DVD Reviews
- New Movie Reviews: Speed Racer, What Happens in Vegas, and Monster Camp The Wachowski Brothers return to the big screen with their valentine to the cult Japanese anime series Speed Racer....
- TV on DVD: Friday Night Lights: The Second Season, Secrets of the Parthenon, and The Color Honeymooners TV on DVD remains very popular with more and more favorites being released. New TV reviews include: Friday Night Lights:...
- Anime Talk: Agent Aika, Buso Renkin, Death Note, and Oban Star Racers Here's another edition of Anime Talk for you to pour through! We've reviewed some very interesting and entertaining shows...
- DVD Savant: Fox Western Classics, Serial, and Death of a Cyclist This week the DVD Savant has a number of new reviews including: Fox Western Classics - An excellent and...
- This Week's Notable DVDs: Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie, Teeth, and P.S. I Love You Another banner week for DVDs with the studios releasing some great films and boxed sets such as: Mystery Science Theater...
- New DVD Reviews: The Big Trail, Party 7, and Mannequin? This week the DVD Talk Review Database has some great new entries, including some discs you may have overlooked....
- Cinematical Seven: Remembrances of Cannes Past
Filed under: Drama, Foreign Language, Awards, Cannes, Festival Reports, Cinematical Seven, Lists
I've been fortunate enough to have been able to go to Cannes for the past four years now, and I'm getting ready for my fifth. And, as I often say when explaining film festivals to people who've never been to one, it's not just an adventure; it's a job. Cannes is a "get-away" the same way running from a burning building is "a tour of the grounds"; there are plenty of movies, plenty of work, and the overall emotional tone of the event is a mix of exhaustion and exhilaration. The heady moments of pure movie magic come fast and furious with the muck-and-money reality of international financing and distribution happening all about you.Going to Cannes means seeing at least 40, maybe 50 or more movies in 10 days, never mind actually thinking and writing about them; you'd think that that kind of pace would soon turn into a blur, and it does, but it's a glorious one. Here's some of my favorite movie going moments (highly subjective, of course -- I've not included last year's ridiculously strong quartet of Persepolis, No Country for Old Men, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, as they're still so fresh in my mind) from the past four years of the Cannes Film Festival; think of these as the rushed recollections of a film critic who knows exactly how lucky he's been.
Continue reading Cinematical Seven: Remembrances of Cannes Past
Permalink | Email this | Comments - Jette's Mom: Dr. Zhivago
(In honor of Mother's Day, we're launching a series of posts today written, in part, by our mothers after we asked them one simple (yet very complex) question: What's your favorite movie and why?)
I don't quite understand how I knew, when I asked my mom about her favorite film, that she was going to pick Doctor Zhivago. But I guessed it immediately. She's never mentioned it as a favorite. Maybe it's because when she talks about Omar Sharif in that film, she gets this faraway look that you see when someone's reminiscing about a movie they've loved for a long time. Maybe someday we can watch it together, preferably in a theater. Here's what Mom replied when I asked her about her favorites.
"The first movies that popped into my mind were Great Expectations (1946), Citizen Kane, and Jane Eyre (1944). I must really be living in the past! I just thought they were great movies. But the sentimental me settled on Doctor Zhivago. That was a great epic, had fantastic panoramic scenes, great scenery, and was a wonderful love story. The music was very good and it didn't hurt that I had fallen in love with Omar Sharif in Lawrence of Arabia and loved him in this too. In fact, I thought this was well cast and the acting was great!"Permalink | Email this | Comments - Eugene's Mom: The Godfather
(In honor of Mother's Day, we're launching a series of posts today written, in part, by our mothers after we asked them one simple (yet very complex) question: What's your favorite movie and why?)
I take a lot of credit for my mom's burgeoning cinephilia. Used to be that she'd balk at anything remotely suspenseful, frightening or "unpleasant" (I think because she makes herself so emotionally available when she watches a movie that a nasty one can really wound), but I'm happy to report that last year, she voluntarily sat through No Country for Old Men, and even enjoyed it. When I asked her to name her favorite movie, she rattled off a list long enough that I had to stop her and tell her that this isn't the assignment. When I insisted she narrow it down to one, she regretfully cast off House of Games, You Can Count on Me and The Savages (Laura Linney is beloved in the Novikov household), and landed on The Godfather. By the end of the movie, she says, she feels like one of the family -- which is slightly terrifying, but I can see what she means. She tells me, "I can watch it every day and never get tired of it;" I believe her. And I'm awfully proud of her choice.Permalink | Email this | Comments - Christopher's Mom: Good Will Hunting
(In honor of Mother's Day, we're launching a series of posts today written, in part, by our mothers after we asked them one simple (yet very complex) question: What's your favorite movie and why?)
