Blu-Ray’s
By the late 1950’s, Lana Turner was experiencing a career resurgence. Kicked off by her Oscar nomination for her role in Peyton Place, followed by the media frenzy surrounding her involvement in the 1958 Johnny Stompanato murder, and the 1959 release of Imitation of Life, produced by Ross Hunter and directed by Douglas Sirk, which …
Over a span of sixteen years–1933 to 1949–Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made sixteen films together. Released in 1936, Swing Time their sixth pairing, is considered by many to be their best. The wait to see them dance is a special kind of torture, but as director George Stevens (Shane, The Diary of Anne Frank) …
Blu-ray Review: Swing Time (Criterion Collection) Read More »
When their beloved, yet morbidly obese, cousin Sal drops dead at 39, Antoinette (Anne Bancroft, The Prisoner of Second Avenue) insists her brother Dominick (Dom DeLuise, The Cannonball Run) to lose some weight. After breaking down at the funeral, Antoinette tells Dom she has made an appointment for him with a doctor. A chronic overeater, …
Highly respected for a trifecta of films from the late 1940’s–Odd Man Out (1947), The Fallen Idol (1948), and The Third Man (1949)–few truly questioned Carol Reed’s talent. However, by 1962, following a decade of up and downs, and perhaps most shockingly, having been fired from Mutiny on the Bounty the year before, Reed’s confidence …
After the massive success of Grease, I guess producer Allan Carr thought he could turn absolutely anything into box office gold. I mean, why else would he think Can’t Stop the Music was a good idea? That’s not exactly true. These days, The Village People are a relic of the disco era, remembered by many …
These days, A Patch of Blue is dismissed by some as being corny and predictable. Perhaps, but I, a longtime fan of star Sidney Poitier (Lilies of the Field) have always enjoyed the film. Released in 1965, it’s a story of a deep friendship that transcends race and class. The film, written and directed by …
Directed by Melvin Frank (A Touch of Class), The Prisoner of Second Avenue is based on the hit Neil Simon play. Amid a New York City heat wave, long-time married couple Mel and Edna Edison (Jack Lemmon, Grumpy Old Men, and Anne Bancroft, The Graduate) are growing tired of big city life. Mel, already the …
Kino Lorber Studio Classics recently released a three-disc Special Edition of Oliver Stone’s 1995 film, Nixon. It contains both the original 191-minute Theatrical Cut (premiering for the first time in HD on a Blu-ray disc) and the extended 212-minute Director’s Cut (which was only on the two-disc Disney/Buena Vista Election Year Blu-ray released in 2008). …
By 1968, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were one of the most famous couples in the world, their glamorous lifestyle documented in newspapers and magazines. However, both were dealing with dimming film careers due to recent box office disappointment. Naturally, they hoped their latest big screen pairing would turn things around. Both had starred in …
Throughout much of the 1970’s, disaster movies ruled the box office. The zenith came in 1974, when three genre films–The Towering Inferno, Airport 1975 (the first sequel to the movie that started the trend) and Earthquake were big hits. The Towering Inferno and Earthquake were both nominated for multiple Academy Awards. In the 1970’s, it …
Blu-ray Review: Earthquake (Collector’s Edition) Read More »
