"No one can
see every release during the entire calendar year - so we hope our
lists can introduce and expose some of the many
lauded Blu-rays and DVDs that surfaced during 2017. Hopefully you will
find a few unique surprises. We don't discriminate based on regional
limitations or broadcast standards.
Expanding the borders of your digital entertainment horizons has
always been the primary goal of this website. We always appreciate your
suggestions and contributions."
DVDBeaver
DVDBeaver are proud to announce our voting results for
Blu-ray
and DVD of the Year - 2017. I would like to give a
very appreciative thank you to those 92 individuals (the most yet - next
year we go for 100!) who participated
(we published the complete results of 26 balloters below, but everyone's votes
were counted in the totals!). This poll would not exist without
the film aficionados who support world cinema and the DVDBeaver website.
Thank you! We have done our best to
help expose some of the important, and often clandestine, neglected digital
packages, in both BD and SD, that surfaced in the 2017 calendar year.
We have had past years where Criterion is more closely
challenged, but not this year. I had suspicions that Kino with their
strong output would be second but Arrow is very dominant. Criterion
generally can release 4 titles a month - maybe 5, recently - but with
the UK editions it is over 85 for the year! Kino is over 200 for the
year. Arrow similarly high. It has been another super-strong year. It's
hard to keep up!
Two announcements:
Firstly, I'd like to warmly welcome Colin Zavitz as our new VP of
business development and Versatile Miscellaneous Stuff - he does a little of
everything. He's great - you will all love him. And thanks to Colin for
this year's ballot tallying!
Secondly, I have purchased both a
OLED65 LG TV
with, essential, Dolby Vision + HDR (increasing the color depth to
10-bit per color) plus an
Oppo Digital UDP-203 4K
Ultra HD Blu-ray player. We will start to review the system and
each machine, eventually comparing this
4k UHD format's discs to BD and
DVD. We have started with a small
section below and expect that next year we will have
incorporated this format into our Top 100 list!
Acknowledgment, as always, to reviewers Eric
Cotenas and Gregory Meshman who continue to expose new and old
releases with informative reviews and Calendar updates. We
wouldn't be here without them! And appreciation for input
and support from Michael C., Monty, Michael B., JM Ryan, Alex
D., Sean P., Tim L., Henrik S., Lynn L., Kat E., Brian M. and
many others in our
FB
Group. Thanks everyone!
We're proud of our new listing pages made in
2017:
CREATURE-FEATURES (on Blu-ray!),
PRE-CODE FILMs (on Blu-ray!),
SILENT ERA FILMs (on Blu-ray!),
HAMMER Studios (on Blu-ray!)
The 100 BEST Neo-Noirs (on Blu-ray!),
The GREATEST 100 Westerns (on Blu-ray!),
Giallo on Blu-ray!,
ESSENTIAL NOIR on Blu-ray!,
Shopping Guide for Blu-rays
at Amazon.FR (France),
Shopping Guide for Blu-rays
at Amazon.DE (Germany) and our
LATEST ARTICLES:
Movies From... the End of the World,
The Beauties of Star Trek (TOS).
Owning an easily
accessible digital library, of the greatest films ever made, in the
best possible transfers is a quest of perfection many Cinephiles
strive for and continue to achieve. Classic, nostalgic, vintage, or
world cinema - has never had such accessibility, ever, for the
discerning digital consumer.
NOTE: It's a safe bet that if we had early releases of
Suspiria Three disc (2 Blu-rays + 1 CD) LE
or
The Éric Rohmer Collection
that they would have listed even higher in the totals as they are both
exceptional packages. We have neither, yet, to review.
The UK output was dominated by
Arrow,
in addition to much of their output expanding into region 'A'.
Criterion packages are being released in Region 'B' (UK),
"Indicator" (Powerhouse Films) are all Region FREE!, BFI,
Second Run had another great year!, Studio Canal, Artificial Eye and
their massive later-year boxsets, Masters of Cinema are always strong,
Signal One, Screenbound, Network, 88 Films (love their output!), Third
Window - and more.
North America has Criterion
continuing to lead the way with help from Kino
Lorber's massive output!, Twilight
Time, exciting new
Classicflix, Olive Films (and their improved 'Signature' releases), Flicker Alley,
Shout! Factory, Film Movement,
Warner Archive, Milestone, Cinelicious Pics, Synapse, Severin,
Grindhouse Releasing, Cinema Guild, Cult Epics, Oscilloscope, Vinegar Syndrome,
Cohen Media, Strand Releasing,
Film Detective and others.
DVD? We reduced DVD to a
TOP 5 this year. Most balloters included zero picks, almost none did a
full ten and many chose only 2 or 3. We didn't even include a DVD in
the top 100, in 2017, and it, generally, remains infused with extremely eclectic, adventurous
world cinema, Indie and documentary leanings. It's slowing but still has
value for those seeking vintage or modern films that they can't see, or
want to revisit, in alternative, as opposed to lesser (TV) venues. I
still like DVD and bought probably 20+ editions in the last year, I'm
just bothered by the price of some of the major studio's MoD releases.
It certainly seems like a discourtesy towards the loyal fans who are
purchasing them...
Okay, let's get to it!

25 Selected Balloters (click
name
to access votes):
Sean Axmaker
Billy Bang
Simón Cherpitel
Darrick Conley
Eric Cotenas
Christopher Doyle Lee
Eiseman
Gregory Elich
Stuart
Galbraith Jeff Heinrich Peter
Henné Louis
Irwin
Benedict
Keeler
Gregory Meshman
Scott Murray
Leonard Norwitz
Luc Pomerleau
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Steve Rutt
James-Masaki Ryan
Schwarkkve
Per-Olaf
Strandberg (taikohediyoshi)
Michael Connors
Gary Tooze James
White
Colin Zavitz
The Totals (click
to access)
THE TOP FIVE DVDs OF 2017
TOP TEN Blu-rays OF 2017
TOP 100 Blu-rays
of 2017
4K UHD
TOP LABELS
Best Cover Design
'Black' and Blu (Film Noir
on 2017 Blu-ray)
'Yellow'
and Blu (Giallo on 2017 Blu-ray)
Notable Rant and Praise
Sean Axmaker
Seattle, WA, USA
http://parallax-view.org
1.
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog [Blu-ray]
(Alfred Hitchcock, 1927) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
2.
The Lost World
[Blu-ray]
(Harry O. Hoyt, 1925) Flicker Alley
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
3.
His Girl Friday
[Blu-ray]
(Howard Hawks, 1940) Criterion
Us / UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
4.
Twin Peaks: A Limited Event Series
[Blu-ray]
(David Lynch, 2017) Showtime
5.
Early Women Filmmakers: An International Anthology
[Blu-ray]
(Alice Guy, Lois Weber, Mabel Normand, Madeline
Brandeis, Germaine Dulac, Lotte Reiniger,
et.al, 1902-1946) Flicker Alley
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
6.
The Breaking Point
[Blu-ray]
(Michael Curtiz, 1950) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
7.
Beggars of Life
[Blu-ray]
(William A. Wellman, 1928) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
8.
Inferno 2D + 3D [Blu-ray]
(Roy Ward Baker, 1953) Twilight Time
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
9.
Letter from an Unknown Woman
[Blu-ray]
(Max Ophüls, 1948) Olive Signature
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
10.
Deluge
[Blu-ray]
(Felix E. Feist, 1933) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Top 10 SD-DVD Releases OF 2017
1.
The Bureau:
Season 2 /
Season 3 (France, 2016-2017) Kino Lorber R1
2. Romanzo
Criminale Season 1 /
Season 2
(Italy, 2008-2010) Kino Lorber R1
|
 |
Billy Bang
1.
Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project No. 2 [Blu-ray]
(Limite - Mário Peixoto, Revenge - Ermek
Shinarbaev, Insiang - Lino Brocka, Mysterious
Object at Noon - Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Law
of the Border - Lütfi Ö. Akad, Taipei Story -
Edward Yang) - Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)- if Criterion continue to put them out, they are
always going to be blind buys for me. What could be more
precious for cinephiles that the preservation of endangered
film. This has an absolute masterpiece within- Yang's Taipei
Story. As spellbinding as his last film Yi Yi. Of the others-
Mysterious & Limite are as worthwhile. Law of the Border- talk
about preservation from the rubble! Revenge- didn't care for
sadly. Insiang- yet to watch!)
2.
Ghost World [Blu-ray]
(Terry Zwigoff, 2001) Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW). My of my very favourite films ever. Was delighted when Criterion announced
it.Waited impatiently for the B&N half price sale and July to
arrive!!!
3.
Ugetsu [Blu-ray]
(Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- This was voted top
of the pile a few years ago if I remember right, for the DVD
version. I just hope DVDBeavers have not forgotten it out of
voting exhaustion!!! This Blu Ray print unlike the Masters of
Cinema UK release, did not disappoint. Stupendous!
4.
The Tree of Wooden Clogs [Blu-ray] (Ermanno Olmi, 1978) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- when
people are toting up lists of the Greatest Films Ever Made etc,
what chance has Olmi's masterpiece against all the Citizen
Kane's, Vertigo's and Pulp Ficton's' of this world. Do viewers
have the patience any more to see what a miracle this film is?
5.
Fat City
[Blu-ray] (John Huston, 1972) - UK Powerhouse Films
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- if we are
talking about the flowering of American cinema in the 1970's-
this, with The King Of Marvin Gardens, and The Last Picture
Show, are the absolute highlights for me. I know the Twilight
Time US release from 2016 would have stolen the thunder from
this UK release in terms of votes sadly.
6.
Tampopo [Blu-ray]
(Juzo Itami, 1985) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)- pure cinematic
pleasure! Like Ghost World, just delighted that Criterion picked
it up. And a simultaneous UK release!!! Scores high on the
'rewatch'-o-meter!
7.
They Live by Night [Blu-ray]
(Nicholas Ray, 1948) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- again a
superlative Criterion release. The self enclosed fever of first
love, the world be damned. Great bonus supplements too!
8.
Buster Keaton: 3 Films
[Blu-ray]
(Sherlock Jr., The General, Steamboat Bill, Jr.) - RB UK
Masters of Cinema
-
Last year MoC put out the Complete Short Film. This year 3 films
in superb restorations. Thank you & thank you.
9.
Housekeeping [Blu-ray]
(Bill Forsyth, 1987) Region FREE Indicator UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- has the
tone of a book (in this case Marylinne Robinson's novel) ever
been so beautifully got into film as Bill Forsyth has done? A
wonderful autumnal film of failure and withdrawal.
10.
45 Years [Blu-ray]
(Andrew Haigh, 2015) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- I'm such a snob I
held out for this Criterion release in the B&N sale over the
easily available UK one. I wanted the cover art, and booklet and
the bonus features. In short, I wanted the best keepsake. Mr
Haigh is proving to be a master of tone too!
Deliberate leave outs-
The Aki Kaurismäki Collection
(17 films + shorts on 10 discs - Crime and Punishment, Calamari Union,
Shadows in Paradise, Drifting Clouds, Hamlet Goes Business, La vie de bohème,
Ariel, Match Factory Girl, Leningrad Cowboys Go America, Leningrad Cowboys Meet
Moses, Total Balalaika Show, Take Care of Your Scarf Tatiana, Juha, The Man
without a Past, Lights in the Dusk, Le havre, The Other Side of Hope)
[Blu-ray]
(Aki Kaurismäki) RB UK Curzon Artificial Eye. I'm
such a devotee of this director that I had already bought most
of these Blu Rays individually from Finland, as they were
released in 2014/15. The Finns had the foresight to include
English subtitles on all.
Moonlight [Blu-ray]
(Barry Jenkins, 2016) RB UK Altitude Film
Distribution A new favourite but as we are basing our votes partly of the way a
film 'curated' on Blu ray release, I sure this will get it's
Criterion pick up soon.
L'argent [Blu-ray]
(Robert Bresson, 1983) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW) A protest vote, for
Criterion being so skimpy on supplements, and not licensing the
earlier Kent Jones commentary.
El Sur
[Blu-ray]
(Víctor Erice, 1983) RB UK BFI
(BEAVER
REVIEW). Like the Kaurismaki, bought the
earlier Spanish release in 2013 I think.
Wish List on
Blu-ray
-
Straight Time (Ulu Grosbard 1978)- when
Harry Dean Stanton died, I read in at least a couple of
obituaries the oft stated comment 'it is said that no film with
Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh could ever be truly bad'.
Well here is a film with Harry Dean Stanton AND M. Emmet Walsh
(and Dustin Hoffman and Gary Busey and Theresa Russell if that's
not enough) that is crying out for an UK Powerhouse or Criterion
release. Yes the DVD with its director commentary is good enough
for now- but it's a great film not many people know enough
about!
ED: I very much concur with Billy's wish
choice and would add that it was based on Edward Bunker's novel,
who wrote and gave a great commentary in this year's Arrow
Blu-ray
of
Animal Factory (directed by Steve Buscemi)
|
 |
Simón Cherpitel
photographer / designer / writer /
cinemacom.com
The
movies we enjoy speak to our feelings & our consciousness. As
artistic creations, they reflect their creators: the directors,
the writers, the cinematographers, the actors.
What we…. or what I choose to watch reflects myself, my ideals,
my desires, my opinions, what makes my feelings go up or down
depending on what’s delivered to my eyes & ears.
