes about cinema, technology, and cinema technology. From 1986 through 2008, he wrote Gigglebytes, the first technology-oriented humor column. From 1977 through 2016, he wrote PC World's Answer Line column and blog.