Tag: Criterion Collection

Don’t Trust Nobody | House of Games (1987) Criterion Collection Blu-ray

House of Games (1987) - Joe Mantegna and Lindsay Crouse

Con artists, and specifically con men, are a subject of much fascination for David Mamet, the acclaimed playwright behind Pulitzer-winning drama Glengarry Glen Ross. That 1983 play (and its subsequent 1992 movie adaptation) depicted conniving real estate agents trying to sucker unwitting clients into buying worthless property by any means necessary, not the least of… Read More Don’t Trust Nobody | House of Games (1987) Criterion Collection Blu-ray

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Pretentious French Movies About Pretentious French Movies Are Still Pretentious | Irma Vep (1996) Criterion Collection Blu-ray

Irma Vep (1996) - Maggie Cheung

Like countless fictional films about the making of other fictional films (Day for Night, The Player, etc.), French director Olivier Assayas’ 1996 comedy (?) Irma Vep attempts to blur some sort of line between fantasy and reality. However, this one begs a particularly frustrating question: Can a movie really be a satire of pretentious French… Read More Pretentious French Movies About Pretentious French Movies Are Still Pretentious | Irma Vep (1996) Criterion Collection Blu-ray

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You’ll Get Your Rags All Dirty | Jabberwocky (1977) Criterion Collection Blu-ray

Jabberwocky (1977)

During an early scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, a Medieval peasant woman digging in a pool of mud calls up to her son (Michael Palin), “Dennis, there’s some lovely filth down here!” Wallowing in filth is the best either of them can hope for, and is likely better than their current circumstances.… Read More You’ll Get Your Rags All Dirty | Jabberwocky (1977) Criterion Collection Blu-ray

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The Sin, the Glitter, the Wickedness | Klute (1971) Blu-ray

Klute (1971) - Jane Fonda

The movie that won Jane Fonda her first acting Oscar, Klute deserves equal credit for director Alan J. Pakula, master of the 1970s paranoid conspiracy thriller. If not a conspiracy story, per se (though a little bit so), Klute is certainly rife with paranoia, and Pakula subverts the thriller genre in unexpected and remarkably effective… Read More The Sin, the Glitter, the Wickedness | Klute (1971) Blu-ray

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Some Days Just Go Like That | Mystery Train (1989) Criterion Collection Blu-ray

Mystery Train (1989) - Joe Strummer, Steve Buscemi, & Rick Aviles

The appeal of films by Jim Jarmusch, especially his early work, is difficult to explain to someone who’s never watched one, and frankly even to some who have. His movies don’t exactly feel or behave like anything you’d expect from a regular movie. 1989’s Mystery Train, for example, has little story or plot to speak… Read More Some Days Just Go Like That | Mystery Train (1989) Criterion Collection Blu-ray

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A Material Calculation | Shallow Grave (1994) Criterion Collection Blu-ray

Shallow Grave (1994) - Christopher Eccleston, Ewan McGregor & Kerry Fox

A tiny British film made for the equivalent of less than $3 million, Shallow Grave created quite a stir on the festival circuit in 1994 and in wider release the following year. If not necessarily in the same league as some of the mega-blockbusters of the era, the movie was a solid hit that launched… Read More A Material Calculation | Shallow Grave (1994) Criterion Collection Blu-ray

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Nobody’s Comin’ Out of This Thing Happy | Badlands (1973) Criterion Collection Blu-ray

Badlands (1973) - Martin Sheen

Likely best known in film appreciation circles as the feature directing debut for Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line, The Tree of Life), Badlands is both one of Malick’s shortest movies and seemingly his most straightforward. A lovers-on-the-run crime tale inspired by the real-life Charles Starkweather murder spree of the late 1950s, the film no… Read More Nobody’s Comin’ Out of This Thing Happy | Badlands (1973) Criterion Collection Blu-ray

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The Wires Have Been Pulled | The Manchurian Candidate (1962) Criterion Collection Blu-ray

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

One of cinema’s all-time great political thrillers, John Frankenheimer’s 1962 adaptation of The Manchurian Candidate paints a depressing portrait of America unraveling from within, where the country’s government is torn apart by the collusion of its own leaders willfully (even happily!) allowing themselves to be manipulated by malicious foreign aggressors for personal gain at the… Read More The Wires Have Been Pulled | The Manchurian Candidate (1962) Criterion Collection Blu-ray

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You Stick with These Boys, You Have a Great Future | Time Bandits (1981) Criterion Collection Blu-ray

Time Bandits (1981)

While technically his third feature film as director, Terry Gilliam’s 1981 Time Bandits was only his second outside of Monty Python and, in most fans’ eyes, the first that truly marked him as an auteur in his own right. As a surprise box office smash (a top-ten money earner for the year on the short-list… Read More You Stick with These Boys, You Have a Great Future | Time Bandits (1981) Criterion Collection Blu-ray

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Welcome to Star City, Boys | One False Move (1992) Criterion Collection 4K Ultra HD

One False Move (1992) - Bill Paxton

Originally intended as a direct-to-video production, the 1992 crime thriller One False Move received so much advance praise from critics that distributor I.R.S. Releasing (the short-lived film branch of music label I.R.S. Records) opted to give it a limited theatrical run first. While the movie ultimately made only a pittance at the box office, it… Read More Welcome to Star City, Boys | One False Move (1992) Criterion Collection 4K Ultra HD

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