These are the movies I've most enjoyed on BD this year because
of what they give me during repeated watchings. Most are older &
maybe things were simpler in the ‘old’ days, or maybe it’s just
because i’m getting old. The newest is from 1980 & by a director
who worked for Powell & Pressburger & David Lean as
cinematographer in the early 1940s.
Altogether this past year, i purchased around 275 BDs & maybe 5
DVDs. One-third of the total came from overseas, & 40 were
“double-dips” for better editions of already owned BDs.
1 -
Ride the High Country [Blu-ray]
(Sam Peckinpah, 1962) Warner Archive
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Sam’s first personal movie - it’s all there, his whole life &
career, split into the two main characters, Gil & Wes, the good
& the bad & the ugliness of the world (Hammonds & the mining
camp) — the characters portray integrity vs compromise - they’re
mixed up, Sam was mixed up - Sam made everything personal, which
is why even his lesser movies graze greatness - his sense of
humanity is real & affecting. (i call him Sam because he’s the
only director i ever took a film class from in a dream.) There’s
a strong sense of love & something to love in all his movies.
2 -
The Ballad of Cable Hogue
[Blu-ray]
(Sam
Peckinpah, 1970) Warner Archive, ALL - Sam loved this more than
any of his other movies, maybe because Sam found water in the
desert of commercial Hollywood & for a time prospered then died
relatively young but as grizzled & beaten up as any of his
heroes, especially Hogue…..ah….but remember “Butterfly
Morning”….
3 -
The Bravados
(Henry King, 1958) Explosive Media, RB - Outstanding,
unforgettable, generally overlooked Western of misbegotten
revenge & inner comeuppance via Gregory Peck, about whom Sam
Shepard & Bob Dylan wrote, “I’ll see him in anything…” (in
“Brownsville Girl”, as you know referencing King’s
The Gunfighter.)
4 -
Suddenly, Last Summer
(Joseph L Mankiewicz, 1959) Twilight Time (BEAVER
REVIEW) - Excepting
possibly Huston’s Night of the Iguana, this is the most
cinematic & mesmorising movie rendition of any Tennessee
Williams play, perhaps because Mankiewicz was directing only,
working from Gore Vidal’s script, while the play’s tormented
emotional content adversely affected everyone involved, yet
resulted in a fascinating work of performance & poetry.
5 -
Bad Day at Black Rock
[Blu-ray]
(John Sturges, 1955) Warner Archive
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- This intense, modern day thriller in Western garb broke the
ground for ‘old men’ as heroes & cast the mold of the
prematurely aged Spencer Tracy’s iconic remembrance.
6 -
23 Paces to Baker Street [Blu-ray]
(Henry Hathaway, 1956) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Maybe the neatest, most endearing, nearly forgotten until now,
London fog-based suspense mystery of all time, as well as Van
Johnson’s most memorable movie.
7 -
Love in the Afternoon
[Blu-ray]
(Billy Wilder, 1957) Warner Archive
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- One of Billy’s best & to me echoing the clearest ‘Lubitsch
touch’ he always strove for. (Compare its B&W Euro ambiance with
Trouble in Paradise.) In today’s sexual clime it might be
considered an off-putting Allenic mesh of old man Cooper &
ingénue Hepburn, yet they act so according to the era’s code
that the movie remains an enduring delight.
8 -
Hopscotch
[Blu-ray]
(Ronald Neame, 1980) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Walter Matthau & Glenda Jackson make this a great screwball
comedy that spoofs the generally sinister CIA---endlessly &
repeatedly enjoyable.
9 -
The Violent Men
[Blu-ray]
(Rudolph Maté,
1955) Sidonis Calysta, RB - a tight, exceptionally well-acted,
neatly scripted, & nearly forgotten top Western respected by the
French more than Americans, directed by Dreyer’s Jeanne d’Arc
cinematographer & with Glenn Ford, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G
Robinson & Brian Keith. Yes, it has forced French subs, but
they’re mostly below the CinemaScope frame line & like most good
Westerns there’s more image than talk----it’s super to have this
BD after years visiting the DVD’s inferior picture.
10 - 5 way tie ! (ah-hah) -
Two Jean-Pierre Melville releases, putting 4 of his movies newly
on BD:
Melville Boxset
(Jean-Pierre Melville, 1956-1972) StudioCanal, RB - 6 movies
Bob le flambeur (1956) - Léon Morin, pretre (1961) - Le Doulos
(1963) - L’armée des ombres (1969) - Le Cercle rouge (1970) - Un
flic (1972) - Just having Bob, the Fingerman & the Cop on BD for
the 1st time makes this the best set of the year.
---with—
Le samouraï [Blu-ray]
(Jean-Pierre Melville, 1967) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Whether this is Melville’s greatest, it’s clearly a classic &
its spirit whispers in the ear of Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog.
—&---
a 3rd Peckinpah:
Junior Bonner
[Blu-ray]
(Sam Peckinpah, 1972) Kino Classics
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- not a Western as it’s modern day & outside the ethos, but
genuine Peckinpah, & more endearing than the other great
enduring rodeo movie Ray’s
The Lusty Men.
(Thru my daughter i know some real life ‘bullfighters’, as they
call themselves.)
—&—
a movie probably nobody else will name:
Phaedra [Blu-ray]
(Jules Dassin, 1962) Olive Films
- Dassin’s most daring extravaganza is an exhilarating
experience, a totally over the top classic Greek tragedy played
in the modern world of Onassis shipbuilding (before Ari got
Jackie & JFK still lived). Phaedra kills herself from thwarted
romance, while her lover stepson soars off the cliff in his
modern chariot, & the father consoles the black-cloaked widows
of the drowned sailors. Soaring Theodorakis score accentuates
the deliciously hysterical madness shot in exquisite B&W.
—&—
the most beautiful vampire movie next to Herzog’s, which doesn’t
need my vote to place well but I love it too much to leave it
out:
Vampyr
[Blu-ray] (Carl Th. Dreyer, 1932) Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Dreyer’s excursion into the spooky is spooky indeed, its
fangless apparitions more enduringly haunting than all the
lip-smacking blood-suckers conjured up under Bram Stoker’s
aegis.
…..& now a wild bunch of more widely
accepted cinema classics & movies of note:
Celine and Julie Go Boating
[Blu-ray]
(Jacques Rivette, 1974) RB BFI
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
– Rivette’s most inviting enigma mysteriously wrapped in his
puzzling quest for reality in illusion, or the latter in the
former, far more accessible than the cineaste’s grail of Out 1,
maybe because it’s tighter & shorter.
Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080
Bruxelles
[Blu-ray]
(Chantal Akerman, 1975) Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Unexpectedly riveting depiction of confinement by time, space
& activity, so circumscribed that you wait for over 3 hours for
something to break loose, which it does in sudden
self-destructive violence & it may not be by chance that the
director killed herself 40 years later.
The Last Laugh
[Blu-ray]
(F.W. Murnau, 1924) Kino
- 2017’s most important silent movie transfer, beautifully
executed, about misplaced respect for uniformed social status
leading to personal tragedy whimsically changed into fairy tale
conclusion. (Jannings’ early pride reminded me of Biberkopf
working as guard in parking garage at end of Fassbinder’s Berlin
Alexanderplatz. Were these the personalities that empowered
Hitler to rise?)
Memories of Underdevelopment [Blu-ray]
(Tomás Gutiérrez Alea,
1968) RB UK Mr Bongo
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- A
human remnant of colonialism hangs on as a minor
landlord in revolutionary Cuba, yet his ennui erodes any
possibility of a place in the new society.
Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project No. 2 [Blu-ray]
(Limite - Mário Peixoto, Revenge - Ermek
Shinarbaev, Insiang - Lino Brocka, Mysterious
Object at Noon - Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Law
of the Border - Lütfi Ö. Akad, Taipei Story -
Edward Yang) - Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
All the movies in the set have enduring impact—yet for
me, this was a set to see once & sell (with over 1500
movies on my shelves, i can only re-see so many every
2-3 years). All these 6 are intense aesthetic
experiences, completely worth watching & generally real
downers all. Yang’s Taipei Story echoes A Brighter
Summer Day, & specially interesting is the interview
with lead actor later director Hsiao-Hsien Hou.
His Girl Friday
[Blu-ray]
(Howard Hawks, 1940) Criterion
Us / UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Now we’re waiting for Bringing Up Baby.
Woman of the Year [Blu-ray]
(George Stevens, 1942) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Tracy & Hepburn—that’s all there’s to say, as Gary
said.
The Crimson Kimono
[Blu-ray]
(Sam
Fuller, 1959) Twilight Time
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- The year would not be complete
without at least one wonderful Fuller melodrama.
The Quiet American
[Blu-ray]
(Joseph
L Mankiewicz, 1958) Twilight Time,
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
-
Mankiewicz has a go at Graham Greene before the American
got ugly….& twisting the author’s tale to imagine Audie
Murphy going innocently to hell & not coming back.
Festival
[Blu-ray]
(Murray Lerner, 1967) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Newport, RI. Relive or live the early 1960s—the folk
boom, Joan Baez very young & stunningly alluring, the
birth of the Dylan mystic….. As Gary said, “…an amazing
time-capsule….the feeling of the time & place are
‘magical’ expressions beautifully exported…”
The Paradine Case
[Blu-ray]
(Alfred Hitchcock, 1947) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Another Hitch, tho minor, bites the BD with only three
of his post 1938 movies remaining to be et: Mr & Mrs
Smith, Stage Fright & Under Capricorn.
Bitter Victory
[Blu-ray]
[Blu-ray]
(Nick Ray, 1958) Sidonis Calysta,
RB - Yes, forced French caps but mostly below the image.
The Harder They Fall
(Mark Robson, 1956) Sidonis Calysta, RB - Bogart’s last
movie with Schulberg smashing the boxing racket like
he’d beaten the waterfront mob. Like all Sidonis of
English films - non-removable subs.
Solaris
[Blu-ray]
(Steven Soderbergh, 2002) Filmconfect (Rough Trade), ALL
- I like this as well or better than the Tarkovsky
adaptation of the same Stanislaw Lem sci-fi novel. It’s
less philosophically ruminating, more focused on the
protagonist’s failure to respect his wife’s persona &
the resulting grief, allowing Tarkovsky’s persisting
ambiguity to be ameliorated with forgiveness.
The Deadly Affair
[Blu-ray]
(Sidney Lumet, 1966) UK Indicator
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Big Knife
[Blu-ray]
(Robert Aldrich, 1955) Arrow US
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Sun Also Rises
[Blu-ray]
(Henry King, 1957) Signal One, RB
- In many ways the most entertaining of Hemingway
stories put on screen, with Ty Power & Ava Gardner
hoping something besides the sun may rise however futile
according to the docs, while Errol Flynn stays
delightfully drunk as he does in his other great final
role trying to save the elephants, & Eddie Albert has a
ball in both.
The Yakuza [Blu-ray]
(Sydney Pollack, 1974) Warner Archive
- Super later Robert Mitchum thriller with magnificent
Japanese acting presence of Takakura Ken.
Portrait of Jennie
[Blu-ray]
(William Dieterle, 1948) Kino Classics
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Joe Versus the Volcano
[Blu-ray]
(John Patrick Shanley, 1990) Warner Archive, ALL -
Totally outrageous, preposterous, absurd latter day
screwball comedy & concept made acceptable by the
sincerity of players Tom Hanks & Meg Ryan. It’s
unimaginable that only maybe Ebert & Schickel among
critics appreciated at the time. A classic.
S.O.B.
[Blu-ray]
(Blake Edwards, 1981) Warner Archive
- Hollywood satire is maybe Edwards’ finest, most biting
comedy. Julie Andrews even bares a breast in support of
the cause.
Seven Days in May
[Blu-ray]
(John Frankenheimer, 1964) Warner Archive
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Gary loves it even more than I — he’s seen it 20
times, me only 12.
Blood Alley
[Blu-ray]
(William A Wellman, 1955) Warner Archive, ALL - Instead
of wagon train of Western settlers, John Wayne skippers
a steamer of Chinese refugees to freedom with San
Francisco Bay & the Sacramento River doubling for the
Formosa straits. If you know Marin County, you know that
just round the bend lies San Quentin prison. An truly
rousing fun adventure with Lauren Bacall looking great
before she had to deal with Bogie’s dying.
The Sea Chase
[Blu-ray]
(John Farrow, 1955) Warner Archive, ALL - Like Blood
Alley, another watery Wayne melodrama, this one with
John as a ‘good’ German carrying out duty among Nazi
swine, assisted by the love of a more mature Lana
Turner, & rather less fun thru tragic overtones but
feeling better today than it did but 10 years after the
end of WWII.
Night Moves [Blu-ray]
(Arthur Penn, 1975) Warner Archive
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Love this noirish mystery thriller, especially where
Hackman’s character says “going to a Rohmer movie is
like watching paint dry.”
The Savage Innocents [Blu-ray]
(Nicholas Ray, 1960) Olive Films
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Man with Two Brains
[Blu-ray]
(Carl Reiner, 1983) Warner Archive
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Agreed: “hilarious”. Few comedies endure because the
jokes get stale, but here the laughter never fades
because it’s inherent in the whole.
The Killer Is Loose [Blu-ray]
(Budd Boetticher, 1956) Classic Flix
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Unforgettable for 50 years after my first 13-year-old
view. Boetticher went directly from this to his
legendary teaming with Randolph Scott. Note the scene
where Corey shoots John Larch thru the milk
carton…..didn’t a man from Manchuria do the same a few
years later?
