Studiocanal announces a stunning brand-new 4K restoration of the thrilling and unique western Red Sun as part of the Cult Classics Collection available on 4K Uhd Steelbook, Blu-Ray, DVD & Digital from 9th September to celebrate we are giving away a Steel Book edition!
Billed as the first East meets West Western, and directed by Terence Young, Red Sun is based on a true story from the American Wild West of 1870. When outlaw Link (Charles Bronson) is betrayed by his gang during a train robbery, he is forced by the Japanese Ambassador to help regain a priceless sword stolen by Link’s double-crossing partner Gauche (Alain Delon).
Link and the Ambassador’s bodyguard, Kuroda (Toshiro Mifune), travel the West in pursuit of Gauche, attempting to lure him out by taking his girlfriend (Ursula Andress) as hostage. Although Kuroda plans to kill Gauche straight away, Link needs him alive to find the loot from their last robbery.
Billed as the first East meets West Western, and directed by Terence Young, Red Sun is based on a true story from the American Wild West of 1870. When outlaw Link (Charles Bronson) is betrayed by his gang during a train robbery, he is forced by the Japanese Ambassador to help regain a priceless sword stolen by Link’s double-crossing partner Gauche (Alain Delon).
Link and the Ambassador’s bodyguard, Kuroda (Toshiro Mifune), travel the West in pursuit of Gauche, attempting to lure him out by taking his girlfriend (Ursula Andress) as hostage. Although Kuroda plans to kill Gauche straight away, Link needs him alive to find the loot from their last robbery.
- 9/3/2024
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The grand theme of Wings of Desire, Wim Wenders’s fantasy of angels in Berlin before the end of the Cold War, is storytelling in all its forms as a coping mechanism of the human race. Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and his more objective but similarly empathetic cohort, Cassiel (Otto Sander), whose wings are only fleetingly shown, regularly swap tales of the small behaviors and interactions they’ve witnessed after traversing the skies and streets to hear “only what is spiritual in people’s minds.”
Among those observed are an elderly poet, Homer (Curt Bois), wandering the sites of his vanished haunts from the pre-Nazi era, wondering why “an epic of peace” has never been sung; Peter Falk, playing some eternal version of himself, arriving to shoot a film and provide a good measure of American soul and humor to Berliners and angels alike; and waitress turned trapeze artist Marion preparing...
Among those observed are an elderly poet, Homer (Curt Bois), wandering the sites of his vanished haunts from the pre-Nazi era, wondering why “an epic of peace” has never been sung; Peter Falk, playing some eternal version of himself, arriving to shoot a film and provide a good measure of American soul and humor to Berliners and angels alike; and waitress turned trapeze artist Marion preparing...
- 5/10/2023
- by Bill Weber
- Slant Magazine
It’s been said that American women of the 1950s admired Marilyn Monroe, but they wanted to be Audrey Hepburn, who projected an entirely different appeal. Hepburn had talent, grace, a dazzling smile and the strength to overcome any obstacle. Paramount now rounds up their Audrey Hepburn holdings to release this seven-picture ode to the great actress, the sentimental favorite. Several are near-perfect entertainments, great films everybody should see. All are handsomely remastered in HD, in their proper aspect ratios. I’d consider this definite holiday gift-giving material.
Audrey Hepburn 7 – Movie Collection
Roman Holiday, Sabrina, War and Peace, Funny Face, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Paris When It Sizzles, My Fair Lady
Blu-ray
Paramount Home Entertainment
1952-1964 / Color + B&w / Street Date October 5, 2021
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, Humphrey Bogart, Mel Ferrer, Fred Astaire, George Peppard, William Holden, Rex Harrison.
Directed by William Wyler, Billy Wilder, King Vidor, Stanley Donen, Blake Edwards,...
Audrey Hepburn 7 – Movie Collection
Roman Holiday, Sabrina, War and Peace, Funny Face, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Paris When It Sizzles, My Fair Lady
Blu-ray
Paramount Home Entertainment
1952-1964 / Color + B&w / Street Date October 5, 2021
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, Humphrey Bogart, Mel Ferrer, Fred Astaire, George Peppard, William Holden, Rex Harrison.
Directed by William Wyler, Billy Wilder, King Vidor, Stanley Donen, Blake Edwards,...
- 10/19/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Perfection is a word used too frequently to describe a movie. But in the case of the 1953 romantic comedy “Roman Holiday,” perfection is not hyperbole. Directed by William Wyler and nominated for 10 Academy Awards, “Roman Holiday” is a gem of a fairy tale.
Audrey Hepburn plays Princess Ann, a young sheltered monarch from a European country bored to tears on a goodwill trip who decides to escape her guardians while in Rome. She ends up falling in love with a handsome American reporter (Gregory Peck). He recognizes the princess on the lam and initially befriends her to get her story only to fall for the winsome young woman. Eddie Albert plays Peck’s carefree, womanizing friend who is a photographer.
“Roman Holiday,” which just made its Blu-Ray debut, was a change of pace for Wyler, who was best known for his dramatic work, having already won Oscars for 1942’s “Mrs. Miniver...
Audrey Hepburn plays Princess Ann, a young sheltered monarch from a European country bored to tears on a goodwill trip who decides to escape her guardians while in Rome. She ends up falling in love with a handsome American reporter (Gregory Peck). He recognizes the princess on the lam and initially befriends her to get her story only to fall for the winsome young woman. Eddie Albert plays Peck’s carefree, womanizing friend who is a photographer.
“Roman Holiday,” which just made its Blu-Ray debut, was a change of pace for Wyler, who was best known for his dramatic work, having already won Oscars for 1942’s “Mrs. Miniver...
- 9/23/2020
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
As a longtime Wim Wenders fan and devoted admirer of his masterpiece Wings of Desire, I would never have thought it possible that the movie could look better than it did when it was released in 1987. Gorgeous in every sense of the word, from the shimmering black-and-white photography of Henri Alekan (the maestro behind Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast who Wenders prodded out of retirement to shoot the film) to the profoundly romantic story of an angel who wants to fall to earth and experience the human condition, Wings of Desire was a stunner when it came out […]...
