Archive for the 'The Criterion Collection' Category
April 15th, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
This July, Andrei Tarkovsky’s most renowned and personal film, Mirror, a mesmerizing collage of his memories and dreams, will join the Criterion Collection. Bronzed and beautiful, Romy Schneider and Alain Delon bring palpable chemistry to the French Riviera in the slow-burn thriller La piscine. Bill Duke’s stylish and subversive Deep Cover stars Laurence Fishburne in a noir gem that doubles as a seething indictment of the war on drugs. Screwball sparks fly between Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant in Bringing Up Baby, the madcap classic from Howard Hawks, considered one of the greatest comedies of all time. And, long unavailable on home video, Lizzie Borden’s Working Girls offers an immersive, richly detailed portrait of a day in the life of a sex worker.
Continue reading ‘Bringing Up Baby, Deep Cover & More Coming to The Criterion Collection July 2021’
April 11th, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
Before Parasite won Best Picture and three other Oscars in 2020 (back when the world was in order), it was just one of several incredible films directed by the Academy Award-winning Bong Joon-ho. Memories of Murder is among them. However, much like the elusive killer in this film (and in real life), this film has sadly not been widely available, but that has fortunately changed. Whether or not people had a chance to recently see the film, this sophomore effort from Bong is a great reminder of his talent early on, let alone a great crime drama layered with dark comedy. Fortunately, the Criterion Collection has now provided a proper U.S. Blu-ray release for the film.
– Continue reading ‘Memories of Murder – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
April 2nd, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
It’s a shame I’m not more well-versed in the films of Mike Leigh. I’ve seen many of them, but not all. And yet, each time I catch up with one of his films, I continue to believe he’s one of the best modern dramatists who continually delivers well-written, terrifically made original films. Now I’ve caught up with Secrets & Lies for the film time, and it’s another standout. This new Criterion Collection release delivers a fantastic presentation of the film, complete with new interviews and more. It’s a good thing, too, as the Oscar-nominated film is easily another 90s standout.
– Continue reading ‘Secrets & Lies – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
March 29th, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
I don’t exactly keep a list of films I need to have on Blu-ray (let alone 4K), but Albert Brooks’ wonderful afterlife romantic-comedy-fantasy film, Defending Your Life, is one I’ve been waiting for a long time to have. Now, not unlike the way the Criterion Collection finally delivered my long-sought-after Ghost Dog Blu-ray, I know have Defending Your Life available in a seemingly definitive home release, and it does not disappoint. Featuring a new 4K digital restoration and a nice collection of extras, one of my favorite movies has been given fine treatment in its after-theatrical life.
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Continue reading ‘Defending Your Life – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
March 15th, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
This June, the Criterion Collection will present the complete work of a courageous filmmaker who issued an electrifying call for liberation: The Signifyin’ Works of Marlon Riggs traces the pathbreaking gay, Black artist’s creative and political evolution across films that combine documentary, performance, poetry, music, and experimental techniques. Acclaimed director Dee Rees enters the Collection with her feature debut, Pariah, a tender coming-of-age story that intimately explores the experiences of a young, queer Black woman. The Oscar-nominated 1983 documentary Streetwise and its long-awaited follow-up, Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell, together represent an astonishing thirty-year collaboration between Martin Bell, Mary Ellen Mark, Cheryl McCall, and their most remarkable subject. An octet of brilliant filmmakers—including Miloš Forman, Kon Ichikawa, and Mai Zetterling—present their idiosyncratic and imaginative takes on the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich in Visions of Eight, a poetic sports documentary like no other. And that’s not all: Samuel Fuller’s crackling noir classic Pickup on South Street and Masaki Kobayashi’s landmark wartime epic, The Human Condition, will both make their Blu-ray debuts.
Continue reading ‘Streetwise, Pariah, Marlon Riggs & More Coming to The Criterion Collection June 2021’
February 12th, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
This May, Hou Hsiao-Hsien will join the Criterion Collection with a new, director-approved restoration of his ravishing chamber drama Flowers of Shanghai, a period reverie that confirmed his status as one of the world’s great filmmakers. Hailed as one of the best teen movies ever made, Amy Heckerling’s generation-defining classic Fast Times at Ridgemont High will appear in a new, restored 4K digital transfer. Tyrone Power stars in one of the most haunting and perverse film noirs of the 1940s, Nightmare Alley, making its first appearance on Blu-ray. Dorothy Arzner explores addiction, nonmonogamy, and sexual liberation in her bracingly ahead-of-its time pre-Code triumph Merrily We Go to Hell, starring Fredric March and Sylvia Sidney. And Ahmed El Maanouni’s Trances, an enveloping portrait of the renowned Moroccan band Nass El Ghiwane, will appear in stand-alone Blu-ray and DVD editions.
