Woody Allen followed the triumph of Annie Hall with a dead-serious drama that few people saw and even fewer liked: Interiors (Confession: I haven't seen it). Luckily for his career, Allen followed Interiors with Manhattan. Like Annie Hall, Manhattan is a realistic, character-driven comedy about love, romance, and how the sexual urge messes up our … Continue reading Blu-ray Review: Manhattan
Category: Comedy
Blu-Ray Review: The Apartment
How do you top Some Like It Hot? Billy Wilder found the answer in The Apartment, a far more serious comedy about the battle of sexes. Or more precisely, about how powerful men exploit both women and less-powerful men. When The Apartment came out in 1960, critics complained that Wilder didn’t seem to know if … Continue reading Blu-Ray Review: The Apartment
Blu-ray Review: Annie Hall
There are romantic comedies, and then there's Annie Hall. It's about a romance, and it's definitely a comedy, but Woody Allen's masterpiece works so far outside the genre that it feels like something entirely different. Annie Hall tracks a very realistic relationship--mostly in chronological order. We watch as up-and-coming standup comic Alvy Singer (Allen) and … Continue reading Blu-ray Review: Annie Hall
RiffTrax Live: Plan 9 from Outer Space
Three MST3K veterans add comic commentary to Plan Nine from Outer Space, allegedly the worst film of all time. I laughed so hard I was gasping for breath. When I started reviewing Blu-ray discs on this blog, my policy would be to stick with classics. I'm not sure if this review is a derivation from … Continue reading RiffTrax Live: Plan 9 from Outer Space
Blu-ray Review: Seven Chances
Since I first discovered Buster Keaton almost 40 years ago, I've considered Seven Chances one of his best features. That was an unusual opinion in the 1970s, when even Keaton fans barely knew this picture existed. But its status has been rising in recent years, and I'm hoping that Kino's new Blu-ray release will help … Continue reading Blu-ray Review: Seven Chances
Blu-ray Review: The Lady Vanishes
Alfred Hitchcock's first masterpiece brings almost as many laughs as thrills. The new Criterion Blu-ray gives this near-perfect entertainment a new polish and some interesting extras. The Lady Vanishes holds an interesting place amongst Hitchcock's work. It was his penultimate British film before going to America. It is, in my opinion, his first true masterpiece. … Continue reading Blu-ray Review: The Lady Vanishes
Silent Influences: Mostly Silent Movies From the Talkie Era to the Present
With The Artist finally playing locally, I thought it would be fun to look at other post-silent movies with little or no dialog. Cinema, in its purest form, is a visual art. What it can do without words has always been more powerful than what it can do with them. If I ran my own … Continue reading Silent Influences: Mostly Silent Movies From the Talkie Era to the Present
The Artist
A Dramatic Comedy Written and directed by Michel Hazanavicius The question with which I opened my Hugo post applies even more to Michel Hazanavicius' new silent film: Did I--and other cinephiles--love The Artist because it is a very good motion picture, or because the story, setting, and style are so close to any cinephile's heart? … Continue reading The Artist
Seducing Charlie Barker
B+ Sex Comedy Written by Theresa Rebeck Directed by Amy Glazer Charlie Barker (Stephen Barker Turner) is not a happy man, and wild sex with a young, gorgeous, horny, yet stupid sociopath will not improve anything. Seducing Charlie Barker starts as a comedy and grows serious, a trick few films successfully pull off. It helps … Continue reading Seducing Charlie Barker
Miracle Mile: A Little Miracle I Just Discovered
I discovered a rare gem Friday night--a modestly-budgeted Hollywood film from 1988 called Miracle Mile. I’d never heard of it before, and have no idea if it ever played the Bay Area. Without a doubt, this is the very best dark and suspenseful romantic comedy I’ve ever seen about the end of civilization as we … Continue reading Miracle Mile: A Little Miracle I Just Discovered
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