Alain Delon Has a Job to Execute in Trailer for 4K Restoration of Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samouraï
Whatever the idea of “canonized” suggests, few films of such order are quite so well-liked and perpetually referenced (or just ripped-off) as Le Samouraï, leaving me somewhat surprised we haven’t yet had a 4K treatment in the United States. But it was just a matter of time, and Jean-Pierre Melville’s ice-cold thriller now receives its due: Criterion and Pathé returned to the original 35mm negative for a restoration Film Forum debuts in a two-week run starting March 29.
Ahead of this comes a trailer that, even accounting for streaming compression, suggests the spectacular––Melville’s cool palette luminous as ever, the mono sound punchier than Criterion’s old DVD.
Find the new preview and poster below:
Professional hitman Delon lies fully-clothed in his threadbare monochrome apartment, then goes off to a day at the office: stealing a car, killing a man in a nightclub, setting up an ironclad alibi,...
Ahead of this comes a trailer that, even accounting for streaming compression, suggests the spectacular––Melville’s cool palette luminous as ever, the mono sound punchier than Criterion’s old DVD.
Find the new preview and poster below:
Professional hitman Delon lies fully-clothed in his threadbare monochrome apartment, then goes off to a day at the office: stealing a car, killing a man in a nightclub, setting up an ironclad alibi,...
- 3/13/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
The Criterion Collection is known for their dedication to championing classic and contemporary movies we should all be seeing, showcasing them with exquisite transfers and film school-level special features. But when it comes to their streaming service The Criterion Channel, the catalog is a bit looser. And it got weird and worse(?) this month, as they added a 14-title retrospective of the Golden Raspberry Awards. Titled “And the Razzie Goes To…”, Criterion’s grouping compiles 14 movies that come complete with bees, turkey time and whatever the hell Tom Green was doing for the duration of Freddy Got Fingered.
Here is the full list of Razzie flicks now available on The Criterion Channel: Cruising (1980), Heaven’s Gate (1980), Xanadu (1980), Querelle (1982), Under the Cherry Moon (1986), Ishtar (1987), Cocktail (1988), Showgirls (1995), Barb Wire (1996), The Blair Witch Project (1999), Freddy Got Fingered (2001), Swept Away (2002), Gigli (2003), and The Wicker Man (2006). That’s more than 80 Razzie nominations, ranging from Showgirls’s...
Here is the full list of Razzie flicks now available on The Criterion Channel: Cruising (1980), Heaven’s Gate (1980), Xanadu (1980), Querelle (1982), Under the Cherry Moon (1986), Ishtar (1987), Cocktail (1988), Showgirls (1995), Barb Wire (1996), The Blair Witch Project (1999), Freddy Got Fingered (2001), Swept Away (2002), Gigli (2003), and The Wicker Man (2006). That’s more than 80 Razzie nominations, ranging from Showgirls’s...
- 3/2/2024
- by Mathew Plale
- JoBlo.com
David Bordwell, the noted film scholar, teacher, author and researcher known for sharing his knowledge and enthusiasm of cinema with movie lovers everywhere, has died. He was 76.
Bordwell died Thursday after a long illness, the University of Wisconsin-Madison announced. He taught at the school from 1973 until his retirement in 2004 and was its Jacques Ledoux Professor Emeritus of Film Studies at the time of his death.
For more than two decades, Bordwell supplied commentaries, visual and written essays and interviews for films in the Criterion Collection and was seen and heard on 50 insightful episodes of Observations on Film Art on the Criterion Channel.
In a statement, Criterion called him “a great, longtime friend and a tireless champion of cinema who spent decades imparting his wisdom and passion onto film lovers around the world.”
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Bordwell wrote his essential textbooks Film Art: An Introduction,...
Bordwell died Thursday after a long illness, the University of Wisconsin-Madison announced. He taught at the school from 1973 until his retirement in 2004 and was its Jacques Ledoux Professor Emeritus of Film Studies at the time of his death.
For more than two decades, Bordwell supplied commentaries, visual and written essays and interviews for films in the Criterion Collection and was seen and heard on 50 insightful episodes of Observations on Film Art on the Criterion Channel.
In a statement, Criterion called him “a great, longtime friend and a tireless champion of cinema who spent decades imparting his wisdom and passion onto film lovers around the world.”
View this post on Instagram
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Bordwell wrote his essential textbooks Film Art: An Introduction,...
- 3/2/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Criterion’s got murder on their mind. This May will bring a 4K release of Michael Powell’s career-killing masterpiece Peeping Tom, supplemented by appearances from its biggest fans Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker. More recent (and less certain on questions of guilt) is Anatomy of a Fall, arriving on Blu-ray with a 5.1 surround DTS-hd Master Audio rendition of “P.I.M.P. (Instrumental).” Meanwhile, Karyn Kusama’s 2001 feature Girlfight gets a Bd.
Then there’s two sets. Sicking up the mantle of Janus’ career-spanning retrospective, Criterion will release a three-film Ousmane Sembène offering this May––Emitaï, Xala, and Ceddo spread across a nicely designed box––and Ozu’s Floating Weeds / A Story of Floating Weeds duology, which I honestly cannot believe has been stuck on DVD for decades. Color Ozu should be nationally subsidized, and this is a good start at least.
Find cover art below and more details...
Then there’s two sets. Sicking up the mantle of Janus’ career-spanning retrospective, Criterion will release a three-film Ousmane Sembène offering this May––Emitaï, Xala, and Ceddo spread across a nicely designed box––and Ozu’s Floating Weeds / A Story of Floating Weeds duology, which I honestly cannot believe has been stuck on DVD for decades. Color Ozu should be nationally subsidized, and this is a good start at least.
Find cover art below and more details...