Continue reading ‘Fast Times, Shanghai, Nightmare Alley & More Coming to The Criterion Collection May 2021’
February 4th, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
For February, the Criterion Collection has decided to honor filmmaker Ramin Bahrani by releasing his first two features on brand-new Blu-rays. Bahrani’s second feature, 2007’s Chop Shop, expands on what he was able to accomplish with Man Push Cart. Already settled into a filmmaking style reminiscent of Italian Neorealism, Bahrani’s sophomore effort tells another deeply felt story about human struggle, focusing on even younger characters and the ongoing struggles they have in trying to stay ahead of their station in life. Thanks to Criterion, the highly praised film now has a new life on a home format to be rediscovered as one of the great indie gems of the 00s, complete with new extras and a remastered audio track.
– Continue reading ‘Chop Shop – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
February 4th, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
For February, the Criterion Collection has decided to honor filmmaker Ramin Bahrani by releasing his first two features on brand-new Blu-rays. In this post, Bahrani’s first feature, Man Push Cart, tells a simple story serving as an update of the “Myth of Sisyphus.” With that in mind, Bahrani was praised early on for his style fitting into the realm of Italian Neorealism, given the minimalist nature of the filmmaking, combined with a focus on the conditions of a lesser everyday life, utilizing mostly non-professional actors. Now, looking at this film, having seen Bahrani’s work since, it remains a fascinating effort from a filmmaker harnessing his talents.
– Continue reading ‘Man Push Cart – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
January 15th, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
This April, Bong Joon Ho blows up the police procedural with his breakthrough second feature Memories of Murder, based on the true story of a notorious Korean serial killer, now in a new 4K restoration. Maggie Cheung stars in Olivier Assayas’s live-wire international breakthrough Irma Vep, a postmodern blend of silent cinema and martial-arts flicks. Appearing on Blu-ray for the first time, Frank Borzage’s History Is Made at Night stars Charles Boyer and Jean Arthur in one of the most intoxicatingly romantic love stories ever dreamt up by Hollywood. And that’s not all: Anthony Mann’s crackling western-melodrama hybrid The Furies and Jean-Luc Godard’s restless study of 1960s youth Masculin féminin will make their Blu-ray debuts.
Continue reading ‘Jean-Luc Godard, Bong Joon Ho, Olivier Assayas & More Coming to The Criterion Collection April 2021’
January 10th, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
One of the most celebrated documentaries of 2018, let alone the past decade, Minding the Gap is a wonderful chronicle of friendship, society, and skateboarding. I was excited when The Criterion Collection announced their plans to release the film last year, and this Blu-ray did not disappoint. As a debut feature, director Bing Liu manages to accomplish so much with a 90-minute period, and it all extends from wanting to explore the lives of himself and his friends as they all enter into adulthood. Now there’s this wonderful release, presenting the film as effectively as possible, with a great collection of extras to further expand on how the film was made and the effects it has had.
Continue reading ‘Minding The Gap – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
December 21st, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
Bursting onto the scene in 2000, after spending years as a radio DJ, Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s first film, Amores Perros, is an exceedingly confident debut, which melded together three stories, all linked by one defining moment, and greater themes connected to life, along with the presence of dogs. The Criterion Collection has done all they could to deliver a release fitting of the power Iñárritu’s crime drama hold, complete with a brand new 4K digital restoration, a new 5.1 lossless soundtrack, and a great collection of extras. Those who own or love dogs will still have a lot of stress to concern themselves with (though none were actually harmed), but Amores Perros is an excellent film given a proper Criterion upgrade.
Continue reading ‘Amores Perros – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
December 15th, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
For their final new-release announcement of the year, The Criterion Collection has unveiled upcoming editions of a satirical afterlife comedy by Albert Brooks, an enigmatic ode to friendship and imagination from Jacques Rivette, the Palme d’Or–winning family drama that made Mike Leigh one of the world’s most beloved auteurs, and Djibril Diop Mambéty’s convention-shattering debut feature. Plus, there is also their recently announced seven-film World of Wong Kar Wai box set!
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– Continue reading ‘Secrets & Lies, Defending Your Life & More Coming to The Criterion Collection March 2021’
December 10th, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
Presented by The Criterion Collection, with his lush and sensual visuals, pitch-perfect soundtracks, and soulful romanticism, Wong Kar Wai has established himself as one of the defining auteurs of contemporary cinema. Joined by such key collaborators as cinematographer Christopher Doyle; editor and production and costume designer William Chang Suk Ping; and actors Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Maggie Cheung Man Yuk, Wong (or WKW, as he is often known) has written and directed films that have enraptured audiences and critics worldwide and inspired countless other filmmakers with their poetic moods and music, narrative and stylistic daring, and potent themes of alienation and memory. Whether they’re tragically romantic, soaked in blood, or quirkily comedic, the seven films collected here are an invitation into the unique and wistful world of a deeply influential artist.
