Posts Tagged ‘Criterion Collection’

427 results.
Jan23

L’humanite / Humanity (1999) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

by movieworld on January 23rd, 2020 at 15:05
Posted In: .Other movies, Drama, Mystery

Humanity 1999
A riveting, enigmatic mystery-drama from France catapults writer-director Bruno Dumont into the front ranks of French filmmakers. "Humanite" is engrossing from start to finish, although it can leave the viewer stewing in frustration because it finally is open to various interpretations instead of ending with a neat answer to the nagging question of who killed the 11-year-old girl found savagely raped and murdered at the outset.

But this is no ordinary crime story that concludes with the required explanation. Dumont has instead made "Humanite" a window opening on life in a small French working class town and focusing on several of its characters. This is a film about people and their circumscribed lives. The director shows an absolute mastery of the cinematic art of creating a compelling visual terrain and a tense atmosphere. He concentrates his camera on the most minute detail and is unafraid to remain patiently fixed on scenes, much as the great director Jean Renoir did. The result is to sweep us into this world and make us feel as if we are in that town, breathing its very air and voyeuristically watching every move of the inhabitants depicted.

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Jan23

Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) 2 x DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

by movieworld on January 23rd, 2020 at 13:47
Posted In: .Other movies, Comedy, Drama, Musical

Hedwig and the Angry Inch 2001
With this trailblazing musical, writer-director-star John Cameron Mitchell and composer-lyricist Stephen Trask brought their signature creation from stage to screen for a movie as unclassifiable as its protagonist.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch tells the story of transexual punk-rocker Hedwig (played by Mitchell himself), who is embarking on a tour of low-rent family diners (all part of the fictional Bilgewater Inn chain) with her band The Angry Inch. The dates and locations have been selected to follow those of her ex-boyfriend and former musical partner Tommy Gnosis (Michael Pitt), who is now a huge success, playing the songs they wrote together (and some Hedwig wrote herself) to packed out arenas. Angry, jealous and heartbroken, she relates to her audiences the story of what brought her to this state, largely through song.

BD50, 2xDVD9 | 1080p AVC, NTSC | 01:31:45 | 46.1 Gb + 14.3 Gb
Language: English
Subtitles: English

Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Cast: John Cameron Mitchell, Miriam Shor, Stephen Trask
Country: USA
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Music, Musical
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Jan21

War and Peace / Voyna i mir / Война и мир (1966) 2 x Blu-Ray and 3 x DVD9 Criterion Collection, 5 x DVD9 RUSCICO

by movieworld on January 21st, 2020 at 16:31
Posted In: .Russian movies, Drama, History, Romance, War

War and Peace 1966
Amazing! Colossal! ‘Gone With the Wind’ is a tempest in a teacup compared to this jaw-dropping adaptation of the Tolstoy classic: seven hours of artful splendor, passionate characters, map-altering politics and the biggest, most spectacular battle scenes ever filmed.

A gargantuan version of Tolstoy's national epic, approached as a priority as important as the Soviet space program, War and Peace is surely the biggest production ever put on film, with entire armies filling the screen and covering vast landscapes. The recreation of the Napoleonic era in St. Petersburg and Moscow is marvelous to behold. Director Sergei Bondarchuk makes the story work even better at the intimate level. The romantic adventures and heartbreaks of the central trio, Pierre, Natasha and Andrei lead to at least four or five devastatingly emotional highpoints.

In production for five years, War and Peace became four separate features which together run just over seven hours. Provided with unlimited resources which included access to numerous museums and the full cooperation of the Soviet military, Bondarchuk and Mosfilm were able to outdo anything that a big Hollywood studio could achieve. Watching War and Peace even today inspires a sense of awe; the opulent palaces and ballrooms and panoramic battle scenes involving 15,000 soldiers reenacting brutal historical events have a visceral power which even the most sophisticated CGI is still unable to match.

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Jan20

La vie de Jesus / The Life of Jesus (1997) Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

by movieworld on January 20th, 2020 at 15:10
Posted In: .Other movies, Drama, Romance

The Life of Jesus 1997
A compelling drama with sophisticated commentary interwoven beneath the surface, La vie de Jesus (The Life of Jesus) explores a group of troubled youth living out their lives in France. As the story progresses, the darkness within these characters is explored: evil which is beneath the surface.