- 2/15/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Salaud Morisset, the Paris- and Berlin-based sales and production outfit, has closed deals on “Excursion,” Una Gunjak’s feature debut which won the Jury Special Mention at the Locarno Film Festival.
Salaud Morisset, which also co-produced “Excursion,” has closed sales deals with Angel Films (Denmark), Filmin (Spain), Zero em Comportamento (Portugal), Access Cinema (Ireland), JUNO11 Distribution (Hungary), Hakka Distribution (Tunisia), Fivia (Slovenia), McF MegaCom (Montenegro & North Macedonia), No Blink Film (Bulgaria) and Silver Screen (Romania).
The banner will pursue sales on the film at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous showcase this week and is already in advanced negotiations to secure deals for the U.K., Germany and Benelux.
Zagreb Film Festival will release the film in Croatia, and Obala Art Centar will distribute in Bosnia. Previously announced deals include France (Jhr Films) and Sweden (Buff Distribution), as well as a multi-territory, SVOD/Pay-tv deal with HBO Europe for Central and Eastern Europe.
Salaud Morisset, which also co-produced “Excursion,” has closed sales deals with Angel Films (Denmark), Filmin (Spain), Zero em Comportamento (Portugal), Access Cinema (Ireland), JUNO11 Distribution (Hungary), Hakka Distribution (Tunisia), Fivia (Slovenia), McF MegaCom (Montenegro & North Macedonia), No Blink Film (Bulgaria) and Silver Screen (Romania).
The banner will pursue sales on the film at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous showcase this week and is already in advanced negotiations to secure deals for the U.K., Germany and Benelux.
Zagreb Film Festival will release the film in Croatia, and Obala Art Centar will distribute in Bosnia. Previously announced deals include France (Jhr Films) and Sweden (Buff Distribution), as well as a multi-territory, SVOD/Pay-tv deal with HBO Europe for Central and Eastern Europe.
- 1/17/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” is a culmination of sorts for Scorsese and his two most frequent collaborators, Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio. The upcoming Apple film – which debuts in theaters on October 20 via Paramount – marks the 10th time Scorsese and De Niro have worked together on a feature and the sixth time Scorsese and DiCaprio have joined forces. It’s also the first film of Scorsese’s lengthy career to feature both actors simultaneously.
That it took so long for the three men to work together on a film might seem surprising – Scorsese has said De Niro was at least about both “Gangs of New York” and “The Departed” – but it was also kind of inevitable. After all, Scorsese first heard about DiCaprio from De Niro after the “Raging Bull” Oscar winner starred in “This Boy’s Life” opposite the young actor.
“He said, ‘You should...
That it took so long for the three men to work together on a film might seem surprising – Scorsese has said De Niro was at least about both “Gangs of New York” and “The Departed” – but it was also kind of inevitable. After all, Scorsese first heard about DiCaprio from De Niro after the “Raging Bull” Oscar winner starred in “This Boy’s Life” opposite the young actor.
“He said, ‘You should...
- 10/17/2023
- by Christopher Rosen
- Gold Derby
Forget “Annie Hall” or “Sex and the City.” For a certain generation of audiences, Martin Scorsese’s 1985 “After Hours” made you want to move to New York City.
“It’s like, wow, that place is so exciting and you never know what’s around the next corner and who I’m going to bump into and how I’m almost going to die and the subway fare will get raised in the middle of the night,” “After Hours” producer Amy Robinson said in a recent interview with IndieWire.
If you haven’t seen this existential screwball classic about paranoid android computer programmer Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) and his dark night of the soul in lower Manhattan, a more recent film serves as a useful retrospective primer: Ari Aster’s “Beau Is Afraid” and especially its Hieroynomous-Bosch-on-bath-salts first hour, set in a downtown hellscape spinning off the orbit of 40-something-year-old virgin...
“It’s like, wow, that place is so exciting and you never know what’s around the next corner and who I’m going to bump into and how I’m almost going to die and the subway fare will get raised in the middle of the night,” “After Hours” producer Amy Robinson said in a recent interview with IndieWire.
If you haven’t seen this existential screwball classic about paranoid android computer programmer Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) and his dark night of the soul in lower Manhattan, a more recent film serves as a useful retrospective primer: Ari Aster’s “Beau Is Afraid” and especially its Hieroynomous-Bosch-on-bath-salts first hour, set in a downtown hellscape spinning off the orbit of 40-something-year-old virgin...
- 8/15/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
“You’re listening to a guy who learned a lot about ripping off movies from watching laserdiscs with director commentary,” says Paul Thomas Anderson at the beginning of his “Boogie Nights” DVD commentary, acknowledging something many of us learned in the early days of the Criterion Collection back in the late 1980s and early ‘90s: Listening to filmmakers talk about craft as their movie unspools is one of the best ways to start thinking like a filmmaker.
Of course, not all commentaries are created equal, and for every P.T. Anderson or Martin Scorsese who is great at articulating their process, there are dozens of directors who fall back on the “so and so was great to work with” style of narration or merely describe the onscreen action. In the interest of saving you the time and aggravation that come with wasting hours on unworthy tracks, here are 25 of the best...
Of course, not all commentaries are created equal, and for every P.T. Anderson or Martin Scorsese who is great at articulating their process, there are dozens of directors who fall back on the “so and so was great to work with” style of narration or merely describe the onscreen action. In the interest of saving you the time and aggravation that come with wasting hours on unworthy tracks, here are 25 of the best...