Between Heaven & Hell
[Blu-ray]
(Richard Fleischer, 1956) Signal One, RB
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
8 Million Ways to Die
[Blu-ray]
(Hal Ashby, 1986) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Ashby’s last movie is not the slick hard nose run for
profitable fun with a traditional Private Eye sneer
where Laurence Block’s hero is relegated to LA instead
of NY, instead it crashes in an unpredictable collision
that enthralls thru Ashby’s & Jeff Bridges oddball
playing behind & before the camera.
Dunkirk
[Blu-ray]
(Leslie Norman , 1958) RB UK Studiocanal
- This version of the evacuation is minus only the
aerial highlights of Nolan’s new spectacle, in fact the
spare & brief air bits are completely real combat clips,
while the human stories of the soldiers on the ground &
beach & their civilian sailor rescuers characterise more
deeply---I’m not sure as I've only read about this
possible shortcoming of the new movie.
Hell in the Pacific
[Blu-ray]
(John Boorman, 1968) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- As Gary writes, “a bold effort & it works
wonderfully well.”
3 of the great Billy’s:
One, Two, Three
[Blu-ray]
(Billy Wilder, 1961) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Fortune Cookie
(Billy Wilder, 1966) Twilight Time, RA
Avanti!
[Blu-ray]
(Billy Wilder, 1972) Kino Classics
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
A newly discovered Blu-ray:
Attack!
[Blu-ray]
(Robert
Aldrich, 1956) Filmedia, ALL - Superbly sharp BD of
brutal WWII duty & cowardice melodrama in stark B&W -
This French ed has apparently been around awhile (from
the listing date) at Amazon France, but Beaver never
chewed it, & I only stumbled on by chance last spring
(although I'd been looking for years). Now it’s also at
Amazon USA but at steep price with earliest BD buyer
review posted 2 months ago. The French subs are not
forced, only optional.
The hour of the Western:
Beyond the 4 at the top, 10 more cowboy classics got
Blu-rayed for the 1st time in 2017:
Duel in the Sun (Roadshow Edition)
[Blu-ray]
(King Vidor,
1946) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- David O Selznick’s splashy follow-up to GWTW makes for
an operatic epic that sprawls beautifully towards
tragedy & achieves the legend it seeks.
Hour of the Gun
[Blu-ray]
(John Sturges, 1967) Twilight Time, ALL
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- The OK Corral gunfight has been done well more times
than any other Western incident…. maybe it’s the 3-some
of Wyatt, Doc & Clanton, with girls & brothers on both
sides, giving lots of interrelationship complexity, &
that Wyatt lived to PR the legend, whereas the Billy the
Kid & Pat Garrett tale offers but two major characters
on grey-tinged edges of the law, & the James gang has
only the outlaw, his bro & a dirty little coward. (The 3
other enduringly entertaining OK shootouts are: Ford’s
My Darling Clementine, Sturges’ Gunfight at the OK
Corral, & Casmatos’ Tombstone, with a side note of Frank
Perry’s ‘Doc’.)
Terror in a Texas Town [Blu-ray]
(Joseph H. Lewis, 1958) Arrow US/ UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Maybe only writer Dalton Trumbo could dream up a
Western duel between a black-clad, one-handed gunslinger
& a harpoon wielding sailor turned cowboy—unforgettable
forever.
Four Faces West
[Blu-ray]
(Alfred E. Green, 1948) Kino Classics
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- A lovely Western, literally, (& Gary says why), the
sort that gave Joel McCrea his image of decency, without
a shot being fired, like a precursor to Tourneur’s
Stars in My Crown, one of my & Rosenbaum’s most
cherished movies (in his essential 100)
Ulzana’s Raid
[Blu-ray]
(Robert Aldrich, 1972) Elephant
Films RB - Burt & Bob had wanted a heroic, naturalistic
demise for the hero in their first movie Apache, & 18
years later do it with Burt switching sides to die & the
chief going to his grave at the hands of a fellow
Indian.
Night Passage
[Blu-ray]
(James
Neilson, 1957) Koch Media, RB
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Highly entertaining with Stewart vs his bad bro Audie
Murphy & Dan Duryea delightfully guzzling scenery &
spitting out the subtext.
Bend of the River [Blu-ray] (Anthony
Mann, 1952) RB DE Alive
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- The 2nd Mann/Stewart outing builds on Winchester ’73
like the 2nd movement in a Western symphony that sweeps
from the Southwest to Western Canada & back again.
Lawman
[Blu-ray]
(Michael
Winner, 1971) Twilight Time,
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- A nearly absurdly bleak & brutal take on law, justice
& pride leading to avoidable tragic results, & i like it
mainly for the cast of Lancaster, Robert Ryan, Lee J
Cobb, Robert Duvall, Richard Jordan, JD Cannon, Ralph
Waite, Albert Salmi, Joseph Wiseman, John McGiver & the
list seems to go on like many of their bodies dropping
dead for no reason except wanting to ignore a wantonly
accidental killing.
The Law & Jake Wade
[Blu-ray]
(John Sturges, 1958) Warner
Archives, ALL - Nearly all of Sturges’ Westerns are
tightly woven with interestingly believable character
interplays, & here we have Robert Taylor vs Richard
Widmark & gang, with law & order a bit on the fuzzy
side.
No Name on the Bullet
[Blu-ray]
(Jack Arnold, 1959) Koch Media, RB - Who has gunman
Audie Murphy come to town to kill? The question haunts
the community & leads to the outing of several citizen’s
hidden sins.
Wild Bill
[Blu-ray]
(Walter Hill, 1995) Twilight Time, ALL - Going blind,
Jeff Bridges plays the somewhat unhinged Hickok’s final
card game like he’s indifferent to David Arquette’s
nutty McCall, who hangs for it, shooting him in the back
of the head over his deadman’s hand of aces & eights, in
Deadwood, of course, whose name permeates the
sense of the characters futures, including Ellen Barkin
doing Calamity Jane & John Hurt looking on.
10 NEW 2016-2017 movies, some may
be future classics but too soon to tell:
Julieta
[Blu-ray]
(Pedro Almodóvar, 2016) Sony
Pictures
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Things to Come [Blu-ray]
(Mia Hansen-Løve, 2016) MPI
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Song to Song
[Blu-ray]
(Terrence Malick, 2017) - A cinema lyric poet’s take on
the ennui of people populating the pop music scene?….Or
the impossibility or improbability of finding last love
within those inhabitants?….Or coming to realise that
there’s something more than merely losing yourself in
the music of the moment…?
Voyage of Time
(Terrence Malick, 2016) France Télévisions Distribution,
RB - Movies’ premiere lyrical poet picks up & expands
creation & life’s evolution from his introduction in The
Tree of Life.
Paterson
[Blu-ray]
(Jim
Jarmusch, 2016) Universal, RA - A movie set in visual
form similar to William Carlos Williams style embracing
the mundane about a bus driver writing poetry similar to
Williams’ in his spare time.
A Quiet Passion
[Blu-ray]
(Terence
Davies, 2016) Thunderbird Releasing, RB - Emily
Dickinson ‘did not stop for death so death stopped for
her’.
I Am Not Your Negro [Blu-ray] (Raoul Peck, 2016)
Magnolia
- The life & times of James Baldwin mostly in his words
sensitively spoken by Samuel L Jackson.
The Accountant
[Blu-ray]
(Gavin O'Connor, 2016) Warner Brothers
- A surprisingly intelligent & effective action
thriller, far more satisfying than the comic book super
heroes running rampant in today’s cinemas, with Ben
Affleck equally surprisingly believable as an autistic
numbers cruncher trained to be also an effective super
combat artist.
Lion
[Blu-ray]
(Garth Davis, 2016) Lionsgate, RA
- A rather sweet movie from true story of a child lost
in modern India growing up to find his old home using
Google Earth, showing what seems the real India of the
present in a manner not seen (I think) since the movies
of Satyajit Ray.
Rules Don’t Apply
[Blu-ray]
(Warren Beatty, 2016) 20th Century Fox, RA - Beatty
makes a pretty buoyant movie while giving a
fascinatingly quirky portrayal that makes you think this
is probably pretty close to how Howard Hughes really
was, much more than Leo’s more actorly performance in
Scorsese’s biopic some years ago.
Above were only movies making
first appearances in the BD medium. Here are most of the
best I’ve “double-dipped” for, generally furthered by
new 4K restored transfers:
The Complete Monterey Pop Festival
[Blu-ray]
- Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- 4K overkill of 16mm original shows that finer is
better, plus two new interviews added to the complete
package from 8 years ago.
Stalker [Blu-ray]
(Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Super improvement over the UK Artificial Eye of only a
year ago.
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
[Blu-ray]
(Sam Peckinpah, 1974) RB UK Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- 4K again proves superior, plus a ton of extra
material, but Twilight Time’s Encore of 2016 worth
keeping for additional commentary track.
Straw Dogs [Blu-ray]
(Sam Peckinpah, 1971) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Close examination of Gary’s captures show that bit
rate is not as vital as 4K trouncing 2K (presumably) ---
a 5th great Sam BD for the year.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
(50th Anniversary Special Edition)
[Blu-ray]
(Sergio Leone, 1966) (50th Anniversary Special Edition) - Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Gorgeous new transfer, again 4K, & mucho xtras.
One-Eyed Jacks [Blu-ray]
(Marlon Brando, 1961) RB UK Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Image on par with Criterion’s but valuable for the
added commentary.
The Wild One [Blu-ray]
(László Benedek, 1953) Region FREE Indicator UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Image improved over previous BD eds plus xtra xtras.
Compulsion [Blu-ray] (Richard Fleischer, 1959) - Kino
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Image better than the UK Signal One but latter worth
keeping for different extras.
The incredible Shrinking Man
[Blu-ray]
(Jack Arnold, 1957) Arrow, RB - Image same as German
edition, with several great extras added.
The Big Heat
[Blu-ray]
(Fritz Lang, 1953) - UK Powerhouse Films
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Definitive edition so far, best image, with Twilight
Time duo, Julie & Nick, commentary. Fortunately demand
for movie is such that i’ve had no trouble selling off
my previous ES & TT eds.
The Lady from Shanghai
[Blu-ray]
(Orson Welles, 1947) Region FREE Indicator UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Best transfer plus more extras but keeping the TCM ed
for other extras.
Experiment in Terror
[Blu-ray]
(Blake Edwards, 1962) Region FREE Indicator UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Edwards’ experiment in suspense totally succeeds with
late policier noir ambiance, & UK Indicator again
demonstrates that it cares enough to deliver the very
best in transfers & extras.
Ronin
[Blu-ray]
(John Frankenheimer, 1998) Arrow US/UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Advertised as new 4K transfer, it looks great & has
Frankenheimer’s great commentary that I’d previously
kept the old DVD for. It’s great that he recorded so
many for the DVDs before he died, & wish other directors
would take their cue from his approach, such as here
where he talks about shooting on Super 35 for cropping
more full matte & losing little of the horizontal in
standard screen TV showings.
Inferno 2D + 3D
[Blu-ray] (Roy Ward Baker, 1953) Twilight Time
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Improvement over Panamint import with English subs &
commentary track - i was fortunate to see this in 3D in
’53 when i was 10—a mesmorising intro to Robert Ryan’s
persona. I never forgot the movie. Baker went on to make
the best of the Titanic movies, A Night to Remember.
The Party [Blu-ray]
(Blake Edwards, 1968) RB UK Eureka Classics
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
– Tremendously & repeatedly funny non-pink Kitty comedy
by Edwards & Sellers, much improvised according to the
extras, & the Brits also do it better from the US KL in
image quality & having English subs that for whatever
reason Kino is generally reluctant to give.
Letter from an Unknown Woman
[Blu-ray]
(Max Ophüls, 1948) Olive Signature
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Olive again improves on itself in every way, as Gary
thoroughly discusses.
Barry Lyndon
[Blu-ray]
(Stanley Kubrick, 1975) Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
– Gary’s comparison makes it clear how much this new
image is superior to the old----- a fitting effect for a
movie about the importance of image.
Rawhide [Blu-ray]
(Henry Hathaway, 1951) RB UK Signal One
Entertainment
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Improves on the USA KL with better image, English subs
& a commentary.
Valdez Is Coming
[Blu-ray]
(Edwin Sherin, 1971) Kino Classics
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Slight image improvement over the German ed, & has
commentary that lickety-split relates all sorts of info
& convoluted trivia about the creative talent involved
but very little concerning the movie, as though doing
the commentary simply gave the commentator the chance to
show off how much he knows about everybody.
Four Film Noir Classics
(The Dark Mirror, Secret Beyond the Door, Force of
Evil, The Big Combo)
[Blu-ray]
(Robert Siodmak, Fritz Lang, Abraham Polonsky, Joseph H.
Lewis, 1946-1955) RB UK Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Had em all but replaced for the sometimes better
transfers, especially Big C, & mostly for all the great
commentaries—nice HC booklet too. Probably the noir
release of the year.
Broken Arrow [Blu-ray]
(Delmer Daves, 1950) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- The image is surprisingly no better than & maybe
identical to the Spanish edition I've had for several
years, but it does have subs, benefitting my wife who’s
hard of hearing.
The Apartment
[Blu-ray]
(Billy Wilder, 1960) RB UK Arrow
- It’s supposed to be here before the end of the year, &
assume it will be filled with the extra features that so
far Arrow has not failed to provide.
