Year of the Dog

Since his auspicious debut, Chuck and Buck (2000), screenwriter Mike White has gradually and oh so carefully inched his way into the mainstream with the one-two punch of The Good Girl (2002) and School of Rock (2003). His scripts champion quirky outsiders... 

Four Last Songs

Four Last Songs (2007) derives its title from the last pieces of music composer Richard Strauss wrote for his wife before he died and, not surprisingly, dealt with grandiose notions of life and death – themes that this film clumsily tries to examine... 

Cria Cuervos

Throughout most of his career, Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura faced off against state censors over the political content in his films, forcing him to implicitly critique Francisco Franco’s dictatorship and the Spanish Civil War. However, by the time... 

House of Games

By the time he wrote and directed his first film, House of Games (1987), David Mamet already had an illustrious career as an award-winning playwright and Hollywood screenwriter. Directing this movie would allow him the kind of creative control over his... 

Taxi Driver: Collector’s Edition

Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976) captures the sense of disillusionment that people felt towards the Vietnam War, racial hatred, and dishonest politicians like Richard Nixon in the 1970’s. His film is an emblematic document of its time and... 

The Lookout

With his adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s novel, Out of Sight, Scott Frank demonstrated a knack for crime thrillers with plenty of plot twists and double crosses. Now, he’s finally gotten the chance to direct his own movie and the result is The Lookout... 

Popeye the Sailor: Volume 1

Fans of the original Fleischer brothers animated Popeye short films can throw away their crappy bootlegs and VHS copes because the folks at Warner Brothers have out done themselves with this new, four-disc set that features 60 theatrical shorts painstakingly... 

The Muppet Show: Season 2

Kermit, Fozzie, Miss Piggy and the rest of the Muppets are back for Season 2 with notable guest stars like Zero Mostel, Steve Martin, Elton John, Julie Andrews and many others. The show was now a proven success and the celebrity guest stars came flooding... 

Disturbia

With a starring role in the new Transformers film (2007) and a significant role in the upcoming Indiana Jones installment, Shia LaBeouf is being groomed as the next big thing. He made Disturbia (2007) just before these blockbusters and this little thriller... 

Ivan’s Childhood

Ivan’s Childhood (1962) was Andrei Tarkovsky’s first film and it is certainly an impressive debut. The script was based on a novella by Vladimir Bugomolov but when the novice director came on board he reworked it with his friend Andrei Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky....