Heaven’s Gate: Criterion Collection

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... 

Fast Food Nation

Adapted from the non-fiction book of the same name by Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation (2006) is something of a departure for filmmaker Richard Linklater as it is his most overtly political effort – a scathing indictment of the fast food industry as... 

Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt

Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt (2004) is an absorbing documentary about a tragic genius musician in the fine tradition of Bruce Weber’s tribute to jazz trumpeter Chet Baker, Let’s Get Lost (1988). Be Here to Love Me examines the... 

Sam Peckinpah’s The Legendary Westerns Collection

Sam Peckinpah defines the word “maverick.” He came out of Hollywood with his own unique brand of filmmaking that often clashed with studio executives. This resulted in a career of tough, uncompromising movies that were either loved or hated – there... 

The Jacket

Like the similarly themed The Machinist (2004), The Jacket (which was released in the same year) is all about the fractured perception of its protagonist. Jack Starks (Brody) is a U.S. soldier badly wounded in the first Persian Gulf War that resulted... 

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

Sam Peckinpah spent his career fighting against the Hollywood studio system to make his own distinctive brand of films. Out of all the movies he made only on one was he given final cut privileges—Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974), the epitome... 

Silver City

John Sayles is one of America’s rare political filmmakers, from the corruption in professional baseball with Eight Men Out (1988) to environmental concerns with Sunshine State (2002). Like, Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, Sayles released his movie,... 

Blade II

In 1998 Blade became something of a surprise hit. Originally with Ice Cube down to play Blade, it was going to be a mediocre sized release with little in the way of expectations. Then Wesley Snipes became interested and the scale of the project rose. Blade...