A odd disappointment……but not
really at $10:
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (40th Anniversary Edition)
[Blu-ray]
(Steven Spielberg, 1977) Sony Pictures
(BEAVER
REVIEW)L
- Like Gary, I found the new ed image lacking---the
older one simply looks better on my plasma…..thus I’ve
given the new version to my daughter, but retained the
new xtras disc. It seems in this case the 4K matters not
over the previous presumably 2K, tho I’m curious why
(according to Beaver specs) the feature is 20% larger in
the previous ed, yet the bit rates are nearly identical?
& finally 2 DVDs:
1. The
Westerner (Sam Peckinpah, Andre de Toth, Tom Cries,
1960) Shout Factory, ALL - The critically highly-rated
but little seen TV series developed by Sam as a
reputation building effort toward his ultimate epic
ambition. Two discs have all the shows with commentaries
on Sam’s directed eps by his usual gang of admirers.
2. The
Dying of the Light (Peter Flynn, 2015) First Run
Features, ALL - Actually released in Dec, 2016, but
relatively unnoticed, about the fading profession of
movie projectionist |
 |
Darrick Conley
1.
Suspiria Three disc (2 Blu-rays + 1 CD) LE
[Blu-ray]
(Dario Argento, 1977) Synapse Films
2.
Hellraiser-
Arrow
3.
The Sinbad Trilogy (The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, The
Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger)
[Blu-ray]
(1958-1977) Region FREE Indicator UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
4.
The Thing - 4K Restored
[Blu-ray]
(John Carpenter, 1982) RB UK Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
5.
Carrie - Limited Edition [Blu-ray] (Brian De
Palma, 1976) RB UK Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
6.
Liquid Sky
- Vinegar Syndrome
7.
Five Element Ninja
[Blu-ray]
(Cheh Chang, 1982)- 88 Films
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
8.
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage Limited Edition [Blu-ray]
(Dario Argento, 1970) UK/ US Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
9.
The Flying Guillotine [Blu-ray]
(Meng Hua Ho, 1975) RB UK 88 Films
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
10.
The Brave Archer [Blu-ray]
(Cheh Chang, 1977) RB UK 88 Films
|
 |
Eric Cotenas
CineVentures Blog
Sacramento, CA, USA
1.
George Romero Between Night And Dawn Limited Edition:
There's Always Vanilla/Season of the Witch/The Crazies
(George Romero, 1971-1973) Arrow Video; Region ALL
2.
Spotlight on a Murderer
(George Franju, 1961) Arrow Academy; Region ALL
3.
Witchhammer
(Otakar Vávra, 1970) Second Run; Region ALL
4.
A Woman's Torment
(Roberta Findlay, 1977) Vinegar Syndrome; Region ALL
5.
The Story of Sin [Blu-ray]
(Walerian Borowczyk, 1975) Arrow Video US
6.
Swept Away
(Lina Wertmüller, 1974) Kino Lorber; Region A
7.
The Stendhal Syndrome
(Dario Argento, 1977) Blue Underground; Region ALL (replacement version)
8.
Rawhead Rex
(George Pavlou, 1986) Kino Lorber; Region A
9.
The Taisho Trilogy:
Zigeunerweisen /Yumeji / Kagero-Za
(Seijun Suzuki, 1980-1991) Arrow Academy; Region AB
10.
Red Rings of Passion (Joseph Sarno, 1966) Vinegar Syndrome; Region ALL
DVDs
1. Love on a Branch Line
(Martyn Friend, 1994) Second Sight; Region 2
2. Eight Films by Jean Rouch
(Jean Rouch, 1956-1971) Icarus Films; Region 1
3. Rift
(Erlingur Thoroddsen, 2017) Breaking Glass Pictures; Region 1
4. The Ornithologist
(João Pedro Rodrigues, 2016) Strand Releasing; Region 1
5.
B&B
(Joe Ahearne, 2017) Breaking Glass Pictures; Region 1
6. Amnesia
(Barbet Schroeder, 2015) Film Movement; Region 1
7. I, Olga
(Petr Kazda and Tomás Weinreb, 2016) Strand Releasing; Region 1
8. A Woman A Part
(Elisabeth Subrin, 2016) Strand Releasing; Region 1
9. Jonathan
(Piotr J. Lewandowski, 2016) Wolfe Video; Region 1
|
 |
Christopher Doyle
Top 10 Blu-ray 2017
1.
Blow-Up [Blu-ray]
(Michelangelo Antonioni, 1966) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
2.
Barry Lyndon
[Blu-ray]
(Stanley Kubrick, 1975) Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
3.
Rumble Fish [Blu-ray]
(Francis Ford Coppola, 1983) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
4.
Lifeboat [Blu-ray]
(Alfred Hitchcock, 1944) Kino
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
5.
Vampyr
[Blu-ray] (Carl Th. Dreyer, 1932) Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
6.
Funeral Parade of Roses
[Blu-ray]
(Toshio Matsumoto, 1969) Cinelicious Pics
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
7.
They Shoot Horses, Don't
They?
[Blu-ray]
(Sydney Pollack, 1969) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
8.
Le samouraï [Blu-ray]
(Jean-Pierre Melville, 1967) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
9.
The Vietnam War
(Ken Burns & Lynn Novick, 2017). PBS, RA
10.
Barton Fink [Blu-ray]
(Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, 1991) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
|
 |
Lee Eiseman
1.
Variety (aka Varieté)
[Blu-ray]
(Ewald André Dupont, 1925) Kino Lorber (Kino version with Berklee Silent
Orchestra score)
2.
Behind the Door [Blu-ray]
(Irvin Willat, 1919) Flicker Alley
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
3.
The Young Girls of Rochefort [Blu-ray]
(Jacques Demy, 1967) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
4.
The Earrings of Madame de... [Blu-ray]
(Max Ophüls, 1953) RB UK BFI
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
5.
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog [Blu-ray]
(Alfred Hitchcock, 1927) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
6.
Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy [Blu-ray]
( Rome Open City, Paisan, and Germany Year Zero)
Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
7.
Man with a Movie Camera (and other works by Dziga
Vertov) (1929)
[Blu-ray]
- RB UK Masters of Cinema
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
8.
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T
[Blu-ray]
(Roy Rowland, 1953) Region FREE Indicator UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
9.
Westfront 1918 / Kameradschaft [Blu-ray]
(G.W Pabst, 1930-1931) RB UK Masters of Cinema
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
10.
J'accuse [Blu-ray] (Abel Gance, 1938) RB UK BFI
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
11.
Bunuel Boxset 7-disc -
[Blu-ray]
(That Obscure Object of Desire,
Belle De Jour - New 50th Anniversary Restoration, Diary
of a Chambermaid, Phantom of Liberty, The Milky Way,
Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Tristana) - RB UK
Studiocanal
12.
Four Film Noir Classics
(The Dark Mirror, Secret Beyond the Door, Force of
Evil, The Big Combo)
[Blu-ray]
(Robert Siodmak, Fritz Lang, Abraham Polonsky, Joseph H.
Lewis, 1946-1955) RB UK Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
13.
The Marseille Trilogy
(Marius, Fanny, César)
[Blu-ray]
(Alexander Korda, Marc Allégret, Marcel Pagnol,
1931-1936) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
14.
Early Women Filmmakers: An International Anthology
[Blu-ray]
(Alice Guy, Lois Weber, Mabel Normand, Madeline
Brandeis, Germaine Dulac, Lotte Reiniger,
et.al, 1902-1946) Flicker Alley
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Most improved score for silent film Variety with Berklee Orchestra
Most useful movie website: DVD Beaver for preventing us from wasting our
money in inferior transfers!
|
 |
Gregory Elich
1.
Early Women Filmmakers: An International Anthology
[Blu-ray]
(Alice Guy, Lois Weber, Mabel Normand, Madeline
Brandeis, Germaine Dulac, Lotte Reiniger,
et.al, 1902-1946) Flicker Alley
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
2.
Le Moulin
[Blu-ray]
(Huang
Ya Li, 2015), Roots Films (RA): Unique, exquisitely done documentary of
an avant-garde poetry group in 1930s Taiwan. The film is a poem itself,
and like its subject, imbued with a deep love of modernism.
3.
Dead Slow Ahead
[Blu-ray]
(Maruo Herce,
2015), Potemkine (RB): Gorgeous, other-worldly documentary about life
aboard a cargo ship.
4.
Super Citizen Ko
[Blu-ray]
(Wan Jen, 1995),
Group Power Workshop (RA): A thoughtful and quite moving film about an
elderly man haunted by memories of political repression in 1950s Taiwan.
5.
I Am Not Your Negro [Blu-ray] (Raoul Peck, 2016)
Magnolia
6.
Les Sorcières de Salem
[Blu-ray]
(Raymond Rouleau, 1957),
Pathé (RB)
7.
Witchhammer
[Blu-ray]
(Otakar Vávra, 1970) Region FREE UK Second Run
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
8.
Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy [Blu-ray]
( Rome Open City, Paisan, and Germany Year Zero)
Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
9.
Right Now, Wrong Then
[Blu-ray]
(Hong Sang-soo, 2015), Grasshopper (RA)
10.
Black Girl
[Blu-ray]
(Ousmane Sembène, 1966) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Top 10 SD-DVD Releases OF 2017
1.
Eight Films by Jean
Rouch (Jean Rouch, 1955-1969), Icarus (R1)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
2.
Absent Without Leave (Kek Huat Lau, 2016), Hummingbird (R3): The
filmmaker sets out to discover the details behind the hushed history of
his revolutionary grandfather and the struggle he participated in.
3. Machines
(Rahul Jain, 2016), Kino (R1)
4.
The Road to Mandalay (Midi Z, 2016), Edko Films (R3): If one can
overlook the last few minutes, which seem to have wandered in, quite
unwelcome, from an entirely different kind of movie, then this film
about Burmese migrants in Thailand is otherwise something quite special.
5. Exquisite
Ecstasies (Peter Tscherkassky, 1981-2015), Index (R0)
6.
A Quiet Dream (Zhang Lu, 2016), CJ E&M (R3)
7.
The Bacchus Lady (E J-yong, 2016), CGV Arthouse (R3)
|
 |
Stuart Galbraith IV
Kyoto, Japan
1.
The Wanderers [Blu-ray]
(Philip Kaufman, 1979) - Kino
2.
Cease Fire! [Blu-ray
3D] (Owen Crump, 1953) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
3.
The Sea Wolf
[Blu-ray]
(Michael Curtiz, 1941) Warner Archive
4. [tie]
Daredevils of the Red Circle
(12 Chapter Serial)
[Blu-ray]
(William Witney, 1939) Kino &
Sunset in the West [Blu-ray]
(William Witney, 1950) Kino
5.
One, Two, Three
[Blu-ray]
(Billy Wilder, 1961) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
6.
The Young Girls of Rochefort [Blu-ray]
(Jacques Demy, 1967) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
7.
The Yellow Handkerchief
(Yoji Yamada, 1977) Twilight Time; RA
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
8.
Hell and High Water
(Samuel Fuller, 1954) Twilight Time; ALL
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
9.
The Yakuza [Blu-ray]
(Sydney Pollack, 1974) Warner Archive
10.
Cyborg 2087
[Blu-ray]
(Franklin Adreon, 1966) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Honorable Mention:
Funeral Parade of Roses,
The Violent Years/Anatomy of a Psycho, Maigret Sets a Trap,
Sayonara, The Devil’s Rain,
Avanti!,
Don't Torture a Duckling,
Beneath the 12-Mile Reef,
Gun Fury (3-D),
The Old Dark House,
Erik the Conqueror,
Funny Bones,
Beggars of Life,
The Crimson Kimono,
Inferno (3-D),
Willard,
Caltiki, the Immortal Monster,
The Delinquents,
Deluge,
Two for the Road,
Othello
DVD
1.
Porky Pig 101 ( 5-disc) - Warner Archive
2. The Tonight Show
Starring Johnny Carson: The Vault Series (Various,
1972-1984) Time-Life; R1
3. Green Acres –
The Complete Series (Various, 1965-1970) Shout! Factory; R1
4. Lou Grant –
Season Four (Various, 1980-81) Shout! Factory; R1
5. Decoy – The
Complete Series (Various, 1957-58) Film Chest; ALL
Note:
This somewhat eclectic list is, by design, intended to acknowledge
the varied ambitious aims and accomplishments by labels and the
people working for them: restorations: their commitment to serials
and B-Westerns (particularly the long beleaguered Roy Rogers
series); quality commentary tracks (by Michael Schlesinger, Tom
Weaver and others); to heretofore under-acknowledged foreign titles
(The
Yellow Handkerchief); to audio and 3-D restorations (Hell
and High Water,
Cease Fire!); and to acknowledge the high-def debuts of
highly obscure titles (Cyborg 2087).
On the admittedly waning DVD front, indie labels continue complete
series runs of shows the bigger studios long ago abandoned
half-finished or never released at all. Who says hard media is dead?
|
 |
Jeff
Heinrich
http://jeffheinrich.com/
1.
Othello
[Blu-ray]
(Orson Welles, 1952) Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
2.
Tampopo [Blu-ray]
(Juzo Itami, 1985) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
3.
The Marseille Trilogy
(Marius, Fanny, César)
[Blu-ray]
(Alexander Korda, Marc Allégret, Marcel Pagnol,
1931-1936) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
4.