- 10/19/2018
- by Jim Hemphill
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
As a longtime Wim Wenders fan and devoted admirer of his masterpiece Wings of Desire, I would never have thought it possible that the movie could look better than it did when it was released in 1987. Gorgeous in every sense of the word, from the shimmering black-and-white photography of Henri Alekan (the maestro behind Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast who Wenders prodded out of retirement to shoot the film) to the profoundly romantic story of an angel who wants to fall to earth and experience the human condition, Wings of Desire was a stunner when it came out […]...
- 10/19/2018
- by Jim Hemphill
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Close-Up is a feature that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Wim Wenders's Wings of Desire (1987) is showing from February 16 - March 18, 2018 in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and France.Forty minutes into Wim Wenders’s Wings of Desire, Cassiel (Otto Sander) sits next to an old man dubbed Homer (Curt Bois) and watches him flick through a photo book inside Berlin’s City Library. Homer, however, can’t see him: Cassiel does not belong to this world, but to the community of somber-looking, coat-wearing angels hovering above Berlin. The old man’s eyes glued to the book, the camera suddenly shifts to World War II newsreel footage of the war-torn capital, and Homer’s voiceover accompanies the photos of dead infants and corpses piled along the sidewalks: “No one has so far succeeded in singing an epic of peace… what is it about peace that makes its story so hard to tell?...
- 2/21/2018
- MUBI
The trailer is available on Vimeo, but due to its privacy settings, cannot be played in an embedded post.
Next Friday, the Berlinale will premiere the new 4K restoration of Wim Wenders’ 1987 film, Wings of Desire. Wenders will be in attendance at the screening on Friday.
From the Berlinale:
The film was shot on both black-and-white and colour stock. At the time, that required several additional steps in the lab in order to produce a final colour negative, which was several generations removed from the camera negatives. For the digital restoration, the original negative was scanned in 4K, retouched, and colour corrected. So the film can now be shown the way cinematographer Henri Alekan might have envisioned it. – World premiere of the restored version in 4K Dcp.
Wings of Desire (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] $22.97 $27.99 18 new from $22.95 8 used from $18.94 Buy Now Amazon.com Free shipping Last updated on March 6, 2018 4:11 pm...
Next Friday, the Berlinale will premiere the new 4K restoration of Wim Wenders’ 1987 film, Wings of Desire. Wenders will be in attendance at the screening on Friday.
From the Berlinale:
The film was shot on both black-and-white and colour stock. At the time, that required several additional steps in the lab in order to produce a final colour negative, which was several generations removed from the camera negatives. For the digital restoration, the original negative was scanned in 4K, retouched, and colour corrected. So the film can now be shown the way cinematographer Henri Alekan might have envisioned it. – World premiere of the restored version in 4K Dcp.
Wings of Desire (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] $22.97 $27.99 18 new from $22.95 8 used from $18.94 Buy Now Amazon.com Free shipping Last updated on March 6, 2018 4:11 pm...
- 2/9/2018
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
By Jacob Oller
Cinematography owes much to the French master. enri Alekan was the cinematographer behind movies like Jean Cocteau’s magical La Belle et la Bête, William Wyler’s Roman Holiday, and Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire. But his book on cinematography is perhaps his greatest legacy. Des lumières et des ombres has been a biblical tome for those […]
The article Henri Alekan and the Shifting Technology of Film Lighting appeared first on Film School Rejects.
Cinematography owes much to the French master. enri Alekan was the cinematographer behind movies like Jean Cocteau’s magical La Belle et la Bête, William Wyler’s Roman Holiday, and Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire. But his book on cinematography is perhaps his greatest legacy. Des lumières et des ombres has been a biblical tome for those […]
The article Henri Alekan and the Shifting Technology of Film Lighting appeared first on Film School Rejects.
- 10/12/2017
- by Jacob Oller
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
“When a child was a child…”A man’s voice is heard, reading out words as they are written in thick ink on paper.…it didn’t know it was a child”He continues, some of the words delivered in sing-song, joyfully, as if they were a children’s nursery song:“Everything was full of life/And all life was one...”His voice is friendly voice; a comforting voice; a voice that we will soon learn belongs to Damiel (Bruno Ganz), an angel who watches over the city of Berlin and its inhabitants with the curiosity and reverence of a child. Damiel has such deep affection for human life that he is willing to eschew immortality for earthly pleasures and the most intoxicating human experience of all: love. Both Damiel’s voice and those of the humans he consoles and studies feature prominently on the film’s soundtrack, sometimes in isolation,...
- 7/31/2017
- MUBI
Forget Disney’s recent reiteration of the classic fairy tale and instead look back at where the tale’s magic began on film, with Jean Cocteau.
The self-titled Belle and her captor-turned-prince Beast have returned to cinema screens around the world. In Disney’s latest live-action reiteration of one of their much-loved animated fairytales, Bill Condon’s live-action Beauty and the Beast has reintroduced contemporary audiences to the pair. With their return has come explorations of Disney’s representations of gayness, the question of modern viewing habits, and record-breaking box office success (the film has broken the March record for best opening with a $175m domestic gross).
This multiplicity of films on the same tale has been seen before, with the reintroduction of Snow White in 2012 arriving in the form of three very different films. 2012 brought the strong and defiant rebel ‘Snow’ in Snow White and the Huntsman, while Mirror Mirror restyled the classic tale. Pablo Berger...
The self-titled Belle and her captor-turned-prince Beast have returned to cinema screens around the world. In Disney’s latest live-action reiteration of one of their much-loved animated fairytales, Bill Condon’s live-action Beauty and the Beast has reintroduced contemporary audiences to the pair. With their return has come explorations of Disney’s representations of gayness, the question of modern viewing habits, and record-breaking box office success (the film has broken the March record for best opening with a $175m domestic gross).