My mother, Deanna, is not much of a cinephile, but she claims to have at least learned from me different ways of appreciating movies. For example, she was always a huge Rogers and Hammerstein fan, and still cites The Sound of Music and South Pacific, as well as the non-R&H musical My Fair Lady, as some of her favorite films. But after I went to film school in the mid-90s, she became a fan of Quentin Tarantino dialogue and added Reservoir Dogs and True Romance to her list. However, it was dropping out of college that caused her to subjectively choose Good Will Hunting as her most favorite movie of all time:
"I love GWH very much because of how much the lead character reminds me of my son (Christopher) and how gifted/intelligent he is ... and how frustrated friends and family of his (like Will's) were when he decided there was no need to return to college and get his degree ... etc. But now that Christopher, as Will did, has come to his senses (!!!!) and did go back to school ... and he graduates with honors this month ... and how happy Chistopher's friend's and family and especially his MOM are.... well, I won't tell you the ending! You'll just have to watch the film and come listen to me brag on and on and on about my Christopher!!!!"
Permalink | Email this | Comments - Eric's Mom: Remember the Titans
Filed under: Drama, Sports, Fandom
(In honor of Mother's Day, we're launching a series of posts today written, in part, by our mothers after we asked them one simple (yet very complex) question: What's your favorite movie and why?)
Momma Snider's preferred method of watching TV and movies is to sit on the couch with her laptop or her art projects and keep one eye on whatever my dad is watching. But sometimes a movie grabs her complete attention. She loves scary movies (nothing R-rated, please), and she has a weakness for Adam Sandler. We both loved Waitress and Hairspray last year, a somewhat rare convergence of our opinions. And Mom and I agree on another film, too....
"I love Remember the Titans. It's set in my senior year in high school, so the music reminds me of high school. I'd love to get the soundtrack. [I don't think she intended that as a hint, but I took it as one anyway.] It's such a warm story. I have trouble comprehending that in 1971 in some parts of the country there was still that kind of racial junk going on, but I guess it was like that in the South. It comes on TV a lot, and we have it on DVD -- and VHS -- so every time it comes on we start watching it, and then we get frustrated with the commercials and put on the DVD. And Denzel Washington! I love Denzel Washington."Permalink | Email this | Comments - Erik's Mom: Annie Hall
.jpg)
(In honor of Mother's Day, we're launching a series of posts today written, in part, by our mothers after we asked them one simple (yet very complex) question: What's your favorite movie and why?)
The first film I ever watched with my parents was Annie Hall. I was three. I'd go on to watch bits and pieces of it throughout the years (my mother always had it on), but it wasn't until later in life that I came to really appreciate everything this film represents and all that it means for my eccentric Jewish family from New York. So when I asked my mother for her favorite movie, I already knew this would be the first one out of her mouth ...
"At that time, I related to Annie Hall. I always dressed differently; was always trying to better myself. We were hip, your Dad and I; we lived in the city and I even had a Bloomingdale's card that Daddy was always trying to take away from me. I just saw myself in this film. I went to school, but never finished -- not only was Woody Allen at his best when he made this film, but he also captured this time in New York City perfectly. A close second after Annie Hall would be The Big Chill -- because I never graduated college and I never had a group of friends like that, so I was always drawn to that movie. And the soundtrack ... how do you beat that soundtrack?"Permalink | Email this | Comments - Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (US - DVD R1) Universal has sent over some sales artwork as well as some menu screens
- Chaos Theory (US - DVD R1) Warner Home Video sends over artwork for a new film starring Ryan Reynolds
- National Lampoon Presents Beach Party At The Threshold Of Hell (US - DVD R1) Combining post-apocalyptic satire and flesh-eating women, this arrives in July
- National Lampoon's Bag Boy (US - DVD R1) July sees the release of the first NP film to be produced in-house in 18 years
- Men in Black (US - BD) Sony has revealed the specs and art for their forthcoming BD release of the film
- Mad Men (US - DVD R1 | BD RA) We have specs and artwork for the DVD and Blu-ray releases from Lionsgate...