Continue reading ‘Coming 3/21, The Criterion Collection Presents: World of Wong Kar Wai’
November 15th, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
It’s not as though The Criterion Collection doesn’t have its share of comedies or romantic films, let alone downright hilarious features. That in mind, seeing 1987’s Moonstruck enter the collection is the kind of move that will ideally not only help restore the value to be found in this Norman Jewison-directed, John Patrick Shanley-written romantic comedy but perhaps even settle some debates concerning who “deserved” an Academy Award. From where I sit, Moonstruck remains a delightful feature that is well-written, performed, and highly entertaining. Now the film has a deluxe release, arriving on Blu-ray with a brand-new restoration. For many, that’s amoré for this feature.
Continue reading ‘Moonstruck – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
November 13th, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
In February, Joyce Chopra’s Smooth Talk, a troubling and profound coming-of-age story starring Laura Dern in her breakout performance, will join the Criterion Collection in a new 4K restoration supervised by the director. Ousmane Sembène satirizes the greed and dysfunction of postcolonial Senegalese society in his bitterly ironic second feature, Mandabi, newly restored in 4K. Warren Beatty stars in Alan J. Pakula’s chilling conspiracy thriller The Parallax View, a pinnacle of ’70s paranoia, appearing on Blu-ray for the first time. And acclaimed twenty-first-century neorealist Rahmin Bahrani joins the Collection with two humane tales of hardscrabble life at the margins of New York City: Man Push Cart and Chop Shop.
Continue reading ‘Parallax View, Smooth Talk, Chop Shop & More Coming to The Criterion Collection February 2020’
October 15th, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
In January, the Criterion Collection presents a mischievous chronicle of a rock icon’s most extravagant tour from one of our greatest filmmakers—Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese makes its home-video debut in an edition featuring never-before-seen concert footage, a new interview with Scorsese, and more. Also appearing for the first time on home video is Bing Liu’s award-winning documentary Minding the Gap, an extraordinary, heartrending story that tracks the coming-of-age of two friends in the skateboarding community of Rockford, Illinois. Larisa Shepitko’s Soviet masterpiece The Ascent, a harrowing Christian allegory set in wartime Belarus, will make its Blu-ray debut in a new 4K restoration. And that’s not all: A new Blu-ray box set gathers the three final films by Luis Buñuel in a feast of non-sequitur surrealism and cutting satire: The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Phantom of Liberty, and That Obscure Object of Desire.
Continue reading ‘Scorsese, Buñuel, Minding The Gap & More Coming to The Criterion Collection January 2021’
October 5th, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
What once was gone, now is found. Jean-Luc Godard’s Pierrot le Fou was one of the Criterion Collection’s first Blu-ray releases in 2009 before the rights were lost to StudioCanal. That initial release may be a collector’s item, but for those who want to see the film with a deluxe Criterion treatment, this re-release brings back the experimental French New Wave film with a new 2K digital restoration for all to view and enjoy. It may still be a confounding effort for some, but it looks excellent seeing this 60s film that was far ahead of its time.
– Continue reading ‘Pierrot Le Fou – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
September 15th, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
This December, the Criterion Collection welcomes the monumental first feature that kick-started twenty-first-century Mexican cinema with an electrifying jolt: Alejandro González Iñárritu’s blistering Amores Perros will appear in an edition featuring a new 4K restoration, along with extensive new interviews with the cast and crew and programs on the making of the film. David Cronenberg’s icily erotic treatise on sex and car crashes, the ever-controversial J.G. Ballard adaptation Crash, will make its Blu-ray debut. And that’s not all: William Greaves’s brilliant, docufictional meta landmark Symbiopsychotaxiplasm and Robert Bresson’s searing portrait of adolescent desperation Mouchette will both appear on Blu-ray for the first time.
Continue reading ‘Cronenberg, Iñárritu, Bresson & More Coming to The Criterion Collection December 2020’
This July, Andrei Tarkovsky’s most renowned and personal film, Mirror, a mesmerizing collage of his memories and dreams, will join the Criterion Collection. Bronzed and beautiful, Romy Schneider and Alain Delon bring palpable chemistry to the French Riviera in the slow-burn thriller La piscine. Bill Duke’s stylish and subversive Deep Cover stars Laurence Fishburne in a noir gem that doubles as a seething indictment of the war on drugs. Screwball sparks fly between Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant in Bringing Up Baby, the madcap classic from Howard Hawks, considered one of the greatest comedies of all time. And, long unavailable on home video, Lizzie Borden’s Working Girls offers an immersive, richly detailed portrait of a day in the life of a sex worker.
