The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou: Criterion Collection
May 27, 2014
There’s always a certain amount of trepidation when a filmmaker like Wes Anderson, known for making intimate and personal films, starts making movies on a more ambitious scale – bigger budgets and movie stars in an attempt to appeal to larger audience...
Overlord: Criterion Collection
May 20, 2014
Stuart Cooper’s Overlord (1975) is proof that you can make an epic movie about World War II with very little money. His film depicts one man’s journey from basic training to D-Day. He did this by blending archival war footage from the Imperial War...
Il Sorpasso: Criterion Collection
May 15, 2014
Il Sorpasso (1962) starts off, appropriately enough for a road movie, with one its main characters driving through the city streets of Rome to brassy be-bop jazz blasting away on the soundtrack. It sets a fun, energetic pace right from the get-go. Often...
Breaking the Waves: Criterion Collection
May 12, 2014
With Breaking the Waves (1996), Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier finally broke through into North America after several early efforts that were exercises in style more than anything else. This film saw him taking a page from the cinema of John Cassavetes...
Ace in the Hole: Criterion Collection
May 7, 2014
Billy Wilder was a cynical filmmaker working in Hollywood during its most productive time – the classic period when legends like John Huston and John Ford reigned. Wilder made commercial films with a wildly subversive streak. For example, both Double...
Riot in Cell Block 11: Criterion Collection
April 30, 2014
As for the prison drama genre, there aren’t many decent examples with notable exceptions being films like Brute Force (1947) and Cool Hand Luke (1967). One of the early excellent examples is Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954), a pulpy drama with a story ripped...
Persona: Criterion Collection
April 28, 2014
The 1960s was an exciting decade for world cinema with the likes of Akira Kurosawa (Japan), Sergio Leone (Italy), Lindsay Anderson (England) and Jean-Luc Godard (France) making names for themselves on the international stage. Among these cinematic giants...
George Washington: Criterion Collection
March 31, 2014
When George Washington (2000) made the rounds at various film festivals, critics were impressed by David Gordon Green’s directorial feature debut with some comparing him to Terrence Malick. Set in a decaying rural southern United States setting, the...
Blue is the Warmest Color: Criterion Collection
March 28, 2014
From the moment it was screened at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, Blue is the Warmest Color (2013) was surrounded by controversy when it came out that several crew members not only complained of but quit the production over director Abdellatif Kechiche’s...
King of the Hill: Criterion Collection
March 27, 2014
After the surprise success of his independent film debut, sex, lies & videotape (1989), which won the prestigious Palme d’Or, Steven Soderbergh struggled to find the right projects and the ability to make them to his satisfaction. This resulted...
