|
|
100%
|
A Star Is Born (1937) |
"
You'll pick this up to make a connection with a fragile Eastman House nitrate print, not necessarily to be knocked out of your socks by a classic two-strip Technicolor classic in high-definition."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Feb 12, 2012
|
|
|
71%
|
Cold Mountain (2003) |
"
If you own the 2009 Blu-ray, and you're happy with it, there's no need to subsidize the present custodians of Miramax's catalogue."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Feb 10, 2012
|
|
|
57%
|
Love Story (1970) |
"
With this Love Story Blu-ray, Paramount proves that you can, in fact, polish a turd."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Feb 7, 2012
|
|
|
90%
|
Sans soleil (Sunless) (1983) |
"
This needs to be on your shelf, whether you picked up the 2007 DVD or you're eyeballing this one. Maybe you were waiting for Marker's low-tech genius to be reproduced in high-def. It was worth it the wait."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Feb 7, 2012
|
|
|
91%
|
La Jetée (The Pier) (1962) |
"
This needs to be on your shelf, whether you picked up the 2007 DVD or you're eyeballing this one. Maybe you were waiting for Marker's low-tech genius to be reproduced in high-def. It was worth it the wait."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Feb 7, 2012
|
|
—
|
56%
|
Edge of Darkness (2010) |
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Feb 7, 2012
|
|
.5/4
|
86%
|
In Darkness (2012) |
"
A "Not Another Holocaust Movie" awards grab that isn't even distinguished by its base artlessness and indifference to craft."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Feb 6, 2012
|
|
|
100%
|
Rebecca (1940) |
"
A few tiny scratches short of an early candidate for Blu-ray of the year, Fox's fully stocked HD package for Rebecca is an essential release of an exquisitely mixed-up masterpiece."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Feb 2, 2012
|
|
|
98%
|
Annie Hall (1977) |
"
Probably not the classic film most in dire need of an HD upgrade, but Fox does right by Woody Allen's best-loved neurotic romantic comedy."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Feb 1, 2012
|
|
|
98%
|
Manhattan (1979) |
"
A veritable collector's set of Gotham iconography, Fox's Blu-ray of Woody's swooniest neurotic romance has plenty of slate-gray panache for the film's legions of ardent devotees."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Jan 31, 2012
|
|
1.5/4
|
73%
|
Kill List (2012) |
"
The ending is so gracelessly ironic that O. Henry himself would have thrown up his hands in disgust."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Jan 30, 2012
|
|
|
97%
|
Wings (1927) |
"
A good hand, played well. Given the likelihood of The Artist's forthcoming Oscar ascendancy, Paramount knew what they had, what to do with it, and when to do it."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Jan 25, 2012
|
|
1/4
|
32%
|
Man on a Ledge (2012) |
"
Beyond my Big Apple-centric nitpicking, the cheapness is soaked into the material and direction as well."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Jan 25, 2012
|
|
|
83%
|
Mysteries of Lisbon (2011) |
"
A mixed bag for a career masterpiece, the Blu-ray of Mysteries of Lisbon gets some things wrong in terms of authoring, but Raúl Ruiz's final epic is so enchanting you may talk yourself into not noticing."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Jan 24, 2012
|
|
|
——
|
Poto and Cabengo (1980) |
"
If you think you know the documentary-essay-sketchbook genre, Jean-Pierre Gorin proves that there's always a little more country to undiscover."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Jan 22, 2012
|
|
|
——
|
Routine Pleasures (1986) |
"
If you think you know the documentary-essay-sketchbook genre, Jean-Pierre Gorin proves that there's always a little more country to undiscover."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Jan 22, 2012
|
|
|
92%
|
Traffic (2000) |
"
The primetime debut of one of Criterion's indies-in-residence, Steven Soderbergh's Oscar-winning drug war epic gets a terrific HD upgrade."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Jan 17, 2012
|
|
4/4
|
100%
|
Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut (A Man Escaped) (1957) |
"
A Man Escaped seems to be one of the few Bresson films that both his fans and detractors can agree on."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Jan 17, 2012
|
|
—
|
84%
|
Mildred Pierce (1945) |
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Jan 14, 2012
|
|
—
|
17%
|
30 Days Of Night: Dark Days (2010) |
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Jan 13, 2012
|
|
|
92%
|
Night and Day (Bam gua nat) (2009) |
"
A little context would have helped, but it's a very honorable transfer of another quiet, seismic tremor from the Korean master."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Jan 12, 2012
|
|
1.5/4
|
92%
|
Beauty and the Beast (In 3D) (2012) |
"
Better remembered than seen, Beauty and the Beast has been treated unkindly not just by the years that have passed since it was released to enormous acclaim in 1991, but by a faddish 3D conversion."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Jan 11, 2012
|
|
2/4
|
80%
|
Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same (2012) |
"
Madeleine Olnek has a limited repertoire of jokes, so it's fortunate that the film, at 76 minutes, is fairly amusing, even if it's never quite laugh-out-loud funny. "
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Jan 3, 2012
|
|
|
88%
|
Margin Call (2011) |
"
A massively "whatever" Blu-ray for a fairly sturdy indie that's riding a wave of magnanimous press and hands-rubbing-together awards prognosticators."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Dec 24, 2011
|
|
—
|
——
|
A Farewell To Arms (1957) |
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Dec 23, 2011
|
|
|
88%
|
A Farewell to Arms (1932) |
"
Tissue-thin as these things go, Kino's wafer of a Blu-ray production earns its keep with a fine transfer of a Borzage barnburner."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Dec 22, 2011
