The New World: Criterion Collection
July 28, 2016

After completing The Thin Red Line (1998), filmmaker Terrence Malick began working on a film about Che Guevara and his failed revolution in Bolivia (that was eventually made by Steven Soderbergh) but after financing fell through he was offered The New...
Red River: Criterion Collection
May 28, 2014

Howard Hawks’ Red River (1948) presents a patriarchal society where men live by a macho, male code that excludes women and explores the notion of what it is to be a man and how violence aids in this definition. There is also a lack of women in this...
It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World: Criterion Collection
February 19, 2014

Thanks to the massive success of Around the World in 80 Days (1956), Hollywood started cranking out epic, big-budgeted movies populated by a slew of movie star cameos. It was an attempt to get people away from their television screens and back into the...
Nashville: Criterion Collection
December 3, 2013

At the time, Nashville (1975) was Robert Altman’s magnum opus, a sprawling tale featuring 24 characters over five days. Not only does he manage to juggle all of these storylines, but is able to seamlessly interconnect them in major or minor ways. The...
Things to Come: Criterion Collection
July 3, 2013

H.G. Wells was a prolific author responsible for science fiction classics like The Time Machine, The Island of Dr. Moreau, and The War of the Worlds. He eventually became interested in writing about where he thought humanity was headed and where it ought...
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp: Criterion Collection
April 2, 2013

Considered by many to be one of the best British films ever made, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) is undeniably Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s masterpiece – a sprawling epic that spans four decades, from the Boer War through World...
Heaven’s Gate: Criterion Collection
December 19, 2012

With Heaven’s Gate (1980), Michael Cimino made the classic risky gamble that many ambitious filmmakers make. Still flush from the commercial and critical success of The Deer Hunter (1978), he used all of his newfound clout to make an epic tale depicting...
The Four Feathers: Criterion Collection
October 18, 2011

Based on A.E.W. Mason’s 1902 best-selling novel of the same name, The Four Feathers was adapted into three different films before producer Alexander Korda gave it a go in 1939. In addition, it was filmed three more times afterwards but many consider...
Carlos: Criterion Collection
October 3, 2011

Notorious international terrorist Ilich Ramirez Sanchez a.k.a. Carlos the Jackal came to prominence in the 1970’s and 1980’s with several politically-motivated bombings, kidnappings and hijackings in Europe and the Middle East. He eventually became...
Solaris: Criterion Collection
June 2, 2011

Along with Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris (1972) is one of the best examples of the successful blending of hard science fiction with philosophical and spiritual musings. Both films are towering epics released...