This multiplicity of films on the same tale has been seen before, with the reintroduction of Snow White in 2012 arriving in the form of three very different films. 2012 brought the strong and defiant rebel ‘Snow’ in Snow White and the Huntsman, while Mirror Mirror restyled the classic tale. Pablo Berger...
- 3/23/2017
- by Sinéad McCausland
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
The great film historian Kevin Brownlow, who has devoted large sections of his life to restoring Abel Gance's 1927 epic Napoleon, takes a dim view of this one. And indeed Austerlitz, a.k.a. The Battle of Austerlitz, has several strikes against it, belongs to several categories of film maudit all at once. It's a late film by a seventy-one-year-old director whose best work, by universal consensus, was in the silent era; it's a kind of belated sequel, the further adventures of Napoleon Bonaparte; it's a Salkind production.Incidentally, viewing the lavish sets for this movie, we can see how the Salkinds, those roving multinational mountebanks, ran up the unpaid studio bills in Yugoslavia which kept Orson Welles from building the elaborate vanishing sets he had planned for The Trial (starting realistic, it would have ended up playing in a featureless void), necessitating the repurposing of a disused Parisian railway station.
- 12/1/2016
- MUBI
In the years since Jonathan Demme refined the art of rock documentaries and made Talking Heads frontman David Byrne swing-dance with a lamp in Stop Making Sense, he's teamed with Neil Young for a trilogy of performance films, done some scattered music video work, and helmed a little-seen doc with Italian singer-songwriter Enzo Avitabile. Now his turned his lens on another iconic performer: Justin Timberlake. And no, he did not put him in a giant, baggy white suit.
His latest concert movie, Justin Timberlake + the Tennessee Kids, is a chronicle...
His latest concert movie, Justin Timberlake + the Tennessee Kids, is a chronicle...
- 9/15/2016
- Rollingstone.com
Where was Leonard Pinth Garnell when we needed him? Joseph Losey is often accused of pretension but in this case he may be guilty. Robert Shaw and Malcolm McDowell are escapees scrambling across a rocky terrain, pursued by a helicopter that seems satisfied to just harass them. Keeping the audience in the dark doesn't reap any dramatic or thematic benefit that I can see. Figures in a Landscape Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1970 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date January 12, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Robert Shaw, Malcolm McDowell, Roger Lloyd Pack, Pamela Brown. Cinematography Henri Alekan, Peter Suschitzky, Guy Tabary Film Editor Reginald Beck Art Direction Ted Tester Original Music Richard Rodney Bennett Written by Robert Shaw from the novel by Barry England Produced by John Kohn Directed by Joseph Losey
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Joseph Losey is a gold mine for film criticism but a real problem for simple film reviewing.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Joseph Losey is a gold mine for film criticism but a real problem for simple film reviewing.
- 1/16/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Qui aime les films français ?
If you do and you live in St. Louis, you’re in luck! The Seventh Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — co-presented by Cinema St. Louis and the Webster University Film Series begins March 13th. The Classic French Film Festival celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. The featured films span the decades from the 1930s through the early 1990s, offering a comprehensive overview of French cinema. The fest is annually highlighted by significant restorations.
This year features recent restorations of eight works, including an extended director’s cut of Patrice Chéreau’s historical epic Queen Margot a New York-set film noir (Two Men In Manhattan) by crime-film maestro Jean-Pierre Melville, who also co-stars; a short feature (“A Day in the Country”) by Jean Renoir, on a double bill with the 2006 restoration of his masterpiece, The Rules Of The Game, and the...
If you do and you live in St. Louis, you’re in luck! The Seventh Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — co-presented by Cinema St. Louis and the Webster University Film Series begins March 13th. The Classic French Film Festival celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. The featured films span the decades from the 1930s through the early 1990s, offering a comprehensive overview of French cinema. The fest is annually highlighted by significant restorations.
This year features recent restorations of eight works, including an extended director’s cut of Patrice Chéreau’s historical epic Queen Margot a New York-set film noir (Two Men In Manhattan) by crime-film maestro Jean-Pierre Melville, who also co-stars; a short feature (“A Day in the Country”) by Jean Renoir, on a double bill with the 2006 restoration of his masterpiece, The Rules Of The Game, and the...
- 3/4/2015
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
While 2014 saw the passing of (reluctant) New Wave icon Alain Resnais, there was an intense resurgence of interest in the directorial efforts of Last Year at Marienbad (1961) scribe Alain Robbe-Grillet. Grillet and Resnais would never collaborate again, but it left the screenwriter with his own directorial options, which he used to explore his abstract fetishes in a filmography that would span ten films, many of which never made it to the United States. Kino Lorber’s Redemption label resurrected five rare titles for Blu-ray over the past year, including his 1963 debut L’immortelle and New Wave classic Trans-Europ-Express (1967). But it would be Grillet’s eighth feature that would serve to be his most internationally renowned, the 1983 La Belle Captive, which chanteys its way into Blu-ray this month courtesy of Olive Films. No more cohesive than any of the other puzzling titles in his filmography, the stunning work from DoP Henri Alekan...
- 2/3/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
She won Oscars for her Scarlett O'Hara and Blanche DuBois, yet Vivien Leigh – born 100 years ago this month – was always subject to Hollywood's impossible demands on its female stars
Every great Hollywood star is both an actor and the embodiment of a myth. Film transforms them, turning their selves, their presence, their talents, into an individual archetypal narrative, one seen both in their movies but also in the public knowledge of their private lives: wounded Monroe; malleable Audrey Hepburn; James Stewart, the irascible, increasingly neurotic all-American guy. Vivien Leigh is one of Britain's few genuine women "movie stars"; her myth is memorable and dark, her life a rise and fall story, centred on the consequences of what was then called her "manic depression" – around her vulnerability, her promiscuity, her ageing. Her films themselves similarly want to tell us stories about suffering and resilience, about surviving and about being punished for doing so.
