As I watched Criterion's beautiful new Blu-ray edition of Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon, I noticed how patterns of three ripple through this masterpiece. You have, of course, the love triangle (well, more like a lust and violence triangle) that centers the story. But you also have the three men under the Rashomon gate. And the three … Continue reading Blu-ray Review: Rashomon
Category: Blu-ray Review
Blu-ray Review: Children of Paradise
The one great black and white sound epic, Marcel Carné's and Jacques Prévert's love letter to France and to the theater, draws you in like a miracle. And why not? The movie's very existence is a miracle. How could they shoot a grand story on such a lavish scale during the last months of the … Continue reading Blu-ray Review: Children of Paradise
Blu-ray Review: Jaws
Universal Studios must have been an interesting place in the 1970s. As Alfred Hitchcock's career wound down, Steven Spielberg's started up. I don't know if they ever met, but there's no doubt that the young film school graduate had studied the master's work. In his second theatrical feature and first big hit (and also, I … Continue reading Blu-ray Review: Jaws
Blu-ray Review: Love and Anarchy
The political is personal in Lina Wertmüller's moving tragicomedy about a country bumpkin who comes to Rome to assassinate Mussolini, and finds love in an upscale whorehouse. The story starts out funny, becomes surprisingly romantic, but never strays from an intense sadness. If you were too young in the 70s to watch R-rated, subtitled films, … Continue reading Blu-ray Review: Love and Anarchy
Blu-ray Review: The Gold Rush
In 1925, Charlie Chaplin created what many consider his masterpiece: The Gold Rush. In 1942, he altered it to an extent that would make George Lucas blush. And he insisted to his dying day that the new version was the better one. This Tuesday, Criterion releases a superb Blu-ray of The Gold Rush that includes … Continue reading Blu-ray Review: The Gold Rush
Blu-ray Review: Manhattan
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
Blu-ray Review: Notorious (1946)
Few filmmakers could make a thriller that has the audience biting their nails about whether the champagne will run out before the party is over--or a romance where the hero treats the heroine with contempt, but the villain truly and tenderly loves her. Yet the team of Ben Hecht and Alfred Hitchcock could put all … Continue reading Blu-ray Review: Notorious (1946)
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
Six New Classic Blu-rays, Sort of from Fox/MGM
20th Century-Fox recently released six classic MGM films on Blu-ray. Except that none of them are originally from 20th Century-Fox, or MGM. Three of the films were originally released by United Artists: Annie Hall, Manhattan, and The Apartment. United Artists and MGM merged in the early 1980s, and for a long time was called MGM/UA. … Continue reading Six New Classic Blu-rays, Sort of from Fox/MGM
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