Zodiac: Director’s Cut
January 18, 2008
After the technically accomplished but ultimately hollow thriller Panic Room (2002), director David Fincher returns to familiar subject matter with Zodiac (2007), a dramatization of the murders perpetuated by the infamous serial killer known as Zodiac...
Breathless: Criterion Collection
December 18, 2007
Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless (1960) is arguably the most famous example of the French New Wave, a group of film critics who were inspired by classic Hollywood films to become filmmakers themselves. Breathless certainly wasn’t the first French New...
Drunken Angel: Criterion Collection
December 18, 2007
Drunken Angel (1948) was Akira Kurosawa’s seventh film and was, according to his autobiography, a desire “to take a scalpel and dissect the Yakuza.” These Japanese gangsters were rampant in post-World War II Japan and with this film Kurosawa attempts...
Fletch: The “Jane Doe” Edition
October 24, 2007
For my money, Fletch (1985) is the best film Chevy Chase ever made. I can put the movie on at almost any time and still find it just as funny, no matter how many times I have seen it. And yet, the film is too often dismissed as just another dated piece...
You Kill Me
October 22, 2007
In the 1990s, director John Dahl was the go-to guy for clever, neo noirs with Red Rock West (1992) and The Last Seduction (1994). After thoroughly mining the genre the only direction left for him was comedy and this results in his latest crime film, You...
The City of Violence: Ultimate Edition
October 5, 2007
The City of Violence (2006) is a stylish action film that wears its many cinematic influences proudly on its sleeve. Filmmaker Ryoo Seung-Wan employs a bevy of flashy techniques like split screens, freeze frames and time lapse photography to tell a simple...
Manhunter
September 20, 2007
I think I’ve lost count how many different DVD incarnations there of Michael Mann’s film, Manhunter (1986). Anchor Bay released a superb Limited Edition Director’s Cut and then one without many of the extras. Then, they released a Michael Mann’s...
House of Games
August 17, 2007
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...
The Lookout
August 13, 2007
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...
Hard Boiled: Ultimate Edition
July 31, 2007
In retrospect, John Woo’s Hard Boiled (1992) can be seen as his audition reel for Hollywood. And what a helluva audition reel it was – a masterfully orchestrated magnum opus of mayhem. After its release, he moved to the United States and started over...