- 7/3/2023
- by Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
Famed Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman was only a decade into his half-century career when he made The Seventh Seal. It was not his first film to reach international audiences, nor the first one to receive great acclaim. But it was, perhaps, the one for whom the largest audience is familiar, if only for its famous iconography of the Knight playing chess with Death. But far from being a gimmick, this iconography is referential because of its raw and complex power, one that shines in this new restoration done by Criterion. The story of a knight and his squire returning to their native Sweden, and finding it stark and bereft as much of the population succombs to the black plague, has been a cornerstone not only...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 4/17/2023
- Screen Anarchy
Over the years, multiple documentaries have been made about The Rolling Stones. Films have tracked the band’s performances, dynamics, and disagreements as far back as the 1960s. Here are four documentaries about The Rolling Stones that fans of the band should watch.
The Rolling Stones | Paul Natkin/Getty Images 1. ‘My Life as a Rolling Stone’ is a documentary series
My Life as a Rolling Stone is a four-part documentary series that dedicates one episode to each member of the band. While the episode that focuses on Charlie Watts relies on archival footage, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Ronnie Wood sat for interviews.
The series touches on the history that fans know well — drug busts, notable performances, and tax exile, for example — but also presents the members of the band as individuals. This approach allows viewers to see each of their contributions to the band, which has remained together for decades.
The Rolling Stones | Paul Natkin/Getty Images 1. ‘My Life as a Rolling Stone’ is a documentary series
My Life as a Rolling Stone is a four-part documentary series that dedicates one episode to each member of the band. While the episode that focuses on Charlie Watts relies on archival footage, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Ronnie Wood sat for interviews.
The series touches on the history that fans know well — drug busts, notable performances, and tax exile, for example — but also presents the members of the band as individuals. This approach allows viewers to see each of their contributions to the band, which has remained together for decades.
- 3/9/2023
- by Emma McKee
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Among the most beloved Wes Anderson films, The Grand Budapest Hotel is chock-full of primo talent. This is nothing new for Anderson, who has been making A-list ensemble movies since the late nineties. But when it came to casting Monsieur Gustave, Anderson says Ralph Fiennes was the only choice.
‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ stars Ralph Fiennes as Monsieur Gustave Actor Ralph Fiennes attends “The Grand Budapest Hotel” premiere at Alice Tully Hall on February 26, 2014 in New York City. | Mike Pont/FilmMagic
The Grand Budapest Hotel is a story within a story, with the majority of the film unfolding in the 1930s. Anderson takes viewers on a whimsical journey back to the heyday of the fictional Grand Budapest Hotel. There, the devoted and meticulous Monsieur Gustave provides guests with the experience of a lifetime. Viewers soon find out that Gustave will go to any length to ensure guest satisfaction — including sleeping...
‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ stars Ralph Fiennes as Monsieur Gustave Actor Ralph Fiennes attends “The Grand Budapest Hotel” premiere at Alice Tully Hall on February 26, 2014 in New York City. | Mike Pont/FilmMagic
The Grand Budapest Hotel is a story within a story, with the majority of the film unfolding in the 1930s. Anderson takes viewers on a whimsical journey back to the heyday of the fictional Grand Budapest Hotel. There, the devoted and meticulous Monsieur Gustave provides guests with the experience of a lifetime. Viewers soon find out that Gustave will go to any length to ensure guest satisfaction — including sleeping...
- 2/20/2023
- by Lindsay Kusiak
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Your player and Oled alike shall receive a workout this May, Criterion having given some of the sharpest black-and-white cinema’s ever seen the 4K treatment. Wings of Desire––as much of a flagship title as anything among their catalogue, and in 4K even more of a unique opportunity to pretend you saw Nick Cave circa 1987––and Seijun Suzuki’s Branded to Kill, whose widescreen compositions are so honed they might cut glass, constitute nothing but very wise choices. I can’t express much enthusiasm for Thelma and Louis also getting 2,160 pixels, but I don’t run the show and these aren’t my decisions to make.
The Blu-ray side is formidable just on the basis of Peter Bogdanovich’s Targets, among the greatest and most venomous movies about movies––good luck enjoying the drive-in again––and bears further credit for its Adam Nayman essay. Because I haven’t seen...
The Blu-ray side is formidable just on the basis of Peter Bogdanovich’s Targets, among the greatest and most venomous movies about movies––good luck enjoying the drive-in again––and bears further credit for its Adam Nayman essay. Because I haven’t seen...
- 2/15/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
The Criterion Collection Announce March Lineup: Inland Empire, Mildred Pierce in 4K, John Woo & More
March is for women in trouble. So Criterion decided when they slotted Inland Empire, which follows this year’s major repertory run with a dazzlingly stacked set, while Mildred Pierce gets a 4K upgrade from 2017’s release. The latter’s black-and-white images will surely dazzle at 3,160 pixels; though the former is only Blu-ray, we expect it’ll respect David Lynch’s intent and looks like complete fucking shit. Above all the inclusion of Lynch’s 75-minute deleted-scenes collection More Things That Happened and 2007 short Ballerina do plenty to contextualize this point in the director’s career, as do a pair making-of docs. But consider me especially intrigued by a new conversation between Laura Dern and Kyle Maclachlan.
John Woo makes his long-overdue entrance—and just as fortuitously continues Criterion’s recent spate of Hong Kong cinema—with his early feature Last Hurrah for Chivalry. I’ll also consider this opportunity...
John Woo makes his long-overdue entrance—and just as fortuitously continues Criterion’s recent spate of Hong Kong cinema—with his early feature Last Hurrah for Chivalry. I’ll also consider this opportunity...
- 12/15/2022
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
‘Wall-e’ Director Andrew Stanton Explains How Pixar’s Sci-Fi Darling Joined the Criterion Collection
“Wall•E,” the tale of a little trash-collecting robot that voyages to the cosmos and winds up restarting humanity, is many things. It’s Pixar’s ninth animated feature, released at a time when the studio was on an unprecedented creative hot streak (it was sandwiched snugly in-between “Ratatouille” and “Up”). It’s also one of the most idiosyncratic movies in the studio’s history, featuring live-action components (some aided by visual effects house Industrial Light & Magic), cinematography inspired and advised by Roger Deakins and a largely wordless first act that calls back to the earliest days of cinema.