Letter to Brezhnev
[Blu-ray]
(Chris Bernard, 1985) - RB UK BFI
5.
Housekeeping [Blu-ray]
(Bill Forsyth, 1987) Region FREE Indicator UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
6.
Letter from an Unknown Woman
[Blu-ray]
(Max Ophüls, 1948) Olive Signature
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
7.
Manina, The Lighthouse-Keeper's Daughter
[Blu-ray]
(Willy Rozier, 1952) RB UK Eureka
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
8.
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
[Blu-ray]
(Karel Zeman, 1962) Region FREE UK Second Run
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
9.
Doctor Dolittle
(Richard Fleischer, 1967). Twilight Time, Region FREE
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
10.
The Vietnam War
(Ken Burns & Lynn Novick, 2017). PBS, RA
Top 5 SD-DVD Releases of 2017
1.
The Murderers Are
Among Us (Wolfgang Staudte, 1946). DEFA Film Library, R1.
2.
The Russians Are Coming / Career (Heiner Carow, 1968/87,
1970). DEFA Film Library, R1.
3. The
Watermelon Woman (Cheryl Dunye, 1996). First Run, R1.
4. Unlocking the
Cage (Chris Hegedus & D.A. Pennebaker, 2016). First Run, R1.
5.
The Goddess (Yonggang Wu, 1934) R2 UK BFI
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
|
 |
Peter Henné
1.
Barry Lyndon
[Blu-ray]
(Stanley Kubrick, 1975) Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
2.
Le gai savoir aka Joy of Learning
[Blu-ray]
(Jean-Luc Godard, 1969) Kino Classics
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
3.
Good Morning
[Blu-ray]
(Yasujiro Ozu, 1959) Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
4.
Terror in a Texas Town [Blu-ray]
(Joseph H. Lewis, 1958) Arrow US/ UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
5.
They Live by Night [Blu-ray]
(Nicholas Ray, 1948) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
6.
Kiju Yoshida: Love + Anarchism [Blu-ray]
(Eros + Massacre, Heroic
Purgatory and Coup d'etat) - Arrow Academy
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
7.
Stalker [Blu-ray]
(Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
8.
The Boy Friend
[Blu-ray]
(Ken Russell, 1971) Warner Archive
9.
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
[Blu-ray]
(Karel Zeman, 1962) RB UK Second Run
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
10.
Time to Die [Blu-ray]
(Arturo Ripstein, 1966) Film Movement
Blu-Ray close contenders:
Spotlight on a Murderer [Blu-ray]
(Georges Franju, 1961) UK / US Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Man from Planet X [Blu-ray]
(Edgar G. Ulmer, 1951) Shout! Factory
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Ride the High Country [Blu-ray]
(Sam Peckinpah, 1962) Warner Archive
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
[Blu-ray]
(David Lynch, 1992) Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
|
 |
Louis Irwin
1
Othello
[Blu-ray]
(Orson Welles, 1952) Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
2
The Marseille Trilogy
(Marius, Fanny, César)
[Blu-ray]
(Alexander Korda, Marc Allégret, Marcel Pagnol,
1931-1936) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
3
Stalker [Blu-ray]
(Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
4
L'argent [Blu-ray]
(Robert Bresson, 1983) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
5
Celine and Julie Go Boating
[Blu-ray]
(Jacques Rivette, 1974) RB BFI
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
6
The Éric Rohmer Collection
(The Aviator's Wife | A Good Marriage |
Pauline at the Beach | Full Moon in Paris |
The Green Ray | My Girlfriend's Boyfriend
| The Marquise of O... | Perceval |
Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle | The
Tree, the Mayor and the Mediatheque)
[Blu-ray]
(Éric Rohmer, 1976-1993) RB UK Arrow
7
Eight Hours Don't Make a Day - A Family Series [Blu-ray]
(Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1972-1973) RB UK Arrow
8
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
[Blu-ray]
(Karel Zeman, 1962) RB UK Second Run
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
9
The Before Trilogy [Blu-ray]
(Before Sunrise - 1995, Before Sunset - 2004, Before
Midnight - 2013) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
10
Chinese Roulette (Fassbinder
1976) Arrow B
|
 |
Benedict Keeler
1.
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
[Blu-ray]
(Sam Peckinpah, 1974) RB UK Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
2.
The Wages of Fear
[Blu-ray]
(Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953) RB UK BFI
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
3.
Buster Keaton: 3 Films
[Blu-ray]
(Sherlock Jr., The General, Steamboat Bill, Jr.) - RB UK
Masters of Cinema
4.
The Thing - 4K Restored
[Blu-ray]
(John Carpenter, 1982) RB UK Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
5.
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
[Blu-ray]
(Karel Zeman, 1962) RB UK Second Run
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
6.
The Apartment
[Blu-ray]
(Billy Wilder, 1960) RB UK Arrow
7.
Stalker [Blu-ray]
(Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
8.
Daughter of the Nile [Blu-ray]
(Hsiao-Hsien Hou, 1987) RB UK Masters of Cinema
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
9.
The Last Detail [Blu-ray]
(Hal Ashby, 1973) RB Powerhouse Films UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
10.
Four Film Noir Classics
(The Dark Mirror, Secret Beyond the Door, Force of
Evil, The Big Combo)
[Blu-ray]
(Robert Siodmak, Fritz Lang, Abraham Polonsky, Joseph H.
Lewis, 1946-1955) RB UK Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
|
 |
Gregory, Meshman
Atlanta, GA USA
1.
Four Film Noir Classics
(The Dark Mirror, Secret Beyond the Door, Force of
Evil, The Big Combo)
[Blu-ray]
(Robert Siodmak, Fritz Lang, Abraham Polonsky, Joseph H.
Lewis, 1946-1955) RB UK Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(boxes from Arrow Academy -
Ludwig,
The Taisho Trilogy)
2.
Suspiria Three disc (2 Blu-rays + 1 CD) LE
[Blu-ray]
(Dario Argento, 1977) Synapse Films
(Limited Edition releases -
Liquid Sky (Vinegar Syndrome),
The Fox with a Velvet Tail
(Mondo Macabro))
3.
The Breaking Point
[Blu-ray]
(Michael Curtiz, 1950) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(Criterion noir -
They Live by Night,
Mildred Pierce,
Rebecca)
4.
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage Limited Edition [Blu-ray]
(Dario Argento, 1970) UK/ US Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(gialli from Arrow -
Don't Torture a Duckling,
Phenomena,
The Suspicious Death of a Minor)
5.
The Old Dark House
[Blu-ray]
(James Whale, 1932) Cohen Media Group
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(new restorations from boutique labels -
Deluge
(Kino Lorber),
Seeds / Vapors (Vinegar
Syndrome),
The Saga of Anatahan (Eureka
Video),
The Lost World
(Flicker Alley))
6.
The Before Trilogy [Blu-ray]
(Before Sunrise - 1995, Before Sunset - 2004, Before
Midnight - 2013) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(boxes from Criterion -
Marseille Trilogy,
Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project No. 2)
7.
Barry Lyndon
[Blu-ray]
(Stanley Kubrick, 1975) Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(most desired titles from Criterion -
Blow-Up,
His Girl Friday,
Othello,
Stalker)
8.
The Sea Wolf
[Blu-ray]
(Michael Curtiz, 1941) Warner Archive
(unexpected releases from Warner Archive -
The Boyfriend,
Ride the High Country)
9.
Funeral Parade of Roses
[Blu-ray]
(Toshio Matsumoto, 1969) Cinelicious Pics
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(new studios in 2016-2017 - Powerhouse Films/Indicator
Series,ClassicFlix, Grasshopper Film, AGFA)
10.
The Cremator
[Blu-ray]
(Juraj Herz, 1969) RB UK Second Run
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(complete lineup of Second Run on blu -
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen,
My 20th Century,
Vampir
Cuadecuc,
Witchhammer)
Big kudos for Kickstarter releases of silents on blu-ray, like
Eric Grayson's Little Orphant Annie and Ben Model's When
Knighthood Was in Flower.
Top 10 SD-DVD Releases OF 2017
1.
Eight Films by
Jean Rouch (Jean Rouch, 1955-1969), Icarus (R1)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
2.
Porky Pig 101 ( 5-disc) - Warner Archive..... That's
all Folks!!!!
|
 |
Scott Murray
TOP 10
BLU-RAYS 2017
1.
The Trip To Spain [Blu-ray]
(Michael Winterbottom, 2017) Shout! Factory
2.
For Love of the Game
[Blu-ray]
(Sam Raimi,
1999) Universal Region A
3.
The Pumpkin Eater
[Blu-ray]
(Jack Clayton, 1964) UK Indicator
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
4.
No Highway in the Sky
[Blu-ray]
(Henry Koster, 1951) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
5.
T-Men
and
He Walked By Night [Blu-ray]
(Alfred L. Werker, Anthony Mann, 1948) ClassicFlix
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
6.
The Agnès Varda Collection (Cleo from 5 to 7, Jacquot de Nantes,
L'une chante, l'autre pas, Le Bonheur, The Gleaners and I, The Beaches of Agnès,
Vagabond, La Pointe Courte) [Blu-ray]
(Agnès Varda) RB UK Curzon Artificial Eye
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
7.
100 Years of Olympic Films [Blu-ray]
(Leni Riefenstahl, Kon Ichikawa, Claude Lelouch, Carlos
Saura, Miloš Forman etc.) - Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
8. *Quatre
Nuits d’un Rêveur (Robert
Bresson, 1971) Eternanche/Imagica Region A
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
9.
Le samouraï [Blu-ray]
(Jean-Pierre Melville, 1967) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
10.
The Philadelphia Story
[Blu-ray]
(George Cukor, 1940) Criterion
US / UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
* Came
out in 2013
Rants (or why I chose what I chose):
The Trip To Spain:
for me, the best new film of 2017 and the best in The Trip
series, a touching and melancholic look at maleness and ageing,
and a Europe sleep-walking towards its doom. The 6-part series
(2entertain DVD Region 2) is better that the theatrical version
because it more thoughtfully sets up the ending. In a year when
practically every new film lacked ideas, rigour or originality
(Hollywood was especially culpable), Winterbottom emerged as a
modern-day Rousseau, while happily allowing many to presume he
was just recording two middle-aged men trying to imitate the
voice of Michael – “Sir Michael” – Caine. This I will watch (and
already have) many, many times.
For Love of the Game:
the most underrated film ever (accept by my friend Adrian
Martin), a sports film that is hauntingly about the meaning and
legacy of sport (in this case, baseball), but equally about what
humanists liked to call the human condition, and also a love
story that is up there with Leo McCarey’s Love Story. The
Blu-ray is what we have waited for for decades. To me, Costner
is the American actor of our era (and not a bad director,
either) and DOP John Bailey one of the greats (and the favourite
of my favourite Australian cameraman, and collaborator, Andrew
de Groot). I have never liked another Sam Raimi (clearly my
fault), so this film is proof one should never avoid a director
whose taste seems not to be yours, because one day they could
make a For Love of the Game.
The Pumpkin Eater:
I haven’t seen the Blu-ray yet (it’s still in the mail), but I
trust Gary Tooze at DVDBeaver as to its exquisite quality.
Pumpkin is a masterpiece from a director who made three films
that deserve consideration in any Top 10: The Innocents (go for
the Criterion), Pumpkin and Our Mother’s House (still dreaming).
For me, Clayton and Joe Losey made 1960s British Cinema a
domaine perdu of intelligent, superbly crafted cinema. Watch The
Servant or Accident or Pumpkin and contemplate in awe how the
studios funded such filmmakers and audiences queued to see the
results. In 1968, I took my fellow Year 12 students to Accident
as our end-of-school treat and they all said it was the best
film they had seen all year. Imagine that happening now.
No Highway in the Sky:
I will watch anything with James Stewart, for he was a god come
to Earth, and I suspect this performance is the greatest, better
even than those in Mann or Ford. But why compare? We are
grateful for every frame he ever gave us, just as we should be
for director Henry Koster, a giant of ‘otherness’. This is the
truest film about someone on the Autism Spectrum I have seen (my
wife is on the Spectrum), just as the source novel by Neville
Shute is the best book, and written long before the world knew
what Shute was talking about. My wife (she has Asperger’s
Syndrome) wept long and hard about the scene where Stewart goes
to the cockpit and tries to convince the pilot that the plane
will crash, but the pilot doesn’t understand. She says that sums
up the frustration Aspies feel at failing to get through better
than any lecture, book or even Wes Andersen (and he’s a
treasure). This is an astonishing film, beautifully and
sensitively made, with remarkable portrayals of the two main
female characters. NB: a lesser Koster pleasure, but an
exquisite Blu-ray (with Lucien Ballard’s colour-rich
cinematography – not his muted style for Sam Peckinpah – has
never looked so vibrant) is Dear Brigitte, also starring James
Stewart (and, of course, a post-Le Mépris BB.)
T-Men
and
He Walked By Night:
Is life without Anthony Mann films worth living? I wonder, for
he is one of the giants, forever residing at the heights of
Mount Parnassus. Yet, I avoided his films noir for decades, as I
often find the despair in the genre too upsetting. But Mann is
Mann and I can’t only watch his Westerns (though there is a
lifetime of joy in that, and many have come out this year on
Blu-ray in Germany, in very good if not quite sublime versions).
