The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp: Criterion Collection
April 2, 2013
Considered by many to be one of the best British films ever made, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) is undeniably Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s masterpiece – a sprawling epic that spans four decades, from the Boer War through World...
Heaven’s Gate: Criterion Collection
December 19, 2012
With Heaven’s Gate (1980), Michael Cimino made the classic risky gamble that many ambitious filmmakers make. Still flush from the commercial and critical success of The Deer Hunter (1978), he used all of his newfound clout to make an epic tale depicting...
The Four Feathers: Criterion Collection
October 18, 2011
Based on A.E.W. Mason’s 1902 best-selling novel of the same name, The Four Feathers was adapted into three different films before producer Alexander Korda gave it a go in 1939. In addition, it was filmed three more times afterwards but many consider...
Carlos: Criterion Collection
October 3, 2011
Notorious international terrorist Ilich Ramirez Sanchez a.k.a. Carlos the Jackal came to prominence in the 1970’s and 1980’s with several politically-motivated bombings, kidnappings and hijackings in Europe and the Middle East. He eventually became...
Solaris: Criterion Collection
June 2, 2011
Along with Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris (1972) is one of the best examples of the successful blending of hard science fiction with philosophical and spiritual musings. Both films are towering epics released...
The Thin Red Line: Criterion Collection
September 16, 2010
After Terrence Malick made Days of Heaven in the late 1970s, he didn’t make another film for two decades. Because he shunned the press like the cinematic equivalent of Thomas Pynchon, speculation was rampant as to the reasons why. It was rumored that...
Ride with the Devil: Criterion Collection
April 27, 2010
Ang Lee is a filmmaker not afraid to take chances. He brought a historical epic steeped in spectacular martial arts to the mainstream and Oscar glory with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). Less successfully, he tried to merge his soulful aesthetic...
Che: Criterion Collection
January 14, 2010
Che (2008) began as a personal project for actor Benicio del Toro around the time he was making Traffic (2000) with Steven Soderbergh. Originally, he planned on making the film about iconic revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara with Terrence Malick...
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Criterion Collection
May 4, 2009
For years now, the Academy Award has eluded David Fincher despite the consistently good work that he has produced. Films like Seven (1995) and Fight Club (1999) were too extreme for the play-it-safe Academy voters and The Game (1997) and Panic Room (2002)...
Australia
March 4, 2009
After his debut film Strictly Ballroom (1992), writer/director Baz Luhrmann never looked back, creating lavish, ultra-stylish musicals William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (1996) and Moulin Rouge! (2001), and let’s not forget that $5 million Chanel...