Every great Hollywood star is both an actor and the embodiment of a myth. Film transforms them, turning their selves, their presence, their talents, into an individual archetypal narrative, one seen both in their movies but also in the public knowledge of their private lives: wounded Monroe; malleable Audrey Hepburn; James Stewart, the irascible, increasingly neurotic all-American guy. Vivien Leigh is one of Britain's few genuine women "movie stars"; her myth is memorable and dark, her life a rise and fall story, centred on the consequences of what was then called her "manic depression" – around her vulnerability, her promiscuity, her ageing. Her films themselves similarly want to tell us stories about suffering and resilience, about surviving and about being punished for doing so.
- 11/23/2013
- by Michael Newton
- The Guardian - Film News
These days you can watch any movie you desire online. Yet there's still one thing the magical wonders of instant streaming haven't solved for indecisive movie-lovers: what the heck to watch! Moviefone is here to recommend the best streaming movies from Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Instant each week in the Moviefone Stream.
This week's Moviefone stream picks range from model comedies and limb removal to immortal angels and gun kung fu. Check out our suggestions below and happy streaming!
Comedy: 'Zoolander'
Ben Stiller's model spoof "Zoolander" is one of those early 2000's comedies that can be revisited over and over no matter how dated it gets -- the mini cell phone is still pretty awesome/hilarious. Mugatu may still be one of Will Ferrell's funniest characters, Blue Steel (and Magnum) never get old, and Wham!'s "Wake Me Up" will forever and always remind you of giggling models spraying gasoline.
This week's Moviefone stream picks range from model comedies and limb removal to immortal angels and gun kung fu. Check out our suggestions below and happy streaming!
Comedy: 'Zoolander'
Ben Stiller's model spoof "Zoolander" is one of those early 2000's comedies that can be revisited over and over no matter how dated it gets -- the mini cell phone is still pretty awesome/hilarious. Mugatu may still be one of Will Ferrell's funniest characters, Blue Steel (and Magnum) never get old, and Wham!'s "Wake Me Up" will forever and always remind you of giggling models spraying gasoline.
- 9/21/2013
- by Erin Whitney
- Moviefone
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Aug. 13, 2013
Price: DVD $24.98, Blu-ray $34.98
Studio: Cohen
Henri Vidal is taken for an underwater ride in The Damned.
The 1947 noir-ish French drama The Damned by René Clément (Purple Noon) makes its first-ever appearance on Blu-ray and DVD in the U.S.
Set in the closing days of World War II, the movie focuses on a group of Nazis and sympathizers (a Wehrmacht general, an SS leader and his “assistant”, an Italian industrialist and his wife who is also the general’s lover, a French collaborator) on board a submarine that will take them to South America, where they hope to find shelter. While they sail off the shores of liberated Royan, they manage to kidnap a French doctor to have him look after a wounded passenger. And then things get even tenser…
The 1947 Cannes winner for Best Adventure and Crime Film, The Damned (or Les Maudits in...
Price: DVD $24.98, Blu-ray $34.98
Studio: Cohen
Henri Vidal is taken for an underwater ride in The Damned.
The 1947 noir-ish French drama The Damned by René Clément (Purple Noon) makes its first-ever appearance on Blu-ray and DVD in the U.S.
Set in the closing days of World War II, the movie focuses on a group of Nazis and sympathizers (a Wehrmacht general, an SS leader and his “assistant”, an Italian industrialist and his wife who is also the general’s lover, a French collaborator) on board a submarine that will take them to South America, where they hope to find shelter. While they sail off the shores of liberated Royan, they manage to kidnap a French doctor to have him look after a wounded passenger. And then things get even tenser…
The 1947 Cannes winner for Best Adventure and Crime Film, The Damned (or Les Maudits in...
- 8/14/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
The French film industry has always been among the worlds most important……at least to film studies professors. Most French movies are either funded by the French government or made with the support of government-linked media companies. Filmmakers face little market pressure in the creative process. That helps explain why they’re so boring!
Starbuck opens this weekend so we here at We Are Movie Geeks have decided to post this article about our favorite French films. Okay, so Starbuck is technically a Canadian film shot in Quebec, but its French language so, in our eyes that makes it French! The Hollywood remake is already in the can. It stars Vince Vaughn. The remake was originally tilted Dickie Donor but they’ve changed it to Delivery Man, so you just know they’ve screwed it up bad. This list may not line up with that of your typical French Cinema scholar.
Starbuck opens this weekend so we here at We Are Movie Geeks have decided to post this article about our favorite French films. Okay, so Starbuck is technically a Canadian film shot in Quebec, but its French language so, in our eyes that makes it French! The Hollywood remake is already in the can. It stars Vince Vaughn. The remake was originally tilted Dickie Donor but they’ve changed it to Delivery Man, so you just know they’ve screwed it up bad. This list may not line up with that of your typical French Cinema scholar.
- 4/30/2013
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Anyone attempting another film based on La Belle et la Bête starts at a disadvantage. Despite whatever new twist or spin he or she has in mind, it will inevitably pale in comparison to Jean Cocteau’s version. It may have better special effects, possibly even the best, most advanced effects the world has ever seen, effects that makes James Cameron’s head spin, but it will still lack Cocteau’s secret weapon: Jean Marais’ eyes.
Our attention is directed towards his eyes from the Beast’s first appearance. A superimposed glow exudes menace and ferociousness before disappearing a few frames later, leaving before revealing the true light source, the fire of humanity hidden beneath fur, fangs, and a mane. The make-up is modest, though the wiggling ears are particularly adorable. It limits what Marais is able to convey with his face, but helped by cinematographer Henri Alekan’s lighting,...
Our attention is directed towards his eyes from the Beast’s first appearance. A superimposed glow exudes menace and ferociousness before disappearing a few frames later, leaving before revealing the true light source, the fire of humanity hidden beneath fur, fangs, and a mane. The make-up is modest, though the wiggling ears are particularly adorable. It limits what Marais is able to convey with his face, but helped by cinematographer Henri Alekan’s lighting,...