Nothing much happens in the small northern French town of Bailleul, but as the sun broils the Flanders countryside the inarticulate, pent-up rage of one local boy is about to explode. Twenty-year-old Freddy (David Douche) lives with his mother Yvette, who runs the Au Petit Casino cafe. He's in love with the attractive Marie (Marjorie Cottreel), a cashier at the local supermarket, and the two spend their time together either in bed or just standing against each other in the otherwise deserted street. Freddy's epileptic and self-conscious about it, but dutifully goes for treatment when he isn't racing souped-up mopeds with his equally bored buddies. But one day Kader, the son of Arab immigrants, starts talking to Marie, and Freddy's frustrations with life find a sudden focus.

Director: Bruno Dumont
Cast: David Douche, Marjorie Cottreel, Kader Chaatouf
Country: France
Genre: Drama, Romance

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Jan20

The Kid Brother (1927) Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

by movieworld on January 20th, 2020 at 13:52
Posted In: .Other movies, Comedy, Drama, Romance

The Kid Brother 1927
Today Harold Lloyd's fame as one of the top film comics of the silent era rests largely on his two most often-screened films, Safety Last (1923) and The Freshman (1925). But many film critics and Lloyd admirers rate The Kid Brother as one of his very best, arguably a masterpiece, and probably his most accomplished all-around performance. Even critics who rate Lloyd below Chaplin or Keaton because they find his films mechanical and lacking in human feeling point to this movie as the exception, an exciting, funny, and touching work that depends on acting and story line more than daredevil stunts.

The Kid Brother, a male Cinderella story, finds Lloyd as Harold, youngest son of the backwoods Hickory clan, treated with contempt by his brutish father and brothers because he's timid and sensitive. Though unappreciated by his family, he's also a clever young man, demonstrated by the way he comes up with various Rube Goldberg-like devices to help him complete his huge burden of farm chores. Harold falls for lovely Mary Powers, who moves in with his family after her traveling medicine show burns down. When thugs from the show steal the town's money, Harold's father is accused. Then the mistreated young drudge springs into action, using his brains rather than brawn to impress his family and outwit the crooks in a hilarious sequence of chases and gags until he restores his father's good name and wins the heart of his girl.

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Jun28

Sisters (1972) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

by movieworld on June 28th, 2019 at 17:01
Posted In: .Other movies, Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Sisters 1972
Sisters is a pulpy, Hitchcockian first excursion into the subjects of voyeurism and sexual horror by then unknown director Brian DePalma.

Danielle (Margot Kidder) meets potential boyfriend Philip (Lisle Wilson) after appearing on the TV show Peeping Toms and invites him home for a nightcap. This act invokes the ire of her estranged twin Dominque (also Kidder). From across the courtyard, Grace (Jennifer Salt), spunky reporter for a local Staten Island paper, witnesses one of the twins stabbing Philip to death gruesomely and calls the police, but when they all arrive on the scene, no evidence whatsoever can be found. Of course, ever the inquisitive reporter, Grace can't leave the incident alone and she decides to investigate on her own without the police’s help. It puts her in danger's path and leads to strange revelations from the twins’ past.

BD50, DVD9 | 1080p AVC, NTSC | 01:32:42 | 40.2 Gb, 7.09 Gb
Language: English
Subtitles: English

Director: Brian De Palma
Cast: Margot Kidder, Jennifer Salt, Charles Durning, William Finley
Country: USA
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
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Jun28

Swing Time (1936) Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

by movieworld on June 28th, 2019 at 13:01
Posted In: .Other movies, Comedy, Musical, Romance

Swing Time 1936
Swing Time is the last Fred & Ginger musical to have it all – lots of great songs from Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields, lots of great sets from Van Nest Polglase and Darrell Silvera, and lots of great dance numbers from Fred and Ginger. Even the plot, which stumbles badly in the early going, picks up momentum at the end.

The story tells of "Lucky" Garnett (Astaire), a gambler and and dancer engaged to Margaret Watson (Furness, in her pre-consumer advocacy days). When Lucky shows up late for his wedding, Margaret's father (Landers Stevens, the director's real-life father) tells him not to return until he earns $25,000 to prove that he's not just a layabout. Once Lucky meets dance teacher Penny Carrol (Rogers), however, his main problem is to keep from earning the 25 grand, since, of course, he falls in love with Penny.