And while the movie was rapturously received (New York Times critic A.O. Scott put it as his #1 movie of 2008 and said: “the visual sublimity of Andrew Stanton’s latest Pixar masterpiece is matched by a depth and sweetness of feeling not seen since the heyday of Charlie Chaplin”) and continues to...
And while the movie was rapturously received (New York Times critic A.O. Scott put it as his #1 movie of 2008 and said: “the visual sublimity of Andrew Stanton’s latest Pixar masterpiece is matched by a depth and sweetness of feeling not seen since the heyday of Charlie Chaplin”) and continues to...
- 11/29/2022
- by Drew Taylor
- The Wrap
Over the course of nearly 25 years, the Criterion Collection has established itself as the premier home-media location for cinephiles to get pristine copies of French-language commentaries on World War II, the films of Wes Anderson, samurai epics, and everything in between. If there's one area where Criterion is lacking (relatively speaking), it's in the medium of animation. But this month, Criterion has welcomed a very big new addition to the collection with a new 4K release of the Oscar-winning Disney/Pixar film "Wall-e." The three-disc set is predictably a feast for the eyes, and marks a very big milestone: This is the first Disney film to make its way to Criterion.
Recently, /Film was able to sit down with Andrew Stanton, the Academy Award-winning filmmaker who directed and co-wrote "Wall-e," to talk about how the wistful and companion-starved trash-collector robot wound up on the Criterion Collection, the film's still-resonant social commentary,...
Recently, /Film was able to sit down with Andrew Stanton, the Academy Award-winning filmmaker who directed and co-wrote "Wall-e," to talk about how the wistful and companion-starved trash-collector robot wound up on the Criterion Collection, the film's still-resonant social commentary,...
- 11/22/2022
- by Josh Spiegel
- Slash Film
It's hard to imagine the animation landscape as it is today without the 2008 release of "Wall-e." Even if you aren't a big fan of Disney's domination of the medium, you can't deny that it is a tender love story that deals with heavy themes such as environmental decay and consumerism. If you ever once thought that animation was just for kids, "Wall-e" proves you wrong.
This is likely why "Wall-e" was selected as the Criterion Collection's first-ever entry from Disney, and while you may have mixed emotions about a Disney movie getting inducted, there are few movies that deserve it more than Andrew Stanton's. /Film's Josh Spiegel interviewed the longtime Pixar director ahead of his film's Criterion release, which will arrive in stores on November 22, and Stanton revealed that he has a few releases from the prestigious label, revealing his favorite releases along the way:
"Top of the list...
This is likely why "Wall-e" was selected as the Criterion Collection's first-ever entry from Disney, and while you may have mixed emotions about a Disney movie getting inducted, there are few movies that deserve it more than Andrew Stanton's. /Film's Josh Spiegel interviewed the longtime Pixar director ahead of his film's Criterion release, which will arrive in stores on November 22, and Stanton revealed that he has a few releases from the prestigious label, revealing his favorite releases along the way:
"Top of the list...
- 11/7/2022
- by Erin Brady
- Slash Film
Criterion has let go a number of staffers in a “reorganization” of the company that took place on Wednesday, October 19.
Criterion Collection President Peter Becker told IndieWire that the layoffs affected several departments — and about 20 percent of the company, with 16 employees laid off from a staff of over 80.
“Yesterday was a sad day at Criterion,” Becker said via email. “We had to part ways with a number of staffers across several departments as part of a reorganization intended to prepare the company for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead, which are markedly different from the ones we had built ourselves up to address in the past.”
He added that there were no further staff changes planned. “We spoke personally with everyone impacted to express the company’s respect and our gratitude for their work, of which we all remain very proud,” he said.
Criterion representatives declined to comment further...
Criterion Collection President Peter Becker told IndieWire that the layoffs affected several departments — and about 20 percent of the company, with 16 employees laid off from a staff of over 80.
“Yesterday was a sad day at Criterion,” Becker said via email. “We had to part ways with a number of staffers across several departments as part of a reorganization intended to prepare the company for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead, which are markedly different from the ones we had built ourselves up to address in the past.”
He added that there were no further staff changes planned. “We spoke personally with everyone impacted to express the company’s respect and our gratitude for their work, of which we all remain very proud,” he said.
Criterion representatives declined to comment further...
- 10/20/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson and Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
"Being John Malkovich" was a huge success because it's so bold and unique, but that's exactly what made its success so unexpected. The writer, Charlie Kaufman, was new to feature screenwriting after cutting his teeth in television. The director, Spike Jonze, had only ever made commercials and music videos. This would be the first feature film for both of them, but neither imagined it would go very far. Thankfully, they were wrong, and their collaboration earned them each an Oscar nomination.
Kaufman didn't even expect "Being John Malkovich" to get made when he wrote it. He was working as a sitcom writer at the time and struggling to make it in the industry. "Charlie, he'd written it really just for fun, he never thought it was gonna get made," Jonze explained to Criterion (via Joseph Dolo). "He wrote it as something he hoped would get him some jobs in the film business.
Kaufman didn't even expect "Being John Malkovich" to get made when he wrote it. He was working as a sitcom writer at the time and struggling to make it in the industry. "Charlie, he'd written it really just for fun, he never thought it was gonna get made," Jonze explained to Criterion (via Joseph Dolo). "He wrote it as something he hoped would get him some jobs in the film business.