Visually, Mann’s films noir demand the Blu-ray treatment they
are now getting from Classicflix, with Raw Deal also released in
January. He is one of the supreme masters, in all he does. NB:
Watch the opening of Mann’s The Fall of the Roman Empire, shot
by Aussie Robert Krasker, and weep. Yes, films once looked that
good.
The Agnès Varda Collection,
Breillat, Duras (Belgian, French, Vietnamese, but all speaking
French) are proof of the brilliance of cinéma féminine. The
definition may soon fade and disappear in our gen=der-neutralising
times, but for those of us of a certain age the great women
directors – too few and too infrequently fêted – have always
been a welcome balance to the male view that has dominated by
default the voices of cinema. Varda is in many ways the most
approachable; it is inconceivable, surely, that anyone could not
love, revere and celebrate a narrative feature like Cléo de 5 à
7 or a documentary like Daguerréotypes (sadly not in this
box-set). Her selfless work on behalf of her departed husband,
Jacques Demy, is extraordinary, especially as his shadow for a
while partially eclipsed hers. But not now: Varda cannot be seen
as anything but a great, which these Blu-rays truly celebrate.
100 Years of Olympic Films:
Especially for the previously unseen footage of the 1912
Stockholm Olympics, where of great interest to me (it was to be
my second feature, but …) an Australian gave up a certain gold
medal because he believed sportsmanship was more important than
personal glory. This 32-Blu-ray box-set is sporting cornucopia,
lovingly presented.
Quatre Nuits d’un Rêveur:
Since 1971, this has been my favourite film, bumping Robert
Rossen’s Lilith, the most perfect film then made according to
Jean-Pierre Melville, from top spot. (The only Blu-ray of Lilith
is terrible because it’s in the wrong screen ratio; seek out the
correct DVD instead.) There is nothing to say about Bresson and
attempts to describe his work are almost inevitably pointless
and even silly. I revere everything he did and had to instigate
a rule of only one film per director in my Top 10, because
otherwise there would be nine by Bresson. The Blu-ray is from
Japan and has no English subtitles (only Japanese), but, thank
heavens, the characters don’t speak much. The image is a bit
soft, but this is the only digital release around, so let’s just
be exceedingly grateful. Bresson thought the source short story
(“White Nights” by Dostoevsky) to be flawed, but from it made a
sublime meditation on love. PS: I know it was released last
year, but seek out the rare Blu-ray of Mitchell Leisen’s
Remember the Night (script by Preston Sturges), which is
Bresson’s Pickpocket 19 years before Pickpocket.
Le samouraï:
In my Top 10 between Carl Th. Dreyer’s Ordet and Chabrol’s Que
la Bête Meure. There’s nothing left to say about this film. I
know Melville thought he was better than Bresson, and he’s
almost right. And I know this is not a flawless Blu-ray, but …
The Philadelphia Story:
Not quite as great as Cukor’s Holiday, made two years earlier
with Hepburn and Grant, and with genius playwright Philip Barry
in even crisper and more prophetic form (he predates W. Somerset
Maugham in nailing the encroaching spiritual disenchantment).
Still, Philadelphia is pure joy, with a cast from the gods. Have
two iconic male leads ever sparked more compatibly in a
threesome romance as Cary Grant and James Stewart do? “Why, C.
K. Dexter Haven. You have unexpected depths.” One could argue
these boys prefigure Yves Montand and Sami Frey in Claude
Sautet’s César et Rosalie, in finding bonds between men in a
romantic triangle rather than the predictable enmity. The visual
quality of the Criterion Blu-ray of Philadelphia is why Blu-rays
exist.
|
 |
Leonard Norwitz
1.
Westworld: The Complete First Season
[4K UHD
Blu-ray]
- Warner
WESTWORLD has it all: concept, visuals, characters,
performances, music, mystery, subtext. The Blu-ray is terrific.
The UHD, better.
I thought I should re-acquaint myself with the original 1973
movie, written and directed by Michael Crichton and starring
Richard Benjamin, James Brolin, and Yul Brynner as the
gunslinger. It’s like comparing roller skates to a Ferrari’s (no
offense, WFTDA). Westworld is not an example of a movie of its
time. It’s just a bad movie with a smart concept. The only thing
it has going for it is Brynner, whose role in that film, by the
way, has nothing in common with Chris Adams expect that he is
dressed in black.
So, back to the TV series. Let us be clear about this, the TV
series is not just an updated version of the movie. It is a
story told by the man - together with his wife, Lisa Joy - who
wrote Memento and created Person of Interest and, with his
brother, Christopher, co-wrote The Dark Knight and Interstellar.
It has the sensibility of someone intrigued by how Time can be
manipulated for dramatic purposes. It is that feature, even more
than the amusement park simile that keeps our attention. It is
also of no little consequence that the two Westworlds have no
character roles in common. The focus is almost entirely on the
androids and their creators, not on the guests, with the
interesting exception of the “Man in Black” - a guest, played to
perfection, I might add, by Ed Harris. No, WESTWORLD is a
quite different species altogether. Its commonality with
Crichton’s work, merely a copyright inconvenience. With Anthony
Hopkins, Evan Rachel Wood, Jeffrey Wright, James Marsden and
Thandie Newton.
2.
The Vietnam War
[Blu-ray]
(Ken Burns & Lynn Novick, 2017). PBS, RA
Kern Burns’ best and most important historical documentary to
date is my Number 2 choice, a grade not given for excellence of
image or sound, but for relevance and heart. If you care
anything about the political world you live in, you owe it to
yourself to watch this. . . all 17 hours.
3.
Dunkirk [4K UHD
Blu-ray]
(Christopher Nolan, 2017) Warner
To have seen this movie in a proper IMAX theatre was the
movie-going experience of the year and then some. This, despite
poorly judged audio levels (I’m convinced Nolan is hearing
impaired!) The transition to home video is a compromise and
probably couldn’t have been otherwise - cuts from the giant
verticals of IMAX to wide screen can be tolerated in the theatre
in ways they cannot at home, no matter the size of your screen.
So, 1.43:1 is trimmed to 1.78:1, while the widescreen portions
of the movie are retained at 2.20:1. The good news is that the
IMAX faux bass is gone, even if relative sound levels remain the
same. So the 50mm machine gun attack that makes us jump out of
our skin is still several times louder than the bomb exploding
20 yards away. I thought these events occur too closely in time
not to be noticed. Still do. Yet the work is still riveting,
especially once you stop trying to figure out the Time thing.
4.
American Gods
[Blu-ray]
(Brian Fuller & David Slade, 2017), Lionsgate,
AMERICAN GODS pushes the envelope well beyond the
physical limits of what’s possible, to say nothing of
acceptable, for a medium that once considered The Andy
Griffith Show as philosophy worth thinking about, and All
in the Family and M*A*S*H as cutting edge. Neil
Gaiman’s 2001 novel makes the transition to television and
sweeps away all previous concepts of storytelling before it.
Along with their peculiar take on history, legend and religion,
Fuller & Slade do the Chris Nolan thing with Time, taking eight
episodes before it all folds back on itself. Take a deep breath
before entering. Do not expect to know where you are or why for
some while into the series. And we thought the Jupiter Mission
was an acid trip!
5.
My Life as a Zucchini
[Blu-ray]
(Claude
Barras, 2016), Universal, RA
Contrary to the usual sinister view of life in a foster home,
Claude Barras presents a stop motion comedy-drama that will
either have you throwing rocks at your screen for presumed
dishonesty or melting your heart. I took the latter course. Ma
vie de Courgette has been nominated for this year’s Academy
Awards.
6.
Since You Went Away [Blu-ray]
(John Cromwell, 1944) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Inexplicably absent from AFI’s listing of “America's 100
Greatest Love Stories,” SINCE YOU WENT AWAY, a WWII home front
melodrama, made the year before the war ended, contains not one,
not two, but six love stories, blended so beautifully you might
not take note of any of them as such. The American Film
Institute didn’t. Perhaps it’s because the primary object of the
lead character’s (Claudette Colbert) love is never seen except
in photographs. Yet stand-ins abound: in the dignity of Joseph
Cotten’s torch-carrying affair he carries on his sleeve each
time he visits the family; in the heartbreaking love story
between the eldest daughter (Jennifer Jones) and the son (Robert
Walker) of the family boarder (Monty Woolley); between Walker
and Woolley, who can’t bring themselves to get past
expectations; in the loyalty of the family cook (Hattie
McDaniel) with hardly a patronizing trace of race; and, though
it is no longer in fashion, love of country. When they say they
don’t make movies like they used to, they’re talking about
SINCE
YOU WENT AWAY. A lovely and respectful transfer to Blu-ray.
7.
DOCTOR WHO: Series 10
[Blu-ray]
(S. Moffat, 2017), BBC,
I may hold a minority view here, but I found Jenna Coleman a
downright awful Companion, especially paired with Peter Capaldi,
who seemed on the verge of seasickness for his first two
seasons. I admit that Jenna’s makeup, with every pore carefully
filled and every eyebrow hair precisely trimmed, didn’t help her
humanity one bit. Pearl Mackie, on the other hand, the Doctor’s
first black companion if I am not mistaken, is everything Jenna
is not - a Barbie doll, for one thing, with her hair a-flung
this way and not, nor could she mistaken for anything or anyone
other than her own woman, despite her character’s name: Bill
Potts. And she couples with Capaldi just so. Between the two of
them and Moffat’s final season, they bring the Twelfth Doctor to
his close with panache and, could it be possible!, originality.
The usual standards apply to the Blu-ray.
8.
ORPHAN BLACK: Season 5
[Blu-ray]
(G Manson & J Fawcett, 2017), BBC, RA+?
Imaginative & implausible, feminist to the tenth power,
engaging, baffling, at times thrilling, often heartwarming,
ORPHAN BLACK comes to its conclusion with the fifth season.
Whatever else you can say about it, it’s a show that knows when
its hand is played out, even if its fanbase is placing odds on
which clone will form the basis for the speculative spin-off.
(My money is on Alison, as in “The Continuing Adventures of
Alison and Donnie.”)
9.
Streets of Fire [Blu-ray]
(Walter Hill, 1984) Shout! Factory
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Unlike Walter Hill’s misjudgment as to adding a comic strip to
the otherwise excellent Blu-ray transfer of The Warriors, excess
can only be a good thing for STREETS OF FIRE, which happy to
say, suffers no such ill treatment in this snappy new transfer
from Shout Factory. It hits all the right notes, and gets the
sync right as a bonus. Gorgeous, gleaming color, smoke, fire,
noise, music, great fight scenes. Let’s give a shout out to
Walter and the Gang.
10.
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T
[Blu-ray]
(Roy Rowland, 1953) Region FREE Indicator UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Indicator edition of Dr. Seuss’ 5000 FINGERS OF DR. T makes
for a surprising feast of color, music, dance and design, a
fantasy musical film from six decades ago, clearly marketed for
children, but thoroughly enjoyable for adults who appreciate
whimsy and invention - more than the current crop of kids, I
imagine. I’d like to be wrong about that.
Top 10 SD-DVD Releases OF 2017
(No time to put a DVD list together. Sorry.)
|
 |
Luc Pomerleau
1.
Celine and Julie Go Boating
[Blu-ray]
(Jacques Rivette, 1974) RB BFI
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
An essential work of the Nouvelle Vague and perhaps Rivette's
most accessible one for non-cinephiles, finally getting an
upgraded edition.
2.
The Whales of August
[Blu-ray]
(Lindsay Anderson, 1987) Kino Classics
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
A neglected elegiac work by this director, featuring perfectly
dosed performances by a handful of Hollywood veterans.
3.
Othello
[Blu-ray]
(Orson Welles, 1952) Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The third Welles Shakespearian film to get the royal treatment
on BR; a lesson on how cinema can trick the viewer by seamlessly
putting together shots filmed months and hundreds of kilometers
apart.
4.
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
[Blu-ray]
(Karel Zeman, 1962) Region FREE UK Second Run
(BEAVER
REVIEW);
ALL A superb restoration for what I think is the first BR for
this master of animation. Will we eventually be blessed by a
similar effort for the works of Trnka?
5.
Death in the Garden
[Blu-ray]
(Luis Buñuel, 1956) RB UK Masters of Cinema
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Not as overtly surrealistic or strange as some of this other
features, this is nevertheless completely faithful to the old
master's usual political and philosophical concerns.
6.
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T
[Blu-ray]
(Roy Rowland, 1953) Region FREE Indicator UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
A uniquely imaginative children's movie that is maybe even best
suited for adults with a fascination for the absurd.
7.
Barry Lyndon
[Blu-ray]
(Stanley Kubrick, 1975) Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
A beautifully conceived film that grows on me with each viewing,
perhaps more than any other by Kubrick, in an well-appointed
package.
8.
The Love of a Woman
[Blu-ray]
(Jean Grémillon, 1953) US / UK Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Not the most celebrated of Grémillon's movies, but the first one
to appear on BR in the English-speaking world and offering a
very informative documentary the director.
9.
Four Film Noir Classics
(The Dark Mirror, Secret Beyond the Door, Force of
Evil, The Big Combo)
[Blu-ray]
(Robert Siodmak, Fritz Lang, Abraham Polonsky, Joseph H.
Lewis, 1946-1955) RB UK Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
No real masterpiece in the bunch, but the wealth of relevant and
informative bonus material makes this an exemplary edition.
10.
