7 years ago
criterion 10
Love Streams: The Energy of “A Hard Days Night”
From the very first strum of the very first frame, the screen explodes. Not in the literal sense; there aren’t balls of fire or cinders filling up the frame, but there might as well be. No, instead, it’s a horde of fans, Beatlemaniacs, in hot pursuit of John, ...
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Blu-ray Review: “Every Man for Himself”
Jean-Luc Godard’s so-called “second first film” isn’t really a patented return to zero, even if it does betray flashes of modern and postmodern references to Breathless. Techniques honed on video crop up throughout, and the tone is clearly that of an older, mo...
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A Cinephile’s Survival Guide to February
As assuredly as Punxsutawney Phil will crawl out of his hole every February 2nd and declare it spring (or six more weeks of winter), the second month of the year also brings upon all of us some of the worst box office weekends on the calendar. Known as a dumpi...
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Love Streams: 5 Criterions on Fandor
I spend more time picking a film to watch than I do actually watching them, but I feel like the folks at Fandor have finally created a solution for my predicament: give me an ultimatum. (And since it's almost Valentine's Day, I feel comfortable telling you tha...
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Opening Acts 1/16/2015
Every day, Opening Acts highlights the best pieces of writing on film, television, and literature published around the Internet. Please share if you like what you see.
For your reading enjoyment …
At the Oscars, Best Actress and Best Picture Rarely Coincide ...
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Blu-ray Review: “The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant”
Distributor: The Criterion Collection
Release Date: January 13, 2015
MSRP: $39.99
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Film: A / Video: A / Audio: B+ / Extras: B-
We meet fashion designer Petra von Kant (Margit Carstensen) when her live-in partner/S&M sub Marlene (Irm Her...
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Under the Box: 4 Great Home Releases of David Fincher’s Films
Today sees the home release of Gone Girl on DVD and Blu-ray. I’m excited to check out the Blu-ray release of the film as it will come with a small “Amazing Amy” book, as well as a commentary track from director David Fincher. As far as special features go, tha...
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Once More, With Feeling: The Best Film Restorations of 2014
It's time to kiss 2014 goodbye (or kick its ass out the door, depending on how well your year went) and furiously compile our Best-Of lists, as film people are wont to do. Obviously most people focus on ranking the best new releases of the year ("release" bein...
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Blu-Ray Review: “Trafic”
(Part of The Complete Jacques Tati)
Distributor: The Criterion Collection
Release Date: October 28, 2014
MSRP: $124.95
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Film: B+ / Video: A / Audio: A / Extras: C-
Traffic is a car’s default state of life, or so Jacques Tati’s Playtime fol...
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Blu-Ray Review: “The Innocents”
Distributor: The Criterion Collection
Release Date: September 23, 2014
MSRP: $39.99
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Film: A / Video: A / Audio: A- / Extras: A-
A British horror movie adapted from a great American author by another noted American writer, The Innocents ...
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