- 9/18/2022
- by Shae Sennett
- Slash Film
“Wall-e,” Pixar’s 2008 sci-fi love-story animated film classic, is getting a special three-disc 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray release from the Criterion Collection this fall.
The special edition of “Wall-e,” the first collaboration between Criterion and Disney’s Pixar, features a 4K digital master approved by director Andrew Stanton, according to Criterion. The three-disc set will be available Nov. 22, 2022, and is currently available to pre-order from Criterion’s site for 39.96.
“Wall-e” is set in the 29th century, after humans have long since fled Earth for outer space, leaving the movie’s protagonist — the last functioning trash-compacting robot — to go about the work of cleaning up the pollution-choked planet, one piece of garbage at a time. When he meets Eve, a fellow automaton sent to detect plant life, the pair are launched on an intergalactic quest to return humanity to Earth.
According to Criterion’s description, “Transporting us simultaneously back to cinema...
The special edition of “Wall-e,” the first collaboration between Criterion and Disney’s Pixar, features a 4K digital master approved by director Andrew Stanton, according to Criterion. The three-disc set will be available Nov. 22, 2022, and is currently available to pre-order from Criterion’s site for 39.96.
“Wall-e” is set in the 29th century, after humans have long since fled Earth for outer space, leaving the movie’s protagonist — the last functioning trash-compacting robot — to go about the work of cleaning up the pollution-choked planet, one piece of garbage at a time. When he meets Eve, a fellow automaton sent to detect plant life, the pair are launched on an intergalactic quest to return humanity to Earth.
According to Criterion’s description, “Transporting us simultaneously back to cinema...
- 9/8/2022
- by Todd Spangler
- Variety Film + TV
Hitchcock had Jimmy Stewart, Kurosawa had Toshiro Mifune and John Cassavetes had Ben Gazarra. 1976’s The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, the second of three tempestuous collaborations between the determined director and his equally strong-willed star, is a fatalistic gangster movie with Gazzara’s beleaguered strip club entrepreneur run through an obstacle course of existential conflicts worthy of a Norman Mailer novel. The 135 minute film bombed in its initial release and in 1978 Cassavetes performed some elective surgery bringing the star-crossed movie down to 108 minutes.
The post The Killing of a Chinese Bookie appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post The Killing of a Chinese Bookie appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 7/27/2022
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
Actor Philip Baker Hall is being remembered by Hollywood as one of the great character actors and a “lovely man” who was “never not good” whenever he appeared on screen.
Baker Hall, who died Sunday night at age 90, was honored by his “Magnolia” co-star Patton Oswalt, as well as stars such as Michael McKean, Bradley Whitford and director Greg Mottola, among others in Hollywood.
“I hope he’s in heaven having a sandwich, drinking a glass of milk, doing some f—in’ thing,” Patton Oswalt tweeted, making a reference to a classic scene featuring Baker Hall from “Midnight Run.”
Also Read:
Julee Cruise, ‘Twin Peaks’ Theme Singer and David Lynch Regular, Dies at 65
“A fantastic actor, a lovely man, and nobody made Larry David break on camera as much as Phil,” Mottola said in reference to Baker Hall’s two “Curb Your Enthusiasm” appearances.
Fans and cinephiles online shared clips...
Baker Hall, who died Sunday night at age 90, was honored by his “Magnolia” co-star Patton Oswalt, as well as stars such as Michael McKean, Bradley Whitford and director Greg Mottola, among others in Hollywood.
“I hope he’s in heaven having a sandwich, drinking a glass of milk, doing some f—in’ thing,” Patton Oswalt tweeted, making a reference to a classic scene featuring Baker Hall from “Midnight Run.”
Also Read:
Julee Cruise, ‘Twin Peaks’ Theme Singer and David Lynch Regular, Dies at 65
“A fantastic actor, a lovely man, and nobody made Larry David break on camera as much as Phil,” Mottola said in reference to Baker Hall’s two “Curb Your Enthusiasm” appearances.
Fans and cinephiles online shared clips...
- 6/13/2022
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” is widely regarded as both one of the best western films of the 21st century and one of the most prominent recent examples of a studio interfering with a great movie.
Andrew Dominik’s moody, contemplative western has more in common with Terrence Malick than John Ford or Howard Hawks, but there are plenty of stories of Warner Bros. trying to make the film more mainstream. However, despite a brutal editing process, Dominik was still able to release a film that illustrated his vision and earned two Oscar nominations.
But recently, the film’s production team has been speaking out about a rumored cut of the film that is even longer than the 160-minute version that hit theaters. Speaking to Collider, cinematographer Roger Deakins recently caught cinephiles’ attention when he recalled watching this longer version of the film, even if...
Andrew Dominik’s moody, contemplative western has more in common with Terrence Malick than John Ford or Howard Hawks, but there are plenty of stories of Warner Bros. trying to make the film more mainstream. However, despite a brutal editing process, Dominik was still able to release a film that illustrated his vision and earned two Oscar nominations.
But recently, the film’s production team has been speaking out about a rumored cut of the film that is even longer than the 160-minute version that hit theaters. Speaking to Collider, cinematographer Roger Deakins recently caught cinephiles’ attention when he recalled watching this longer version of the film, even if...
- 4/17/2022
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Lovers of vintage English crime thrillers will have a lot to chew over with this pair of escapist gangster pix, one pre-war and one post-. In each an innocent young couple suffers a run-in with a criminal gang. John Mills and Richard Attenborough are the ‘fresh’ new talent on display. The leading lady of Dancing with Crime is Sheila Sim, playing opposite her husband Attenborough. The co-feature The Green Cockatoo sports credits for William Cameron Menzies and Miklós Rózsa.