- 2/26/2013
- by Alex Hansen
- MUBI
Since 1984, The Criterion Collection has been dedicated to compiling the greatest classic and contemporary films of all time and releasing them in pristine laser disc, DVD and now Blu-Ray editions loaded with extensive supplemental features, extensive essays from an assorted host of acclaimed film critics and, of course, the highest technical picture and audio standards available. Translation? They make the best… and most expensive… DVDs on the market.
All this month in stores and online, Barnes & Noble is offering every title in the Criterion Collection on DVD and Blu-Ray at 50% off. Where to start? For all you aspiring film scholars out there, here's a list of 10 essential Criterion Collection discs, presented in chronological order. Take a look:
The Rules Of The Game (1939)
Directed by Jean Renoir
One of the greatest (and, initially, most controversial) films of all time, Renoir's The Rules of the Game was destroyed during World War II,...
All this month in stores and online, Barnes & Noble is offering every title in the Criterion Collection on DVD and Blu-Ray at 50% off. Where to start? For all you aspiring film scholars out there, here's a list of 10 essential Criterion Collection discs, presented in chronological order. Take a look:
The Rules Of The Game (1939)
Directed by Jean Renoir
One of the greatest (and, initially, most controversial) films of all time, Renoir's The Rules of the Game was destroyed during World War II,...
- 7/24/2012
- by Brett Warner
- Celebsology
Since 1984, The Criterion Collection has been dedicated to compiling the greatest classic and contemporary films of all time and releasing them in pristine laser disc, DVD and now Blu-Ray editions loaded with extensive supplemental features, extensive essays from an assorted host of acclaimed film critics and, of course, the highest technical picture and audio standards available. Translation? They make the best… and most expensive… DVDs on the market.
All this month in stores and online, Barnes & Noble is offering every title in the Criterion Collection on DVD and Blu-Ray at 50% off. Where to start? For all you aspiring film scholars out there, here's a list of 10 essential Criterion Collection discs, presented in chronological order. Take a look:
The Rules Of The Game (1939)
Directed by Jean Renoir
One of the greatest (and, initially, most controversial) films of all time, Renoir's The Rules of the Game was destroyed during World War II,...
All this month in stores and online, Barnes & Noble is offering every title in the Criterion Collection on DVD and Blu-Ray at 50% off. Where to start? For all you aspiring film scholars out there, here's a list of 10 essential Criterion Collection discs, presented in chronological order. Take a look:
The Rules Of The Game (1939)
Directed by Jean Renoir
One of the greatest (and, initially, most controversial) films of all time, Renoir's The Rules of the Game was destroyed during World War II,...
- 7/24/2012
- by Brett Warner
- TVology
Since 1984, The Criterion Collection has been dedicated to compiling the greatest classic and contemporary films of all time and releasing them in pristine laser disc, DVD and now Blu-Ray editions loaded with extensive supplemental features, extensive essays from an assorted host of acclaimed film critics and, of course, the highest technical picture and audio standards available. Translation? They make the best… and most expensive… DVDs on the market.
All this month in stores and online, Barnes & Noble is offering every title in the Criterion Collection on DVD and Blu-Ray at 50% off. Where to start? For all you aspiring film scholars out there, here's a list of 10 essential Criterion Collection discs, presented in chronological order. Take a look:
The Rules Of The Game (1939)
Directed by Jean Renoir
One of the greatest (and, initially, most controversial) films of all time, Renoir's The Rules of the Game was destroyed during World War II,...
All this month in stores and online, Barnes & Noble is offering every title in the Criterion Collection on DVD and Blu-Ray at 50% off. Where to start? For all you aspiring film scholars out there, here's a list of 10 essential Criterion Collection discs, presented in chronological order. Take a look:
The Rules Of The Game (1939)
Directed by Jean Renoir
One of the greatest (and, initially, most controversial) films of all time, Renoir's The Rules of the Game was destroyed during World War II,...
- 7/24/2012
- by Brett Warner
- Filmology
Above: Manoel dans l'île des merveilles (1984).
Notebook is unfurling a series of tributes to Raúl Ruiz entitled Blind Man's Bluff: along with some previously published articles, here in English for the first time, the bulk a compilation of new, shorter pieces from a few generous critics and Ruizians on favorite moments from a vast, subterranean filmography. For more from Raúl Ruiz: Blind Man's Bluff see the Table of Contents.
On Top Of The Whale (1981)
Given his immense success with the impossible Proust, Ruiz may have proven the ideal director for Nabokov, especially his hilarious Pnin. Ruiz and Nabokov were well matched with their shared themes of memory and exile, rapture and obsession; their fondness for elaborate word/image play; their grave facetiousness. Imagine what Ruiz might have done with that vertiginous “segue” at the start of Chapter Four of Pnin in which Victor’s nocturnal fantasy imagines his...
Notebook is unfurling a series of tributes to Raúl Ruiz entitled Blind Man's Bluff: along with some previously published articles, here in English for the first time, the bulk a compilation of new, shorter pieces from a few generous critics and Ruizians on favorite moments from a vast, subterranean filmography. For more from Raúl Ruiz: Blind Man's Bluff see the Table of Contents.
On Top Of The Whale (1981)
Given his immense success with the impossible Proust, Ruiz may have proven the ideal director for Nabokov, especially his hilarious Pnin. Ruiz and Nabokov were well matched with their shared themes of memory and exile, rapture and obsession; their fondness for elaborate word/image play; their grave facetiousness. Imagine what Ruiz might have done with that vertiginous “segue” at the start of Chapter Four of Pnin in which Victor’s nocturnal fantasy imagines his...
- 9/28/2011
- MUBI
I wish I could remember the first time I watched Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bete). It was certainly no more than only three years ago, after I received it as part of Criterion's Janus Collection, but it must have been before I started my regular What I Watched columns. Nevertheless, it was an absolute stunner and one I have to admit I didn't expect to overwhelm me as much as it did.
