The Killing: Criterion Collection

Before graduating to studio films for the remainder of his filmmaking career, Stanley Kubrick cut his teeth on several lean independent films with producer James B. Harris, chief among them was The Killing (1956), a masterful take on Lionel White’s... 

Kiss Me Deadly: Criterion Collection

After the classy film noirs of the 1940’s, Robert Aldrich’s adaptation of Mickey Spillane’s hardboiled crime novel Kiss Me Deadly (1955) was as tough and uncompromising as its protagonist Mike Hammer. The film reflects the Cold War paranoia that... 

Sweet Smell of Success: Criterion Collection

While Sweet Smell of Success (1957) was a hit with film critics at the time, it was not a box office smash as fans of the film’s two leads – Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis – were put off seeing their matinee idols portraying unlikable characters.... 

The Missing Person

With an Academy Award nomination for his scene-stealing role in Revolutionary Road (2008), Michael Shannon’s career was given a considerable boost. For years, he’s plugged away in small roles in big films like Pearl Harbor (2001) and more substantial... 

Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics: Volume 1

Film noir is a tricky genre to get a handle on. Film critics and historians argue endlessly about how to define it but they certainly know one when they see it. Classic film noir typically is set in an urban environment – rainy nights, shadowy alleyways... 

Le Doulos: Criterion Collection

Jean-Pierre Melville was known for making genre films with rambling narratives that delighted in taking all kinds of plot diversions. His seventh film, Le Doulos (1962), based on the novel by Pierre Lesou, deviated from his usual approach to produce a... 

Mulholland Drive

‘Academy Award Nominee!’ screams the front cover of the DVD, and rightly so. The fact that Lynch lost out the title of Best Director to Ron ‘Splash’ Howard in the 2002 Oscar race is neither here nor there. What do the academy know...