Being There: Criterion Collection
July 6, 2017
Released at the end of the 1970s, Hal Ashby’s Being There (1979), an adaptation of Jerzy Kosinski’s novel of the same name, was a last gasp from the idealistic 1960s, a humanistic voice amidst a decade marked by paranoia, fashionable nihilism, and...
The Before Trilogy: Criterion Collection
April 7, 2017
Few people saw Before Sunrise when it was released in 1995 but those who did really loved it. In its own subtle and unassuming way, Richard Linklater’s film flew in the face of most romantic films at the time. It refused to be dated by obvious, trendy...
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown: Criterion Collection
March 23, 2017
Pedro Almodovar’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) reflected a new chapter of Spanish culture, freed from tyranny and now under democratic leadership, which ushered in a new, vibrant youth culture where everything was permitted with...
Something Wild: Criterion Collection
March 22, 2017
Founded in 1947, the Actors Studio became known as a mecca for Method actors to hone their craft, producing such famous alumni as James Dean, Paul Newman and Marlon Brando. The 1950s and 1960s saw many Hollywood films populated by these actors and a rare...
The Asphalt Jungle: Criterion Collection
February 16, 2017
As a connoisseur of heist films it just doesn’t get any better than The Asphalt Jungle (1950), which also happens to be one of my all-time favorite film noirs. Directed with stylish economy by John Huston, it features atmospheric black and white cinematography...
The Squid and the Whale: Criterion Collection
January 10, 2017
In writer/director Noah Baumbach’s career there is a demarcation line as represented by The Squid and the Whale (2005). There are the films he did before it that are more conventional romantic comedies that owe a lot of Woody Allen and the ones that...
One-Eyed Jacks: Criterion Collection
January 10, 2017
Initially, One-Eyed Jacks (1961) was to have Stanley Kubrick directing a screenplay written by Sam Peckinpah and starring Marlon Brando. It was intended by a socially conscious western but when the actor and Kubrick decided to rewrite the script, the...
Pan’s Labyrinth: Criterion Collection
November 30, 2016
There are two kinds of Guillermo del Toro films – the ones he makes for the Hollywood studios, like Pacific Rim (2013), and the ones he makes independently, like The Devil’s Backbone (2001). Both kinds are personal statements for the filmmaker but...
Blood Simple: Criterion Collection
November 30, 2016
After the disastrous experience of making Crimewave (1986) with their friend and fellow filmmaker Sam Raimi, the Coen brothers – Joel and Ethan – parted company with him and decided to make a film on their own. They returned to their hometown and...
Short Cuts: Criterion Collection
November 17, 2016
After the critical and commercial success of The Player (1992) put Robert Altman back on the map—within the Hollywood industry—he wisely used his new found (and fleeting) cache to get a personal project of his green-lighted. With Short Cuts (1993),...
