Michelangelo Antonioni, the director of Blow-Up and L’Awentura, has died at the age of 94.
The Thin Red Line (1998)
Monday, July 30th, 2007
In this world, a man himself is nothing. And there ain’t no world but this one.
Terrence Malick’s first film as director in twenty years assembles various pieces of a great film into a mediocre one. The Thin Red Line
Director: Terrence Malick | Released: 1998 | 170 min. | Rated: R | Genres: Based on a Book, Drama, War
Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007)
Monday, July 30th, 2007
Legendary Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, director of The Seventh Seal, Fanny and Alexander, Scenes from a Marriage and Saraband, has passed away. Almost universally recognized as one of the single greatest filmmakers of the first century of film, Bergman directed more than sixty theatrical and television films since the 1940s.
Jaws (1975)
Monday, July 30th, 2007
I’m not going to waste my time arguing with a man who’s lining up to be a hot lunch.
Many of you might not be old enough to recall but Jaws effectively invented the concept of the summer movie as we know it today. Two years before Star Wars, it was the first film to really demonstrate the power of all those teenagers, recently freed from school, to generate an ass-load of money at the box office.
Of course, this was also before the modern marketing machine was fully geared up, so in order for a movie to become a mega-blockbuster, it depended on a lot of word-of-mouth to get people’s butts into the seats. In those days, it still required that the film not suck. Mission accomplished, I’d say.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Released: 1975 | 124 min. | Rated: PG | Genres: Action, Based on a Book, Suspense
Close Encounters of the Third Kind – DVD News
Saturday, July 28th, 2007
On the heels of the Blade Runner announcement this week, Sony is scheduled to announce a new DVD edition of Steven Spielberg‘s 1977 classic Close Encounters of the Third Kind, set to be released on November 13. What makes this edition worth buying is the inclusion of all three versions of the film, including the first video release of the 1977 theatrical cut since a very rare Critereon Collection laserdisc back in the nineties. It will also include the 1980 Special Edition and the 1998 DVD cut (which is just the Special Edition minus the useless final scene inside the alien mothership, plus a couple shots restored from the theatrical cut).
This collection will also be released on Blu-Ray disc, making it the first high-definition release of any Steven Spielberg movie. I guess that means if you’re a Spielberg fan and on the fence in the high-def format war, it’s time to swallow the “Blu” pill.
Guadalcanal Diary (1943)
Friday, July 27th, 2007
I don’t mind the one with my name on it. It’s the one addressed “To whom it may concern” I don’t like.
The invasion of Guadalcanal on August 7, 1942, launched the Solomon Islands Campaign, what you could consider the middle stage or second act of the Second World War in the Pacific. The fight in the Solomons was, in many ways, the real war in the Pacific Theater of Operations. This was the period in which the two sides were closely matched and the outcome of the war was actually at stake. After this campaign, the remainder of the war largely consisted of a Japanese holding action against the United States’ inexorable march west toward the Home Islands.
This adaptation of war correspondent Richard Tregaskis’ non-fiction book
Director: Lewis Seiler | Released: 1943 | 91 min. | Rated: Not rated | Genres: Based on a Book, Based on a True Story, Drama, War
Ratatouille (2007)
Friday, July 27th, 2007
If you are what you eat, then I only want to eat the good stuff.
Okay, here’s the usual course of events that I follow with each new Pixar movie. 1) Hear concept. 2) Skeptically conclude that Pixar has finally blown it and there’s no way they can make this idea work. 3) See movie. 4) Offer up silent apologies for my lack of faith.
I’ll be damned if they haven’t done it to me again.
Blade Runner Final Cut Officially Announced
Thursday, July 26th, 2007
The long-awaited “Final Cut” of Ridley Scott‘s landmark science-fiction cult classic Blade Runner has been officially annouced. It will have a brief theatrical run in New York and Los Angeles beginning on October 5, 2007. The DVD will be released in two, four and five-disc sets on December 18th.
The four-disc set will include all four officially released cuts of the film, including the 1982 U.S. theatrical version, the original international version and the 1992 “Director’s Cut.” The five-disc box set will come in a briefcase like the one carried by Harrison Ford in the movie and a model “spinner” (the flying cars seen in the film). The fifth disc will contain a rare “workprint” cut of Blade Runner. For this privilege, you will have to shell out about $80.
I will make every effort to attend one of the theatrical showings of the Final Cut and have a review for you. If you want to read more, you can read the official announcment on The Digital Bits.
Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
Monday, July 23rd, 2007
The bloom of whimsy is off the Hogwarts rose as things get all dark and serious. Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) has several problems to contend with. Dementors are chasing him. The Ministry of Wizards wants him expelled. Hogwarts has been taken over by Delores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton), a perky Torquemada in lavender. Hermione (Emma Watson) is now taller than him and Lord Valdemort is raising an army again.
Probably by design, this Potter movie lacks some of the charm of the previous films, as its themes and situation are considerably darker and more threatening. Harry seems to spend most of the story out of step with the rest of the cast and Radcliffe is up to the task of making us feel his vulnerability and isolation.
This chapter hasn’t been as well reviewed by others as the previous ones, although it is definitely superior to the first two. I think the lukewarm reception comes from those unfamiliar with the Potter mythos and not expecting the darker turns in the story, as well as those who have memorized the books and take umbrage with the filmmakers daring to condense the story down to a manageable cinematic length. Given the number of balls that author J. K. Rowling has given director David Yates to keep in the air, he’s done about as good a job as anyone could have in bringing the story to the screen.
Panic in the Streets (1950)
Monday, July 23rd, 2007
I got a hunch he brung something in.
Jack Palance makes a big impression in his film debut about a New Orleans street thug exposed to a deadly strain of plague in Elia Kazan’s lean, gritty story of an obsessively determined health official (Richard Widmark) who only has two days to head off an epidemic.
