4K UHD Review: Pulp Fiction (30th Anniversary Limited Edition)
Released thirty years ago, Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction reshaped American filmmaking and became a cultural phenomenon. Loaded with nods to various film genres and their legendary stars, Pulp Fiction also reignited the career of John Travolta. Filled with well-developed characters, it won the Palme d’Or at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival and became a critical […]
4K UHD Review: Bad Lieutenant
Released in 1992, I remember Bad Lieutenant causing a sensation. Directed by Abel Ferrera, I remember feeling like it bordered on porn, with copious full-frontal male nudity, rampant drug use, masturbation, and a vile act of rape. Watching it again more than thirty years later, it remains an unsettling character study of a deplorable human […]
4K UHD Review: Mean Streets (Criterion Collection)
Universally recognized as the film that put Martin Scorsese on the map, Mean Streets not only established his signature style, but launched the careers of Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro. It effectively captures the aimless street life of its protagonists. Though the filmmaking lacks the polish of later Scorsese works, its gritty intensity makes […]
4K UHD Review: Red Dragon
Based on the same novel as Michael Mann’s 1986 film Manhunter (which starred Brian Cox as Hannibal Lechter) Red Dragon finds Anthony Hopkins (Who won an Oscar for 1991’s Silence of the Lambs) returning to the titular role. Edward Norton co-stars as FBI profiler Will Graham. He is investigating a missing persons case that he’s […]
Blu-ray Review Blue Collar
After finding success as a screenwriter on films such as Taxi Driver (directed by Martin Scorsese) and Obsession (directed by Brian DePalma), Paul Schrader earned enough clout to direct his own material. Schrader’s directorial debut Blue Collar follows three auto workers who can’t catch a break. Zeke (Richard Pryor) and Jerry (Harvey Keitel) are family […]
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Blu-ray)
Wes Anderson is rarely accused of being boring or dull. The dollhouse aesthetic, hypersytilization, and droll humor are uniquely Anderson. You either get it, or you don’t; critics be damned. Anderson’s films often have an aura of timelessness about them, even if set in the present day. The dialogue may be updated, but the shot […]
Blu-ray Review: Be Cool
F. Gary Gray’s follow up to Barry Sonnenfeld’s Get Shorty, Be Cool is an adaptation of yet another Elmore Leonard novel. Continuing the story of Chili Palmer, Gray’s film lacks much of the black humor and slick charm of the first film but still manages a few laughs. Picking up just after where Get Shorty […]
Pulp Fiction Coming to Blu-ray October 4th
Called “one of the most wanted Blu-ray titles of all time” (IGN) and ranked as such on numerous critics’ lists, Pulp Fiction is “nothing less than a cultural phenomenon” (Moviemaker Magazine). The film was honored with an Academy Award® for Best Original Screenplay (1994) and earned seven total nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director […]
Blu-ray Review: Thelma & Louise
MGM | 1991 | 130 mins. | R As a frequent moviegoer, I was thrilled when Thelma & Louise showed up at my local multiplex in 1991. After years of waiting, there was finally an honest-to-goodness female buddy picture that worked. With a solid script by first-timer Callie Khouri, fine star performances from Susan Sarandon […]