This is a film with few imperfections if any. The magic behind the effects may be obvious, but they remain magical nonetheless. I imagine the makeup Jean Marais wears as the Beast will make some modern audience members laugh at first sight, but I have to also believe should those same audience members endure the whole of this film's 93 minutes, by the time it is over they too will yearn for the Beast to return.
This is a film with few imperfections if any. The magic behind the effects may be obvious, but they remain magical nonetheless. I imagine the makeup Jean Marais wears as the Beast will make some modern audience members laugh at first sight, but I have to also believe should those same audience members endure the whole of this film's 93 minutes, by the time it is over they too will yearn for the Beast to return.
- 7/26/2011
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Your Weekly Source for the Newest Releases to Blu-Ray Tuesday, July 19th, 2011
Amelie (2001)
Synopsis: Bursting with imagination and having seen her share of tragedy and fantasy, Amélie is not like the other girls. When she grows up she becomes a waitress in a Montmartre bar run by a former dancer. Amelie enjoys simple pleasures until she discovers that her goal in life is to help others. To that end, she invents all sorts of tricks that allow her to intervene incognito into other people’s lives, including an imbibing concierge and her hypochondriac neighbor. But Amélie’s most difficult case turns out to be Nino Quicampoix, a lonely sex shop employee who collects photos abandoned at coin-operated photobooths. (blu-ray.com)
Special Features: The Look of Amelie featurette; Fantasies of Audrey Tatou; Q&A with the director and cast; Auditions; Storyboard to screen comparisons; An Intimate Chat With Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet...
Amelie (2001)
Synopsis: Bursting with imagination and having seen her share of tragedy and fantasy, Amélie is not like the other girls. When she grows up she becomes a waitress in a Montmartre bar run by a former dancer. Amelie enjoys simple pleasures until she discovers that her goal in life is to help others. To that end, she invents all sorts of tricks that allow her to intervene incognito into other people’s lives, including an imbibing concierge and her hypochondriac neighbor. But Amélie’s most difficult case turns out to be Nino Quicampoix, a lonely sex shop employee who collects photos abandoned at coin-operated photobooths. (blu-ray.com)
Special Features: The Look of Amelie featurette; Fantasies of Audrey Tatou; Q&A with the director and cast; Auditions; Storyboard to screen comparisons; An Intimate Chat With Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet...
- 7/18/2011
- by Travis Keune
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
DVD Playhouse—July 2011
By Allen Gardner
The Music Room (Criterion) Satyajit Ray’s 1958 masterpiece looks at the life of a fallen aristocrat as a metaphor for an India that is not only becoming Westernized, but modernized technologically and culturally beyond recognition. When the beloved music room, where he has hosted lavish concerts in the past, starts falling into disrepair as attendance drops steadily, the man realizes his way of life is vanishing. Stunningly shot in black & white, one of Ray’s finest works. Bonuses: Documentary on Ray from 1984 by Shyam Benegal; Interviews with Ray biographer Andrew Robinson and filmmaker Mira Nair; Excerpt from 1981 roundtable discussion between Ray, critic Michael Ciment, director Claude Sautet. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono.
Beauty And The Beast (Criterion) Jean Cocteau’s sublime adaptation of the classic fairy tale become a beloved classic upon its 1946 release, and hasn’t faded since.
By Allen Gardner
The Music Room (Criterion) Satyajit Ray’s 1958 masterpiece looks at the life of a fallen aristocrat as a metaphor for an India that is not only becoming Westernized, but modernized technologically and culturally beyond recognition. When the beloved music room, where he has hosted lavish concerts in the past, starts falling into disrepair as attendance drops steadily, the man realizes his way of life is vanishing. Stunningly shot in black & white, one of Ray’s finest works. Bonuses: Documentary on Ray from 1984 by Shyam Benegal; Interviews with Ray biographer Andrew Robinson and filmmaker Mira Nair; Excerpt from 1981 roundtable discussion between Ray, critic Michael Ciment, director Claude Sautet. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono.
Beauty And The Beast (Criterion) Jean Cocteau’s sublime adaptation of the classic fairy tale become a beloved classic upon its 1946 release, and hasn’t faded since.
- 7/7/2011
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Yves Allégret is part of that generation of French filmmakers it's no longer safe to ignore, despite their dismissal by Cahiers du Cinema. Continuing the melancholy strains of poetic realism into the post-war environment, Allegret creates, in his best work, a pervasive feeling of despair that's redeemed by a certain romanticism. In other words, he charts the terrain of depression without actually being depressing.
Une si Jolie Petite Plage (Such a Pretty Little Beach, 1949) stars Gérard Philipe as a young man somewhat lethargically on the run after killing the wealthy older chanteuse who had been keeping him (the film is oddly uninterested in the motives that led to this murder, and nobody except the police seem to think any the less of him for it. Curious and slightly sinister).
For his hideout, Philipe chooses, with fatalistic perversity, the seaside hotel where he first met his eventual victim, where he simply checks in and awaits developments,...
Une si Jolie Petite Plage (Such a Pretty Little Beach, 1949) stars Gérard Philipe as a young man somewhat lethargically on the run after killing the wealthy older chanteuse who had been keeping him (the film is oddly uninterested in the motives that led to this murder, and nobody except the police seem to think any the less of him for it. Curious and slightly sinister).
For his hideout, Philipe chooses, with fatalistic perversity, the seaside hotel where he first met his eventual victim, where he simply checks in and awaits developments,...
- 6/24/2011
- MUBI
The Criterion Collection will issue a Blu-ray edition of Jean Cocteau’s sublime 1946 film adaptation of the fairy-tale masterpiece Beauty and the Beast on July 19 for a list price of $39.95.
Jean Marais (l.) and Josette Day are Avenant and Belle in Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast.
Cocteau’s landmark movie fantasy, in which the true love of a beautiful girl melts the heart of a feral but gentle beast, features unforgettably romantic performances by Jean Marais (Orpheus) and Josette Day (Les parents terribles). The spectacular visions of enchantment, desire and death in Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête) remain timeless.