|
|
2/4
|
76%
|
War Horse (2011) |
"
What ultimately hobbles War Horse is a two-pronged attack, with Spielberg's soft-sell producing an unfortunately dramatic flatness in almost every scene, while an 11th-hour scramble for picture-book catharsis doesn't seem to work either."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Dec 21, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
100%
|
The Gold Rush (1925) |
"
What's surprising when one takes a fresh look at The Gold Rush is how much else there is, too, not just in terms of set pieces."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Dec 20, 2011
|
|
.5/4
|
13%
|
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011) |
"
They die horribly. "
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Dec 15, 2011
|
|
|
83%
|
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2011) |
"
Tsui Hark's surreal wuxia gets problematic transfer, but lives to tell the tale."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Dec 14, 2011
|
|
2/4
|
93%
|
Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol (2011) |
"
While Brad Bird's direction is not nearly as fleet as his CV in animation would lead one to hope, it's not without its pleasures either."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Dec 14, 2011
|
|
—
|
——
|
Deep End () |
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Dec 14, 2011
|
|
|
100%
|
Meet Me In St. Louis (1944) |
"
Warner's cases might create havoc for the fastidious home-video collector who remembers the dark days of clamshell VHS cases, but the production and presentation of Minnelli's first masterpiece gets everything right that really counts. "
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Dec 13, 2011
|
|
4/4
|
88%
|
Deep End (1971) |
"
Deep End is as soaked in pheromones and nervous electricity as its main character."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Dec 12, 2011
|
|
|
86%
|
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009) |
"
The "Millennium" completist doesn't need to be told to pick this up, but would be well advised to understand that the set contains the TV version of the trilogy."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Dec 12, 2011
|
|
|
53%
|
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (2010) |
"
The "Millennium" completist doesn't need to be told to pick this up, but would be well advised to understand that the set contains the TV version of the trilogy."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Dec 12, 2011
|
|
|
69%
|
The Girl Who Played with Fire (Flickan som lekte med elden) (2010) |
"
The "Millennium" completist doesn't need to be told to pick this up, but would be well advised to understand that the set contains the TV version of the trilogy."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Dec 12, 2011
|
|
2.5/4
|
50%
|
Fanny, Annie & Danny (2011) |
"
Writer-director Chris Brown makes a play for the "And You Thought Your Family Was Crazy" sweepstakes with Fanny, Annie & Danny."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Dec 9, 2011
|
|
|
76%
|
The Help (2011) |
"
Disney ably delivers a machine-tooled Blu-ray presentation of The Help, a delicious confection about the Southern matriarchy, set against the burgeoning civil rights movement, with a secret ingredient: shit."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Dec 6, 2011
|
|
|
97%
|
The Lady Vanishes (1938) |
"
The lion's share of the work was done in 2007 for the brilliant DVD re-release; if you already own it, you shouldn't feel obligated to double-dip. That having been said, a fine job is a fine job, and Criterion deserves high marks once again."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Dec 5, 2011
|
|
|
100%
|
Seven Chances (1925) |
"
Kino's Blu-ray production has room for improvement, but for the visual presentation alone, it's an essential release."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Dec 2, 2011
|
|
|
——
|
Caitlin Plays Herself (2011) |
"
Although we can glimpse Caitlin's vulnerability and doubt from scene to scene, she might be the most well-armed and well-fortified protagonist Joe Swanberg's ever given us."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Nov 30, 2011
|
|
1.5/4
|
44%
|
Happy Feet Two (2011) |
"
Like me, you probably like a handful of the pop songs, but would describe the experience of seeing them performed by multi-million-dollar, anthropomorphized animals as not being too far off from watching a graphic training film on venereal disease."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Nov 15, 2011
|
|
3.5/4
|
93%
|
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) |
"
Few British films from this period seem to mythologize the pre-war period of Churchill's youth and early career quite as potently."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Nov 13, 2011
|
|
.5/4
|
3%
|
Jack and Jill (2011) |
"
More bluntly than ever before (and that's saying something), Sandler uses an entire film to let his loyal fans know that he thinks they're all a bunch of stupid *******. "
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Nov 10, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
44%
|
J. Edgar (2011) |
"
Images of the living, yet decaying, body are what turn a cookie-cutter biopic into something far more personal."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Nov 8, 2011
|
|
|
92%
|
Blue Velvet (1986) |
"
A terrific, finely-tuned presentation of a landmark American movie, complete with flaming nipples, minus cackling audience members."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Nov 7, 2011
|
|
3.5/4
|
86%
|
Silver Bullets (2011) |
"
It's certainly autobiographical, and it's okay to accept that, but at the same time, it's a mistake to decide that that's the whole show. "
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Oct 26, 2011
|
|
2/4
|
83%
|
Puss in Boots (2011) |
"
As handsome as any animated movie you can name, but it doesn't even have the slick, narrative efficiency of one of the Kung Fu Panda movies."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Oct 24, 2011
|
