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...
Quantum of Solace: Two-Disc Special Edition
March 19, 2009
With the successful reboot of the James Bond franchise with Casino Royale (2006), fans speculated what the next adventure would be and who would be the director. With the new look and attitude expertly established by Martin Campbell, the producers made...
The Invasion
January 29, 2008
To say that The Invasion (2007) had a troubled production history is a mild understatement. Director Oliver Hirschbiegel set out to make an artier and edgier take on Jack Finney’s classic science fiction novel, The Body Snatchers. However, the studio...
Casino Royale
March 14, 2007
Like Batman Begins (2005) and Superman Returns (2006), the James Bond franchise has reinvented itself by going back to the beginning complete with a new actor in the role of a familiar icon. Even the series’ trademark opening credit sequence has been...
Syriana
June 27, 2006
If there’s one good thing that has come out of George W. Bush’s presidency it is a wealth of politically and socially-minded art in response to his unpopular regime. Leading the charge, in Hollywood at least, is George Clooney who has positioned himself...
Broken Flowers
March 14, 2006
Bill Murray re-teams with his Coffee & Cigarettes director Jim Jarmusch in a story about a lonely batchelor who seeks out his old flames in an attempt to uncover if he really has a son. There are two kinds of people: people who worship Jarmusch’s...
Broken Flowers
February 27, 2006
Ever since Night on Earth (1991), filmmaker Jim Jarmusch has worked with recognizable movie stars in what could be interpreted as a bid for mainstream acceptance or, more probably, a way to get his films financed and distributed in a progressively difficult...
The Manchurian Candidate
June 26, 2005
Remaking classic movies is almost always a bad idea and usually done for all the wrong reasons. Case in point: Gus Van Sant’s much-maligned misfire, Psycho (1998). There is a reason why these movies are so highly regarded—they don’t need to be remade....
Ali: The Director’s Cut
June 1, 2004
When Ali was released in 2001 it received decidedly mixed reviews. While Will Smith was praised for his impressive physical transformation into legendary boxer Muhammed Ali, the film itself was criticized for revealing nothing new about the man. Herein...