BD50 | 1080p AVC | 01:43:46 | 42.6 Gb + 3% rec
Language: English
Subtitles: English

Director: George Stevens
Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Victor Moore
Country: USA
Genre: Comedy, Musical, Romance
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Jun27

Un beau soleil interieur / Let the Sunshine In (2017) Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

by movieworld on June 27th, 2019 at 12:51
Posted In: .Other movies, Comedy, Drama, Romance

Let the Sunshine In 2017
Acclaimed French director Claire Denis' Let the Sunshine In is a freewheeling, practically plotless journey through midlife friendship, love and romance. For the woman behind timeless stunners like White Material, Beau Travail, Nenette and Boni and Chocolat, this is existential stream-of-consciousness filmmaking at its zenith. It is a travelogue of personal catastrophes and quixotic longing, all of it centered upon actress Juliette Binoche giving one of the greatest performances of her Oscar-winning career.

Not to say this will be everyone’s cup of French cineaste tea. Binoche plays Isabelle, a talented Parisian artist who is currently in the throngs of a passionate affair with a married banker (Xavier Beauvois). Divorced with a young daughter, Isabelle is unwilling to give up on love. At the same time, she’s becoming increasingly frustrated with just how hard it is to find it. More, she’s not about to change who she is and what she wants from either her romantic partner or her career just to placate a man. Not that this has ever stopped her from seeing a number of different suitors, including a popular actor (Nicolas Duvauchelle) who has hired her to help do the production design for his latest theatrical endeavor and even a fellow artist (Alex Descas) her friends think might be taking advantage of her. But no one seems to fit the bill, and as things progress Isabelle is starting to wonder if she’s going to spend the last three or four decades of her life alone.

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Jun21

A Film Trilogy by Ingmar Bergman: Through a Glass Darkly (1961), Winter Light (1962), The Silence (1963) 3 x Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

by movieworld on June 21st, 2019 at 18:07
Posted In: .Other movies, Drama

A Film Trilogy by Ingmar Bergman
Between 1961 and 1963 Ingmar Bergman made three films which are some times referred to as his Faith Trilogy. This films form an odd collection for the simple reason that they were not originally intended as a trilogy by the director. They have come to be grouped together over time because of their thematic similarities and as a definitive resolution of Bergman's own battles with belief. Bergman's struggle to believe seems largely due to the experience of his austere pastor father and the paradoxical message of love that he preached. Throughout his early films, belief was held onto tenuously with the harsh realities of the world seeming to be a contradiction to a doctrine of love and forgiveness. Often this contradiction was externalised in his characters through which the director had an ongoing dialogue about belief and unbelief, this discourse became resolved with the three films included in this collection.

Each film begins with a prototypically existential situation: Karin (Harriet Andersson) suffers from schizophrenia in Through a Glass Darkly; Tomas (Gunner Bjornstrand) is absorbed by self-hatred and lack of faith in Winter Light; and Ester (Ingrid Thulin) endures illness and a love-hate relationship with her sister Anna (Gunnel Lindblum) in The Silence.

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Jun21

Wanda (1970) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection, DVD9

by movieworld on June 21st, 2019 at 16:33
Posted In: .Other movies, Crime, Drama

Wanda 1970
With her first and only feature film — a hard-luck drama she wrote, directed, and starred in — Barbara Loden turned in a groundbreaking work of American independent cinema, bringing to life a kind of character seldom seen on-screen.

Loden bravely subverts her own sexy (if little known) screen image to play poor Wanda, an aging little girl lost who at movie's start is sleeping on her parents' couch, having left (or been thrown out by) her husband. She shows up late in court to relinquish all rights to her children. She is fired from her factory job for being too slow on the line and is cheated out of the few meager overtime dollars due her. Having taken refuge in a movie theater and fallen asleep, she awakes to find her purse fleeced.

A bad day gets worse when she wanders into an empty bar and fails to realize that the "bartender" is actually a robber who has the real publican tied up on the floor out of view. The robber, played in a constant state of riveting paranoia by Michael Higgins, knows he can't let Wanda just walk out. And so begins their road trip through coal country and dingy motel rooms, culminating at a downtown Scranton bank.

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