My Beautiful Laundrette: Criterion Collection
July 28, 2015
My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) was one of the first films released by the prolific British film production company Working Title Films whose presence would be felt greatly in the 1990s. It also marked a significant success in the burgeoning careers of...
The Black Stallion: Criterion Collection
July 27, 2015
Based on Walter Farley’s 1941 novel of the same name, The Black Stallion (1979) is beautifully shot art house film for children, which is unthinkable in this day and age of noisy CGI animated movies and dumbed-down live-action fare. This is due in large...
The Fisher King: Criterion Collection
June 30, 2015
When Terry Gilliam was offered The Fisher King (1991) he had come from the exhausting experience of making The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) that saw him clash with one of the film’s meddling producers and resulted in a limited theatrical release....
Five Easy Pieces: Criterion Collection
June 24, 2015
Jack Nicholson had one of the best runs of any actor during the 1970s and that’s saying a lot when you consider it was at a time when the likes of Robert De Niro, Gene Hackman and Al Pacino, among others, were doing some of their very best work. Nicholson...
The Rose: Criterion Collection
June 18, 2015
Originally titled Pearl, The Rose (1979) was initially conceived as a biopic about singer Janis Joplin (Pearl was the name of her last album). However, when her family refused the rights to her story, the producers fictionalized Joplin’s life enough...
The Friends of Eddie Coyle: Criterion Collection
April 27, 2015
The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) is one of those forgotten films from the 1970s. It’s a melancholic story of small-time criminals working on the fringes of Boston’s underworld. It’s not exactly the kind of feel-good story that lights up the box...
Don’t Look Now: Criterion Collection
April 13, 2015
Adapted from the short story of the same name by Daphne du Maurier, Don’t Look Now (1973) took a familiar genre and depicted it in an unusual way, employing several flashbacks and flashforwards as director Nicolas Roeg examined the psychological effects...
Tootsie: Criterion Collection
February 24, 2015
When it was released, Tootsie (1982) was a commercial and critical hit that poked fun at the women’s liberation movement as an actor struggled to find roles and out of frustration he began dressing up as a woman in order to get a job. In retrospect,...
Safe: Criterion Collection
January 22, 2015
Safe (1995) was only independent filmmaker Todd Haynes’ second feature film, but it established him as an emerging talent with a unique worldview and a knack for presenting fascinating female protagonists, in this case one played by Julianne Moore who...
L’Avventura: Criterion Collection
December 18, 2014
When Michelangelo Antonioni’s sixth film, L’Avventura premiered at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival, it was met with catcalls, but it was a critical darling that went on to captivate audiences all over the world thereby establishing its director’s...