Notfilm / Film [Blu-ray]
(Ross Lipman, Alan Schneider, 1965-2015) RB UK BFI Samuel Beckett's only film
script may not be the most memorable work in his total oeuvre,
but the documentary and other bonuses enhances one's
appreciation for this singular short.
Top 10 SD-DVD Releases OF 2017
1. Voyage à
travers le cinéma français (Bertrand Tavernier, 2016)
Gaumont; ALL PAL In this 3-disc edition, Tavernier keeps the
viewer constantly interested over the 3 hours of the main
feature and a further hour and a half of bonus discussion.
Excellent news: he has put together a follow-up to cover more in
depth several films and directors he could mention mostly in
passing (or not at all) in the first outing and this has already
been broadcast on French TV, so that a video edition can be
expected. (ED. also on
Blu-ray)
|
 |
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago, Illinois, USA
1.
Othello
[Blu-ray]
(Orson Welles, 1952) Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
2.
Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project No. 2 [Blu-ray]
(Limite - Mário Peixoto, Revenge - Ermek
Shinarbaev, Insiang - Lino Brocka, Mysterious
Object at Noon - Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Law
of the Border - Lütfi Ö. Akad, Taipei Story -
Edward Yang) - Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
3.
Vampir
Cuadecuc
[Blu-ray]
(Pere Portabella, 1971) R0 UK Second Run
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
4.
The 4 Marx Brothers at Paramount (The
Cocoanuts, Animal Crackers, Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, Duck Soup)
[Blu-ray] (1929-1933) RB Arrow UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
5.
Ana-ta-han
[Blu-ray]
(Josef von Sternberg, 1953) Kino
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
6.
A Brighter Summer Day [Blu-ray]
(Edward Yang, 1991) RB Criterion UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
7.
Moses and Aaron
[Blu-ray]
(Danièle Huillet, Jean-Marie Straub, 1973) Grasshopper Film
8.
Letter from an Unknown Woman
[Blu-ray]
(Max Ophüls, 1948) Olive Signature
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
9.
Lost in Paris [Blu-ray]
(Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon, 2016) Oscilloscope
Pictures
10.
A New Leaf
[Blu-ray]
(Elaine May,
1971) Olive Signature
A major reason for listing
Criterion's Othello first is that it includes the digital
premieres of not one and not two but three Orson Welles
features: both of his edits of Othello available with his own
soundtracks, heard for the first time in the U.S. in several
decades, and Filming Othello, his last feature.
And one more worthy mention:
Black Girl
[Blu-ray]
(Ousmane Sembène, 1966) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
|
 |
Steve Rutt
Top Blu-ray Releases of
2017
1.
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
[Blu-ray]
(Karel Zeman, 1962) Region FREE UK Second Run
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
2.
Four Film Noir Classics
(The Dark Mirror, Secret Beyond the Door, Force of
Evil, The Big Combo)
[Blu-ray]
(Robert Siodmak, Fritz Lang, Abraham Polonsky, Joseph H.
Lewis, 1946-1955) RB UK Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
3.
The Thing - 4K Restored
[Blu-ray]
(John Carpenter, 1982) RB UK Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
4.
Othello
[Blu-ray]
(Orson Welles, 1952) Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
5.
The Marseille Trilogy
(Marius, Fanny, César)
[Blu-ray]
(Alexander Korda, Marc Allégret, Marcel Pagnol,
1931-1936) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
6.
Hammer Volume One: Fear Warning
[Blu-ray]
(Maniac, The Gorgon, Curse of the Mummy's Tomb, Fanatic) Indicator UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW) (BEAVER
REVIEW) (BEAVER
REVIEW) (BEAVER
REVIEW)
7.
Buster Keaton: 3 Films
[Blu-ray]
(Sherlock Jr., The General, Steamboat Bill, Jr.) - RB UK
Masters of Cinema
8.
My 20th Century
[Blu-ray]
(Ildikó Enyedi, 1989) RB UK Second Run
9.
Lino Brocka: Two Films [Blu-ray]
(Manila in the Claws, Light and Insiang) RB UK BFI
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
10.
Charlie Chaplin: The Essanay Comedies
[Blu-ray]
- BFI
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Top 10 SD-DVD Releases OF 2017
1.
Porky Pig 101 ( 5-disc) - Warner Archive
2. Every Picture
Tells a Story: The Art Films of James Scott (Scott 1984) BFI
ALL PAL
3. Louis Malle
Documentary Collection (Malle, 1962-1986) Curzon AE, R2 PAL
4. Someday My
Prince Will Come (Isaacs 2005) Second Run ALL PAL
5. Ta kafa:
Stories from the Street (Zimmerman 2005) Second Run ALL PAL
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
6.
The Goddess (Yonggang Wu, 1934) R2 UK BFI
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
7.
Dead Hands Dig Deep (Love 2016) Monster Pictures ALL NTSC
8.
The Spring River Flows East (Chusheng Cai, Junli
Zheng, 1947) R2 UK BFI
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
9. Betjeman -
The Collection (Various,1968-1976) Simply Media R2 PAL
10. Eurocrime!
The Italian Cop & Gangster Movies that Ruled the 70s
(Malloy, 2012) Nucleus, R2 PAL
|
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James-Masaki Ryan
1.
Baby Driver (2-disc Blu-ray edition) (Edgar Wright,
2017) Sony (Australia) (ALL)
2. Electric Boogaloo: The Wild Untold Story of Cannon
Films / Machete Maidens Unleashed (Mark Hartley, 2014 /
2010) Umbrella Entertainment (Australia) (ALL)
3.
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
[Blu-ray]
(Karel Zeman, 1962) Region FREE UK Second Run
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
4.
German Concentration Camps Factual Survey [Blu-ray]
- RB UK BFI
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
5.
Horus: Prince of the Sun
(Isao Takahata, 1967) Diskotek (US) (RA)
6.
Rebecca
[Blu-ray]
(Alfred Hitchcock, 1940) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
7. Rough Stuff (Jonathan Adams, 2017) Rough Stuff Pty Ltd
(Australia) (ALL)
8.
The Thing - 4K Restored
[Blu-ray]
(John Carpenter, 1982) RB UK Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
9.
Yen Town Space in Inujima
[Blu-ray]
(Shunji Iwai, 2017) Universal (Japan) (ALL)
10.
Your Name.
(5-disc Collector's Edition) (Makoto Shinkai, 2016) Toho (Japan)
(ALL)
|
 |
Schwarkkve
Once again, sorry to say, we can’t
see everything that comes out in a given year. And that means that, for one
reason or another, my list of Top Releases for 2017 is missing titles that I
would consider to be likely candidates for inclusion-
Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project No. 2 [Blu-ray]
(Limite - Mário Peixoto, Revenge - Ermek
Shinarbaev, Insiang - Lino Brocka, Mysterious
Object at Noon - Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Law
of the Border - Lütfi Ö. Akad, Taipei Story -
Edward Yang) - Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW),
or the
100 Years of Olympic Films
[Blu-ray]
(Leni Riefenstahl, Kon Ichikawa, Claude Lelouch, Carlos
Saura, Miloš Forman etc.) - Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW),
for example. Still, from those I have seen this year, there is a plethora of
outstanding contenders. My selections are determined by my personal tastes which
are eclectic (or erratic, depending on your p.o.v.), my personal finances, which
prohibit, or at least severely inhibit, high end purchases or extensive
indulgence, and my personal perspectives which weigh the relative merits of,
say, the uniqueness of the production, personal appeal, its importance
(artistically, culturally, historically), and the technical excellence of the
pressing- along with other more tangible factors such as its availability at
sales prices.
Top Blu-ray Releases of 2017
His Girl Friday
[Blu-ray]
(Howard Hawks, 1940) Criterion
Us / UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
– Finally, this quiescently Hawksian masterwork, a touchstone of Hollywood
comedy and a high point in the careers of everyone involved in the production,
receives the treatment it deserves. Light years removed from the bargain bin
public domain knockoffs that have surfaced over the years, as well as an
improvement over the previous Columbia SD releases of this title, Criterion have
provided us with a generous 2-disc package that includes not only an excellent
restoration of the film, but interviews with and special features about the cast
and crew, trailers, a radio adaption of the film, a clever and informative
insert in the form of an edition of the Morning Post, as well as two radio
adaptions and a new 4K digital restoration of the “director’s cut” version of
the 1931 film The Front Page. Whew! It was a long time coming, but this
definitive edition of His Girl Friday was worth the wait.
Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy [Blu-ray]
( Rome Open City, Paisan, and Germany Year Zero)
Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
– Cornerstones of Neorealism, a movement that marked a turning point in postwar
cinema, get the deluxe Criterion treatment. Aside from their historical
importance and their influence on the next generation of filmmakers, all of
these films are extraordinary works of art, expressive and vital, that in
retrospect, appear to me classical in their rigorous vision- even as they make
use of every means at hand to explore and develop a new way of expressing that
vision to the world. This package does these films justice, supporting them in a
presentation that is the best I’ve ever seen them look.
The Marseille Trilogy
(Marius, Fanny, César)
[Blu-ray]
(Alexander Korda, Marc Allégret, Marcel Pagnol,
1931-1936) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
– Another collected trilogy of world classics from Criterion. Landmarks of
humanism, whose epic span, theatrical realism and stylized romanticism produce a
poetic transcendence. A collection of masterworks complete with extensive
supplements, in a box set that is itself a work of art.
Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080
Bruxelles
[Blu-ray]
(Chantal Akerman, 1975) Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- A truly unique cinematic experience that pushes the neorealism esthetic to the
edge and beyond. Chantal Akerman’s technique works in contrast to the
theatricality and pretense of what we normally think of as cinematic realism,
exposing the so-called “reality” as artificial and manipulative. Her seemingly
naturalistic depiction of mundane moments is actually a heightened
verisimilitude, incorporating elements which evoke the temporal experiments of
Warhol’s Sleep or Michael Snow’s Wavelength, the ritualistic behavior of routine
actions found in Bresson’s Pickpocket, A Man Escaped, or Diary
of a Country Priest, and the minimalism of Dreyer’s Ordet. It seems
to me that this approach is also akin to the 1968 Straub and Huillet film, The
Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach. Both films present their subjects through a
meticulous attention to detail, marshaling their various components in such a
way as to not recreate reality, but create their own time and place. Akerman’s
rendering of time (“(not) real time, not dramatic and codified [cinematic] time.
I take ‘my time’…”) evokes a visceral reaction, forcing the viewer to actually
experience the moment. Delphine Seyrig doesn’t so much act, as channel her
character, not impersonating or representing, but creating Jeanne Dielman
through emersion in the actions and the rhythms of the film. Once again,
Criterion delivers a deluxe package that includes a booklet, a behind-the-scenes
“making of” documentary, the director introducing her first film, and several
interviews (including one with Chantal Akerman’s mother!).
Stalker [Blu-ray]
(Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
– Tarkovsky’s “other” science fiction film, based on the Strugatsky brother’s
renowned 1971 novel Roadside Picnic. With the aid of the authors, Tarkovsky
scaled back, condensed and altered the original material to provide himself a
platform from which to explore his own concerns involving man making his way
through a seemingly hostile or indifferent world, facing an environment filled
with danger, illogic and contradiction, yet holding out hope for the possibility
of salvation, a benevolent outcome, or at least the emergence of some sort of
meaning. I’ve about run out of adjectives when it comes to describing the
uniform excellence of the Criterion Collections’ restorations and supplemental
materials. Suffice it to say that this release is no exception to the rule. The
quality and detail of the improved image is profound.
The Lost World
[Blu-ray]
(Harry O. Hoyt, 1925) Flicker Alley
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
/
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog [Blu-ray]
(Alfred Hitchcock, 1927) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
– Two excellent releases of late silent films, both of which are not only
entertaining and “firsts” of their kind, but important harbingers of things to
come. Willis O’Brien’s stop motion animation anchors the screen adaption of
Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1912 novel, the first ever feature-length commercial
production to utilize this innovative technique, and provides the template for
King Kong and almost every other dinosaur/adventure/quest for a “lost unknown
continent that time forgot” movie to follow. Alfred Hitchcock’s third feature,
the first to introduce many of his reoccurring tropes (an innocent man wanted
for a crime he did not commit, the association of sex with violence, the
idealized blonde heroine), is not only a defining moment in that director’s
distinguished body of work (“the first true Hitchcock film”), but also a seminal
work in the suspense thriller genre. Both The Lost World and The Lodger have
been meticulously restored and packaged with excellent music scores, abundant
supplements, informative booklets, and additional films by their creators. Along
with copious dinosaur outtakes, The Lost World includes several early Willis
O’Brien animated shorts and test footage for the proposed feature Creation
(1930). The Lodger includes an entire second Hitchcock feature, the restored
1927, Downhill, also starring Ivor Novello.
Le samouraï [Blu-ray]
(Jean-Pierre Melville, 1967) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
– In Le samouraï Melville moves into Bresson territory, applying an
austere minimalism to his material while substituting Eastern stoicism and the
code of bushido for the other director’s rigorous spiritual discipline and
Catholicism. Here, Melville pares back plot, dialogue, even the color palate, to
produce a spartan, yet striking, expressionistic effect. The iconic image of
Alain Delon’s white gloved, trench coat wearing assassin in a fedora hat is at
the same time both broadly rendered and sparingly realized- an exaggerated image
that defines the character in a few conspicuous strokes. Many consider this
Melville’s best film, and once more, Criterion brings us a primo restoration
supported by a first rate set of supplements.