Criterion released a DVD edition of Beauty and the Beast in 2003, which is still available for the suggested retail price of $39.95. But we’re hoping this Blu-ray will be an upgrade.
Presented in French with English subtitles, the Blu-ray edition will contain the following features:
• High-definition digital transfer from restored film elements,...
Jean Marais (l.) and Josette Day are Avenant and Belle in Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast.
Cocteau’s landmark movie fantasy, in which the true love of a beautiful girl melts the heart of a feral but gentle beast, features unforgettably romantic performances by Jean Marais (Orpheus) and Josette Day (Les parents terribles). The spectacular visions of enchantment, desire and death in Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête) remain timeless.
Criterion released a DVD edition of Beauty and the Beast in 2003, which is still available for the suggested retail price of $39.95. But we’re hoping this Blu-ray will be an upgrade.
Presented in French with English subtitles, the Blu-ray edition will contain the following features:
• High-definition digital transfer from restored film elements,...
- 4/18/2011
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Note: I’ll be updating this page as Criterion makes the release dates and final art available. – Ryan 4/15/2011
Well here we are, another mid-month Criterion new release announcement. This time last year, we were treated to the incredible one-two punch announcement of Black Narcissus and the Red Shoes as upgraded DVD/Blu-ray editions. This time around we have even more to be excited about.
First up, a couple of films that we’ve actually already covered on the podcast will finally be getting Blu-ray upgrades. One of our very first episodes was on Mike Leigh’s Naked (a film that I wasn’t too hot on, but I loved Leigh’s Topsy Turvy). Now you’ll finally be able to see this incredibly daring and raw look at England in the early 90s, with David Thewlis as the immortal Johnny. I found the dialogue to be a little too rapid and not very naturalistic,...
Well here we are, another mid-month Criterion new release announcement. This time last year, we were treated to the incredible one-two punch announcement of Black Narcissus and the Red Shoes as upgraded DVD/Blu-ray editions. This time around we have even more to be excited about.
First up, a couple of films that we’ve actually already covered on the podcast will finally be getting Blu-ray upgrades. One of our very first episodes was on Mike Leigh’s Naked (a film that I wasn’t too hot on, but I loved Leigh’s Topsy Turvy). Now you’ll finally be able to see this incredibly daring and raw look at England in the early 90s, with David Thewlis as the immortal Johnny. I found the dialogue to be a little too rapid and not very naturalistic,...
- 4/15/2011
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
I think it’s safe to assume that we all love what Criterion is putting out these days, especially those deemed worthy to receive a high definition release on Blu-ray. It’s a given that we also love spreading the good word of Criterion, being that we went so far as to start a podcast and website, to keep the discussion of quality home video releases alive and well.
We also love using our Disc 2 episodes to feature other DVD’s and Blu-ray’s that we find exceptional, and over the past year there have certainly been a lot to talk about.
The fine folks over at Home Media Magazine have unveiled their annual HD Awards, and they want you to weigh in on the best Blu-ray releases from the past year. While I’m sure we’d all like to see that list completely full of discs from the Criterion Collection,...
We also love using our Disc 2 episodes to feature other DVD’s and Blu-ray’s that we find exceptional, and over the past year there have certainly been a lot to talk about.
The fine folks over at Home Media Magazine have unveiled their annual HD Awards, and they want you to weigh in on the best Blu-ray releases from the past year. While I’m sure we’d all like to see that list completely full of discs from the Criterion Collection,...
- 6/29/2010
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
Wings Of Desire is a lot like Where The Wild Things Are. Ok, I know that sounds extremely far-fetched, but stick with me here. I know one film involves invisible angels watching humans, their struggles and suffering and the other involves large hirsute monsters with big heads and even bigger tempers making friends with a runaway boy with anger issues, but there are two major common denominators to both films: 1) They’re rooted and invested in human emotions, and 2) Neither adheres to the standard three-act narrative format, forgoing customary cinematic structure and instead drifting and meandering along an (apparently) uncharted course.
I’ve seen Wings Of Desire and Where The Wild Things twice. And in both cases I enjoyed and appreciated the film more after the second viewing, probably because I wasn’t encumbered by expectations of a traditionally told story. Do I think both movies are perfect? No. They...
I’ve seen Wings Of Desire and Where The Wild Things twice. And in both cases I enjoyed and appreciated the film more after the second viewing, probably because I wasn’t encumbered by expectations of a traditionally told story. Do I think both movies are perfect? No. They...
- 11/27/2009
- by no-reply@starlog.com (Allan Dart)
- Starlog
Chicago – When true film fans receive the monthly Criterion newsletter, they usually skim it looking for their favorite films. It’s not that Criterion really ever makes bad decisions, but when a personal favorite gets the call, it’s like watching the baseball player you grew up idolizing get inducted into the Hall of Fane. Such is the feeling I get when I look at the Criterion Blu-Ray release of “Wings of Desire,” one of the most lyrically beautiful films ever made.
Blu-Ray Rating: 5.0/5.0
Wim Wenders’ 1987 masterpiece is the filmmaker’s ode to his favorite city, Berlin, using faith and love as its instruments. Some readers may know the story better from the Nicolas Cage remake “City of Angels,” but that film is merely a shadow of one of the most acclaimed works of the last three decades. Bruno Ganz plays Damiel, an angel who wanders the streets of Berlin...
Blu-Ray Rating: 5.0/5.0
Wim Wenders’ 1987 masterpiece is the filmmaker’s ode to his favorite city, Berlin, using faith and love as its instruments. Some readers may know the story better from the Nicolas Cage remake “City of Angels,” but that film is merely a shadow of one of the most acclaimed works of the last three decades. Bruno Ganz plays Damiel, an angel who wanders the streets of Berlin...