Dancing with Crime + The Green Cockatoo
Blu-ray
Cohen Film Collection / Kino Lorber
1937 & 1947 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 82 + 64 min. / Street Date January 25, 2022 / Available from Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Richard Attenborough, Sheila Sim, Barry Jones; John Mills, René Ray, Robert Newton.
Original Music: Benjamin Frankel, Miklós Rózsa
Directed by John Paddy Carstairs; William Cameron Menzies
The Blu-ray era has given home video devotees great opportunities to catch up with ‘exotic’ genre films from abroad. American TV...
Dancing with Crime + The Green Cockatoo
Blu-ray
Cohen Film Collection / Kino Lorber
1937 & 1947 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 82 + 64 min. / Street Date January 25, 2022 / Available from Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Richard Attenborough, Sheila Sim, Barry Jones; John Mills, René Ray, Robert Newton.
Original Music: Benjamin Frankel, Miklós Rózsa
Directed by John Paddy Carstairs; William Cameron Menzies
The Blu-ray era has given home video devotees great opportunities to catch up with ‘exotic’ genre films from abroad. American TV...
- 1/11/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The final curtain has fallen on Stephen Sondheim, maestro of American musical theater, who died at 91 on Friday. The brilliant mind behind “Into The Woods,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Company,” “Sunday in The Park With George,” and many, many more was a titan of Broadway, and the last living connection to the golden age of musicals. As a film critic, my early cinematic experiences began with musical movies, including filmed stage versions of “Into The Woods,” “Gypsy,” and of course, “West Side Story,” for which a very young Stephen Sondheim wrote the lyrics (same for “Gypsy.”)
It set me up for a lifetime of appreciating high drama, grand spectacle — and the unlikely comedic potential of cannibalism.
As last year’s Zoom-ified 90th birthday celebration for Sondheim proved, performing his songs is no small task. Numbers like “Send in The Clowns,” “Ladies Who Lunch,” and “Being Alive” are five-act plays in and of themselves,...
It set me up for a lifetime of appreciating high drama, grand spectacle — and the unlikely comedic potential of cannibalism.
As last year’s Zoom-ified 90th birthday celebration for Sondheim proved, performing his songs is no small task. Numbers like “Send in The Clowns,” “Ladies Who Lunch,” and “Being Alive” are five-act plays in and of themselves,...
- 11/27/2021
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Onibaba
Blu ray
Criterion
1964/ 2.39:1/ 102 Minutes
Starring Nobuko Otowa, Jitsuko Yoshimura
Directed by Kaneto Shindô
Kaneto Shindô’s Onibaba is a campfire tale not for the faint of heart. The director was just a child when he first heard the Buddhist fable about a bewitched matriarch, told to him by his own mother in lieu of a bedtime story. That evening, the child’s perception of the world, and the women in it, took on a new dimension. The movie Shindô made from those memories is unclassifiable—a Bergmanesque allegory filmed in a graceful yet spartan style with a healthy dose of Grand Guignol to mitigate its pretensions. Produced in 1964, the film is set in the medieval era just as civil war has leveled Kyoto, sending the populace scurrying to the hinterlands.
Shindô wrote the screenplay and he leaves it to one of his characters, a deserter named Hachi, to...
Blu ray
Criterion
1964/ 2.39:1/ 102 Minutes
Starring Nobuko Otowa, Jitsuko Yoshimura
Directed by Kaneto Shindô
Kaneto Shindô’s Onibaba is a campfire tale not for the faint of heart. The director was just a child when he first heard the Buddhist fable about a bewitched matriarch, told to him by his own mother in lieu of a bedtime story. That evening, the child’s perception of the world, and the women in it, took on a new dimension. The movie Shindô made from those memories is unclassifiable—a Bergmanesque allegory filmed in a graceful yet spartan style with a healthy dose of Grand Guignol to mitigate its pretensions. Produced in 1964, the film is set in the medieval era just as civil war has leveled Kyoto, sending the populace scurrying to the hinterlands.
Shindô wrote the screenplay and he leaves it to one of his characters, a deserter named Hachi, to...
- 10/19/2021
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
A non-profit organization dedicated to film preservation and the exhibition of restored and classic cinema, the Foundation has overseen the restoration of over 900 films to date. In her keynote address at the Lumière Festival’s Classic Film Market, Bodde explained how it came about.
“It was 1990 and Martin Scorsese and a group of his fellow filmmakers like Spielberg, Lucas, Coppola, Kubrick and Pollack were really agitated at the idea that the cinema they grew up loving was literally fading away.
“At the time, there was no home video market and the studios had not instituted a systematic approach to their collections. So they created the Film Foundation to build a bridge between studios and the non-profit archives to raise awareness and funds for film preservation projects.”
As time went on, the Film Foundation turned its attention to independent films too. “Films that are independently produced are quite vulnerable, they are...
“It was 1990 and Martin Scorsese and a group of his fellow filmmakers like Spielberg, Lucas, Coppola, Kubrick and Pollack were really agitated at the idea that the cinema they grew up loving was literally fading away.
“At the time, there was no home video market and the studios had not instituted a systematic approach to their collections. So they created the Film Foundation to build a bridge between studios and the non-profit archives to raise awareness and funds for film preservation projects.”
As time went on, the Film Foundation turned its attention to independent films too. “Films that are independently produced are quite vulnerable, they are...
- 10/14/2021
- by Lise Pedersen
- Variety Film + TV
The film-maker’s first movie, about a Black lesbian teenager, has made it to the Criterion Collection, a catalogue of canonical films. She discusses her characters and the pleasure of this success
When Dee Rees was first approached by highbrow home entertainment company Criterion, it was Mudbound, her 2017 film, it wanted to discuss. Inclusion in the Criterion Collection on DVD and Blu-ray, with some titles streamed, is widely seen as confirmation of a film’s classic status. Mudbound is Rees’s most-watched film to date – approximately “20m hours of viewing”, according to Netflix – and it was up for several big awards, including the Oscar for best adapted screenplay (making Rees the first Black women nominated in a that category) and best cinematography for Rachel Morrison.