- 11/19/2009
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
DVD Playhouse—November 2009
By
Allen Gardner
Watchmen—The Ultimate Cut (Warner Bros.) Director Zack Snyder’s film of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ landmark graphic novel is as worthy an adaptation of a great book that has ever been filmed. In an alternative version of the year 1985, Richard Nixon is serving his third term as President and super heroes have been outlawed by a congressional act, in spite of the fact that two of the most high-profile “masks,” Dr. Manhattan (Billy Cruddup) and The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) helped the U.S. win the Vietnam War. When The Comedian is found murdered, many former heroes become concerned that a conspiracy is afoot to assassinate retired costumed crime fighters. Former masks Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson), Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman) and still-operating Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley, in an Oscar-worthy turn) launch an investigation of their own, all while the Pentagon’s “Doomsday...
By
Allen Gardner
Watchmen—The Ultimate Cut (Warner Bros.) Director Zack Snyder’s film of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ landmark graphic novel is as worthy an adaptation of a great book that has ever been filmed. In an alternative version of the year 1985, Richard Nixon is serving his third term as President and super heroes have been outlawed by a congressional act, in spite of the fact that two of the most high-profile “masks,” Dr. Manhattan (Billy Cruddup) and The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) helped the U.S. win the Vietnam War. When The Comedian is found murdered, many former heroes become concerned that a conspiracy is afoot to assassinate retired costumed crime fighters. Former masks Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson), Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman) and still-operating Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley, in an Oscar-worthy turn) launch an investigation of their own, all while the Pentagon’s “Doomsday...
- 11/15/2009
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
DVD Release Date: Nov. 3 Director: Wim Wenders Writers: Wenders, Peter Handke Cinematographer: Henri Alekan Starring: Bruno Ganz, Otto Sander, Peter Falk, Solveig Dommartin Studio/Run Time: Criterion, 127 mins. Wim Wenders’ masterpiece illuminates the sublime in everyday existence In this 1987 Wim Wenders classic (finally getting the Criterion treatment this month), two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, watch over a divided Berlin. Sometimes they observe from lofty perches, but mostly they move freely through the ordinary lives of the city’s inhabitants, observing and documenting what they see. Occasionally, an angel will put an intangible arm around someone to offer subtle comfort....
- 11/10/2009
- Pastemagazine.com
In celebration of Criterion's deluxe double-dvd and Blu-ray treatment of Wings of Desire, my Benten Films partner-in-crime Andrew Grant and I rewatched Wim Wenders' 1987 masterpiece (and pored over the bonus features) to discuss the film's elusive magic and why a work so specific to East-West German tensions has aged so gracefully. Andrew reminisces about spending time in Berlin around the era of the production, with other topics of conversation including They Might Be Giants, Nick Cave's inner thoughts, Peter Falk's unconscious plot hole, a rather unfortunate sequel, and how Wings of Desire almost ended with an pie fight. If you haven't already absorbed its pleasures (or, god forbid, you only know its atrocious H'wood remake, City of Angels), here's the Criterion synopsis: Wings of Desire is one of cinema's loveliest city symphonies. Bruno Ganz is Damiel, an angel perched atop buildings high over Berlin who can hear the thoughts—fears,...
- 11/7/2009
- GreenCine Daily
Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin), Wim Wenders' lyrical hymn to angels over Berlin, is one of the great movies about human empathy. In Wenders' wreck of a Berlin, split in two by the graffiti-covered Berlin Wall, angels are the great sympathizers. Looming in Henri Alekan's silvery black-and-white shots, Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and Cassiel (Otto Sander) have spent eternity in Berlin, clad in long black trenchcoats, strolling, wandering around the crumbling city, serving witness to the city's people. And that is, simply, what they do: they bear witness. Alekan's gentle, precise camera slowly drifts throughout the city, stopping at a circus, the film set for a schlocky Nazi drama, through the windows of an apartment, the exhausted faces of the people on the train, the cacophony of thoughts in the library. Throughout it all, the history and hurt of Berlin's past and present weighs on the characters.
- 11/4/2009
- TribecaFilm.com
Wim Wenders's Wings of Desire is able to capture your attention despite its sparing plot for the main reason you know its about something even if that something takes its sweet time in fully revealing itself. The film follows two guardian angels, Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and Cassiel (Otto Sander), as they watch over humanity from up high above the streets of Berlin, and, more often than not, at street level.
As they walk the streets, an often visited library and ride the trains we listen in on the thoughts of others as those Damiel and Cassiel encounter can be heard. However, their thoughts don't come across as a string of cohesive sentences as much as they are fragments of ideas, occasionally offering something of substance, but most often an example of the mundane. To that effect you could say Wings of Desire is about just that, an appreciation for the simpler things in life,...
As they walk the streets, an often visited library and ride the trains we listen in on the thoughts of others as those Damiel and Cassiel encounter can be heard. However, their thoughts don't come across as a string of cohesive sentences as much as they are fragments of ideas, occasionally offering something of substance, but most often an example of the mundane. To that effect you could say Wings of Desire is about just that, an appreciation for the simpler things in life,...
- 11/3/2009
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Angels & Demons, director Ron Howard's sequel/prequel to The Da Vinci Code, is less about actual angels than it's about Action Tom Hanks running, jumping, and climbing trees to solve a city-wide Sudoku puzzle and save the world from the Illuminati. At least that's what I think it's about from watching the trailer, and from the five pages of Dan Brown's book that I read before I gave up and threw it across the room.
But it did get me thinking about angels in movies, and what a fascinating subject they are -- even when they're mishandled. Here's a few favorite movie seraphim:
1. All That Jazz - Bob Fosse's wickedly raw, musical autobio offered a luminous Jessica Lange, who appears to Roy Scheider's Fosse as a sexy angel of death, flirting and cajoling him into finally going towards the light. As the embodiment of all that...
But it did get me thinking about angels in movies, and what a fascinating subject they are -- even when they're mishandled. Here's a few favorite movie seraphim:
1. All That Jazz - Bob Fosse's wickedly raw, musical autobio offered a luminous Jessica Lange, who appears to Roy Scheider's Fosse as a sexy angel of death, flirting and cajoling him into finally going towards the light. As the embodiment of all that...
- 5/13/2009
- by Dawn Taylor
- Cinematical
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