Rees, though, had a different suggestion. “I was excited, but I was like: ‘It’d be really great if Pariah were there,” she says, via...
When Dee Rees was first approached by highbrow home entertainment company Criterion, it was Mudbound, her 2017 film, it wanted to discuss. Inclusion in the Criterion Collection on DVD and Blu-ray, with some titles streamed, is widely seen as confirmation of a film’s classic status. Mudbound is Rees’s most-watched film to date – approximately “20m hours of viewing”, according to Netflix – and it was up for several big awards, including the Oscar for best adapted screenplay (making Rees the first Black women nominated in a that category) and best cinematography for Rachel Morrison.
Rees, though, had a different suggestion. “I was excited, but I was like: ‘It’d be really great if Pariah were there,” she says, via...
- 7/16/2021
- by Ellen E Jones
- The Guardian - Film News
Filmmaker Dee Rees made history on June 29 when her debut feature “Pariah” joined the Criterion Collection, making the Oscar and Emmy nominee the first Black American woman to have her work included. Before Rees, Euzhan Palcy, who is from Martinique, was the lone Black woman to have a film (1989’s “A Dry White Season”) selected.
“It feels like a formal acknowledgment of the film’s impact to the canon and being a part of the culture,” Rees tells Variety of having her movie chosen. “Even though artists have to try to find your validation from inside, it’s nice to be seen.”
And as a Black filmmaker in particular, Rees adds, “it’s important to be included for future generations of filmmakers, if [Criterion] is the thing that’s being taught in schools.”
“When they’re absent, then the assumption is there’s none in existence,” she explains. “There’s no Black filmmakers here,...
“It feels like a formal acknowledgment of the film’s impact to the canon and being a part of the culture,” Rees tells Variety of having her movie chosen. “Even though artists have to try to find your validation from inside, it’s nice to be seen.”
And as a Black filmmaker in particular, Rees adds, “it’s important to be included for future generations of filmmakers, if [Criterion] is the thing that’s being taught in schools.”
“When they’re absent, then the assumption is there’s none in existence,” she explains. “There’s no Black filmmakers here,...
- 7/2/2021
- by Angelique Jackson
- Variety Film + TV
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From Francis Ford Coppola to Edgar Wright, countless filmmakers have found inspiration in the trilogy. No matter how artistic or lowbrow, three movies just seems to be the ideal length for a series. Some trilogies are universally considered to be masterpieces, with a trio of films serving as the beginning, middle, and end of a coherent story. Others are less acclaimed, with certain entries sparking the ire of diehard fans. But those can be fun to own too! Sometimes the arguments that movies start can be more fun than the films themselves. Either way, picking up a great film trilogy on Blu-ray is a great way to expand your collection without committing to a more expensive box set.
From Francis Ford Coppola to Edgar Wright, countless filmmakers have found inspiration in the trilogy. No matter how artistic or lowbrow, three movies just seems to be the ideal length for a series. Some trilogies are universally considered to be masterpieces, with a trio of films serving as the beginning, middle, and end of a coherent story. Others are less acclaimed, with certain entries sparking the ire of diehard fans. But those can be fun to own too! Sometimes the arguments that movies start can be more fun than the films themselves. Either way, picking up a great film trilogy on Blu-ray is a great way to expand your collection without committing to a more expensive box set.
- 5/9/2021
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
With his many years working at Telluride Film Festival, not to mention the stellar cast and crew of his own features, Barry Jenkins has a clear eye for talent. As he puts the finishing touches on his adaptation of The Underground Railroad for Amazon, he’s now reuniting with A24 to spotlight a new creative voice in the filmmaking world.
Deadline reports that Jenkins’ company Pastel and A24 will produce All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, the directorial debut of Raven Jackson. The filmmaker, poet, and photographer has been making an impressive string of short films, including Nettles and A Guide to Breathing Underwater, both of which are streaming on The Criterion Channel.
Shot by Jomo Fray (Selah and the Spades), her debut will chronicle decades in the life of a Black woman in rural Tennessee and production is eyed to begin this year. With her script picked by Jenkins...
Deadline reports that Jenkins’ company Pastel and A24 will produce All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, the directorial debut of Raven Jackson. The filmmaker, poet, and photographer has been making an impressive string of short films, including Nettles and A Guide to Breathing Underwater, both of which are streaming on The Criterion Channel.
Shot by Jomo Fray (Selah and the Spades), her debut will chronicle decades in the life of a Black woman in rural Tennessee and production is eyed to begin this year. With her script picked by Jenkins...
- 2/25/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
In a 2018 interview for Criterion’s “Under the Influence” series, director Chloé Zhao broke down her appreciation of Terrence Malick’s 2005 “The New World.” The “Nomadland” director discussed how Malick’s spirituality, and how the viewer got sense of a bigger world beyond the characters and frame, came through in how he approached nature.
“The filmmaker’s curiosity of trying to talk about humanity through nature because it’s not just us and nature, we’re the same thing,” Zhao told Criterion about “The New World.” “And he’s really asking us to think that way in his filmmaking, and that dictates how he works with his actors and how his cinematography works.”
While she was on the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast to discuss her third feature film, the Oscar frontrunner “Nomadland,” IndieWire asked Zhao if her description of Malick doesn’t also apply to her own approach to story and filmmaking.
“The filmmaker’s curiosity of trying to talk about humanity through nature because it’s not just us and nature, we’re the same thing,” Zhao told Criterion about “The New World.” “And he’s really asking us to think that way in his filmmaking, and that dictates how he works with his actors and how his cinematography works.”
While she was on the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast to discuss her third feature film, the Oscar frontrunner “Nomadland,” IndieWire asked Zhao if her description of Malick doesn’t also apply to her own approach to story and filmmaking.
- 2/22/2021
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
After staying relatively quiet since the release of The Grandmaster, Wong Kar-wai has been busy the past few months. He began production on his first project since the aforementioned film, we saw the debut of his restored and re-edited masterpieces courtesy of Criterion and Janus, and he even lent his producing hand to the Sundance premiere One for the Road. The prolific streak continues as he’s behind a new short film––one that outshines anything that aired during last night’s Super Bowl.
Created for Mercedes Benz China in conjunction with the Lunar New Year––which takes place this Friday––the 6.5-minute short is “curated” by Wong Kar-wai, according to on-screen text, while Ogilvy Asia reports he actually directed it. Full of Wong trademarks such as a vibrant color palette, rain-soaked windows, slow-motion, romantic longing, and more, it certainly contains his beautiful touches throughout regardless.
Watch the short film...
Created for Mercedes Benz China in conjunction with the Lunar New Year––which takes place this Friday––the 6.5-minute short is “curated” by Wong Kar-wai, according to on-screen text, while Ogilvy Asia reports he actually directed it. Full of Wong trademarks such as a vibrant color palette, rain-soaked windows, slow-motion, romantic longing, and more, it certainly contains his beautiful touches throughout regardless.
Watch the short film...
- 2/8/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Criterion lets out the stops to celebrate a filmmaker long due for some victory laps — Claudia Weill’s endearing drama takes on the subject of a modern woman trying to be independent but human in the tough art world of New York. The Movies was a hard field to crack as well. Criterion says that when Weill was admitted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1981, she was only the fourth woman director ever voted in. The cast of this freewheeling show is delightful — Melanie Mayron, Anita Skinner, Christopher Guest, Bob Balaban, Amy Wright, Viveca Lindfors, and of course Eli Wallach.
Girlfriends
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1055
1978 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 88 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date November 10, 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Melanie Mayron, Anita Skinner, Christopher Guest, Eli Wallach, Bob Balaban, Amy Wright, Viveca Lindfors.
Cinematography: Fred Murphy
Film Editor: Suzanne Petit
Original Music: Michael Small
Written by Vicki Polon...
Girlfriends
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1055
1978 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 88 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date November 10, 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Melanie Mayron, Anita Skinner, Christopher Guest, Eli Wallach, Bob Balaban, Amy Wright, Viveca Lindfors.
Cinematography: Fred Murphy
Film Editor: Suzanne Petit
Original Music: Michael Small
Written by Vicki Polon...
- 12/8/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Features: Harvey Milk, Anne Kronenberg, Tory Hartmann | Written by Judith Coburn, Carter Wilson | Directed by Rob Epstein
Back in 1984, director Rob Epstein along with narration writers Judith Coburn and Carter Wilson, worked together to bring us the acclaimed documentary film, The Times of Harvey Milk. A powerful 90 minute look at the successes and eventual tragic assassination of the trailblazing first elected gay city supervisor of San Francisco. Now, some 36 years later, Criterion, here in the UK, have brought us a spectacular release of the film, along with an array of special features.
Harvey Milk was an outspoken man, a human rights activist and the first openly gay politician in U.S history to be elected to public office. His inspiration to millions of people around the world is well-documented and it continues to this very day, some 42 years after he was killed. This Oscar winning documentary was a vital one,...
Back in 1984, director Rob Epstein along with narration writers Judith Coburn and Carter Wilson, worked together to bring us the acclaimed documentary film, The Times of Harvey Milk. A powerful 90 minute look at the successes and eventual tragic assassination of the trailblazing first elected gay city supervisor of San Francisco. Now, some 36 years later, Criterion, here in the UK, have brought us a spectacular release of the film, along with an array of special features.
Harvey Milk was an outspoken man, a human rights activist and the first openly gay politician in U.S history to be elected to public office. His inspiration to millions of people around the world is well-documented and it continues to this very day, some 42 years after he was killed. This Oscar winning documentary was a vital one,...
- 10/30/2020
- by Chris Cummings
- Nerdly
The "Summer Movie Season Without...er... Movies" is officially over. Now we move on to Prestige Film Season... hopefully With Movies but you never know. The dog days of summer are over but here were a baker's dozen or so key posts from the month at Tfe in case you missed any of them.
Some Highlights
• French Exit Nathaniel suggests reading the book before the movie!
• When Tilda Swinton Went Mainstream - Sean dons the furcoat and angel wings
• The Australian New Wave - Glenn takes Criterion's journey down under
• The New Classics: Moonlight -Michael goes to the diner with Black & Kevin
• A Patch of Blue - Nathaniel gasps at Shelley Winters (second) Oscar
• The Furniture: The Poseidon Adventure - Daniel boards the (sinking) ship
• Scott Pilgrim vs The World - Nick for the 10th anniversary
• Revisiting Spotlight - Juan Carlos asks how the Best Picture has aged
Most...
Some Highlights
• French Exit Nathaniel suggests reading the book before the movie!
• When Tilda Swinton Went Mainstream - Sean dons the furcoat and angel wings
• The Australian New Wave - Glenn takes Criterion's journey down under
• The New Classics: Moonlight -Michael goes to the diner with Black & Kevin
• A Patch of Blue - Nathaniel gasps at Shelley Winters (second) Oscar
• The Furniture: The Poseidon Adventure - Daniel boards the (sinking) ship
• Scott Pilgrim vs The World - Nick for the 10th anniversary
• Revisiting Spotlight - Juan Carlos asks how the Best Picture has aged
Most...
- 8/31/2020
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
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