The Lure
[Blu-ray]
(Agnieszka Smoczyńska, 2015) Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
– Another beautiful package featuring a striking one-of-a-kind movie experience-
a genre crossing mash-up that that references MGM musicals, horror films, Hans
Christian Anderson, feminism and ‘80s MTV among other things. An energetic
postmodernist pop art extravaganza that exudes the seeming effortless
improvisational certainty of a parkour practitioner navigating up, over, under,
around and through their environment. It is nice to see that Criterion supports
this kind of promising new cinema as well as the established classics and
recognized masterpieces.
Othello
[Blu-ray]
(Orson Welles, 1952) Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
– Last year Criterion gave us Chimes at Midnight. This year, it’s not one but
two restored versions Welles’ Othello- both the US/UK release and the longer
European version. Of course, Criterion bundles in a load of extras to support
this disc (interviews, documentaries, a booklet) but the thing that most
impressed me about this edition, revealed in the detail of the 4K scans, is the
richness of the images and the quality and consistency of the production design.
Amazing, considering that the film was shot on shoestring budget in multiple
locations over a period of years.
The Adventures of Captain Marvel
[Blu-ray]
(John English, William Witney, 1941) Kino Lorber (BEAVER
REVIEW)
/
Daredevils of the Red Circle
(12 Chapter Serial)
[Blu-ray]
(William Witney, 1939) Kino
- These two Blu-rays, although far from being Criterion style restorations
packed with supplements, are important releases because they are “official”
1080P editions (remastered in 4K from archival materials) of two of the finest
Republic Serials, made by arguably the greatest directing team working in that
genre at the peak that studio’s creative output. Which is to say, they represent
the acme of sound era serials. Each of these titles has been sited as the best
of its kind and can usually be found on any serial aficionado’s Top Ten List.
Over the past couple of years, Olive Films has released several of the later
Republic cliffhangers (this year they put out a nice bare bones edition of
Panther Girl of the Kongo), but these serials have been from the late ‘40s and
the ‘50s- a time that is generally seen as a period of decline, of shrinking
budgets and disappearing resources, forcing the filmmakers to find evermore
inventive ways to rework their materials (stock footage, recycled action
sequences, shortened chapter lengths, etc.) as the theatrical short film form
was relinquished to television. With The Adventures of Captain Marvel and
Daredevils of the Red Circle Kino has provided us with two legendary examples of
the art form from its greatest era, presented in excellent quality editions with
informative and enthusiastic commentary tracks (albeit somewhat less extensive
in Daredevils’ case). Both of these releases are prime examples of the
cliffhanger serial, an important and iconic cultural expression, now as extinct
as the silent film.
Honorable Mention –
They Live by Night [Blu-ray]
(Nicholas Ray, 1948) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- Ray’s confident manipulation of his resources and involvement with his
material produce a signature tension in his films, already discernible in this,
his first feature. His blending of hard-edged, no-nonsense naturalism, intense
melodrama, and unabashed romanticism, wedded to striking visuals and propelled
by a committed sense of drama, make for an exhilarating and engaging style. A
stunning debut and a key film in the lovers on the run subgenre, this title
finally gets the release it deserves. Once again, thank you Criterion.
Barry Lyndon
[Blu-ray]
(Stanley Kubrick, 1975) Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
– Hands down, the best this masterpiece has ever looked on video. It is
absolutely breathtaking, with a 4k digital restoration, correct frame ratio, and
an abundance of extras on a second disc.
When Knighthood Was in Flower
(Robert G. Vignola, 1922) Undercrank Productions (ALL) – A
promising trend over the past couple of years has been the advent of a DIY
movement on the part of movie buffs (film scholars, industry professionals and
other interested parties) to restore, or at least clean up and release decent
versions of older movies (particularly silents), licensing the rights and
obtaining their source materials from private collectors, film museums and
archives like MOMA or UCLA. Some of these efforts, like those produced and/or
distributed by silent film composer and accompanist Ben Model’s Undercrank
Productions (see DVD releases below), are crowd funded and have been very well
produced- successfully bringing films, which would have been otherwise
unavailable, to a wider, appreciative audience. WKWIF stars Marion Davies in the
epic breakout feature that was to make her a star of the first magnitude. Unseen
before on home video, the film was scanned from a Library of Congress 35mm
nitrate print of the “road show” version, with original tints and a special
hand-colored sequence (night riders carrying blazing torches) digitally
recreated. This edition contains both Blu-ray and DVD copies of the film with a
new theater organ score by Ben Model and a very nice 16-page booklet by film
researcher and Marion Davis biographer, Lara Gabrielle Fowler. It is an
exemplary independent release of a landmark film that has been little seen in
the decades following its theatrical debut.
DVD Releases – I’ve not seen many and purchased only a few “DVD only” releases
this year. Of those, the following seem worthy of recognition:
Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked
the World (Catherine Bainbridge, Alfonso Maiorana, 2017) Kino (Region 1)
– This eye-opening, award winning documentary makes a compelling argument for
influence of Native American culture on American popular music, specifically
rock and roll. Using recordings, archival footage, filmed performances and on
camera interviews with musicians, scholars and people in the music industry,
Rumble illustrates its thesis and makes its case. Citing the instrumental
rhythms and vocal patterns of delta bluesman Charlie Patton, the Big Band
stylings of Mildred Bailey, and the proto-rock power chords of Link Ray, the
film traces the impact of these and other contributions by Native Americans on
the various forms of American music. An informative and entertaining essay on a
heretofore neglected topic.
The Mysterious Airman
(Henry Revier, 1929) The Sprocket Vault (ALL Regions) – A fairly routine
10-chapter late silent serial featuring generally excellent picture elements,
impressive aerial sequences, authentic behind the scenes glimpses at airplane
manufacturing, and location work highlighting unspoiled 1920’s southern
California landscapes. It has been restored and given an original and
atmospheric musicals accompaniment, as well as a knowledgeable and very thorough
audio commentary which provides an excellent context for the serial. This
entertaining piece of cinema archeology, with its remarkably detailed visuals,
authentic period-appropriate musical score and informative elucidation by
Richard M. Roberts, allows us to recreate what a typical film going experience
must have been like in 1929.
Porky Pig 101 ( 5-disc) - Warner Archive (MOD/ ALL Regions) – A truly
archival 5-disc collection of 101 classic Porky Pig cartoons, most of which are
black and white, with a couple in 2-strip Technicolor. Presented in
chronological order, the quality of the source material ranges from excellent to
decent and there are some extras in the form of several commentaries and a
couple of storyboards. A nice made-on-demand package put together by the Warner
Archive for animation buffs and fans of Warner Bros. “first cartoon superstar.”
Entertaining, informative, and of historical interest.
Undercrank
Productions 2017 catalogue of DVD releases (Lon Chaney: Before the
Thousand Faces: 3 Rare Universal Features from 1915-1916, Whispering Shadows/The
Devil’s Assistant (1921/1917), Beauty’s Worth (1922), The Bride’s Play (1922)
Undercrank Productions (ALL Regions) - A mixed bag of vintage productions
(source material ranging from 35mm nitrate theatrical prints to archival 28mm
home viewing releases) lovingly restored and reissued by aficionados both
amateur and professional who have made the move from passive consumption to
passionate involvement with their pastime. For silent movie fans or anyone
interested in cinema history, these releases are definitely worth checking out. |
 |
Per-Olof Strandberg
Helsinki,
Finland
1.
The Before Trilogy [Blu-ray]
(Before Sunrise - 1995, Before Sunset - 2004, Before
Midnight - 2013) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
2.
Toni Erdmann Maren Ade
2016 Future Film RB
3. I, Daniel Blake Ken Loach 2016 Scanbox RB
4.
The Story of Sin [Blu-ray]
(Walerian Borowczyk, 1975) Arrow Video US
5.
Personal Shopper
[Blu-ray]
(Olivier Assayas, 2016) Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
6.
Melville Boxset
[Blu-ray]
(Jean-Pierre Melville, 1956-1972) StudioCanal, RB
7.
Lady Macbeth
[Blu-ray]
William
Oldroyd 2016 Altitude Film RB
8.
Stalker [Blu-ray]
(Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979) Criterion
US UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
9.
Elle [Blu-ray]
(Paul Verhoeven, 2016) Sony
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
10. Toivon tuolla puolen / The Other Side of Hope Aki Kaurismäki
2017 Future Film RB |
 |
taikohediyoshi
(Michael Connors)
Top Blu-ray Releases of 2017
Silent:
Variety
[Blu-ray]
(Ewald André Dupont, 1925) RB UK Masters Of
Cinema
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
There was a
2015 blu ray release by F W Murnau
Stiftung with English
subtitles, so it should have been the release of that year too.
There is a
Kino Classics
release in the USA. Ewald André Dupont directs Emil Jannings in
a carny story much like the ones Lon Chaney made for MGM, but
it’s Karl Freund and Carl Hoffmann’s cinematography which makes
the movie a lodestar in film history. The Entfesselte Kamera
[Unchanged Camera] techniques which were used extensively in Der
letzte Mann year before are now used in a less arty, more
commercial film to great effect. A big hit on both sides of the
Atlantic. Cinema never looked back.
Wagon Tracks
Blu-ray--William
S. Hart (Actor), Jane Novak (Actor), Lambert Hillyer (Director).
At the 50 minute mark, a thirteen minute night sequence begins
which is very well done. The night shots are the highlight of
the film. John August is the cameraman. Print is in remarkably
good condition and the transfer is razor sharp.
2 Short Films of Chaplin 2
Blu-ray
Finally someone
had the good sense of collecting the shorts Chaplin made for
First National, but not in The Chaplin Revue on one Blu-Ray.
The Salvation Hunters DVD - Josef von Sternberg (Regisseur)
[dvd only]. This is the movie von Sternberg made before Woman of
the Sea. Chaplin like this movie so much that he hired him but
he hated the delivered film, the above mentioned Woman of the
Sea, so much that he burned that negative.
Anime:
Yuri Norstein Collection 2K Restoration
Edition
Blu-ray
The Russian animator gets a Blu-ray release of some of his short
films.
In This Corner Of The World
(Blu-ray + DVD) The US
Blu-ray
has English subtitles and extras. The most visually satisfying
experience of the recent anime releases.
I also recommend the
art book in Japanese
"Your
Name."
Blu-ray
Standard Edition
Director: Makoto Shinkai Another very satisfying visual
experience. I have the Japanese Blu-ray, and there is also a
North American release
at an attractive price. The colors jump off the screen.
Speed Racer: Complete Series [Blu-ray]
(Tatsuo Yoshida, 1967)
Funimation
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
- no Japanese sound track but we do have Corinne Orr assaying
the role of Trixie, the greatest role for an actress since Lady
Macbeth.
Two recent live action movies
from Asia caught my eye:
[Nagasaki:
Memories of My Son
Blu-ray
—dir: Yamada Yoji] (2015 release but
English friendly release this year) (Blu-ray) (English
Subtitled) (Hong Kong Version) Panorama [Hong Kong] Yamada is a
favorite of mine. Not as good as The Little House or Kabei, but
still very good. Yamada's next film What A Wonderful Family! 2
is out on Japanese blu-ray. No English friendly release yet.
[Our
Time Will Come--dir: Ann Hui]
Blu-ray
—Hui’s latest. Hong Kong release has English subtitles. Looks
gorgeous—cinematography by Lik-wai Yu. Hui has probably wrapped
her part in Eight & a Half which has yet to get a release--as
far as I can tell.
Opus Arte has three Shakespeare releases worth your while:
RSC William Shakespeare: The Tempest
Blu-ray
- Simon Russell Beale (Actor), Mark
Quartley (Actor), Simon Trinder (Actor), Gregory Doran
(Director) Visually satisfying.
RSC William Shakespeare: King Lear
Blu-ray
- Antony Sher
(Actor), Natalie Simpson (Actor), Gregory Doran (Director)
Globe on Screen Shakespeare: Richard II
[Charles Edwards;
Henry Everett; William Gaunt; Jonny Glynn; David Sturzaker;
Simon Goodwin (director) ]
Now both the RSC and The Globe have all released performances of
the Henriad plays, (Richard II through Henry V).
From France:
Les Sorcières de Salem
[Combo Collector
Blu-ray
+ DVD] Acteurs : Simone Signoret, Yves Montand, Mylène Demongeot,
Alfred Adam, Pierre Larquey. Réalisateur: Raymond Rouleau.
Arthur Miller's The Crucible filmed for the first time.
The script by Jean Paul Sartre is an improvement on Miller’s
play. Miller’s
Crucible
also got a blu ray release this year.
Voici le temps des assassins
[Blu-ray]
Jean Gabin Julien Duvivier (Réalisateur) got a stand-alone blu
ray release on 6 septembre 2017. Last year’s Pathé combo release
is oop. One of the greatest policiers francais ever made.
Everybody’s bad, and everybody gets what’s coming.
NOTE: It does NOT have English subtitles!
|
 |
Gary
Tooze
Toronto, Canada
Like
previous years, I don't feel my input in the poll is essential. It seems redundant
for me to mimic the general consensus extolling an impressive lineup of
Criterion, Arrow, Indicator, Masters of Cinema editions, of which, I fully
concur with all raves expressed.
My preference would be to mention discs that I greatly appreciated having on
Blu-ray - mostly because of the film and that weren't mentioned
extensively by anyone else. It's only my opinion, so here are some of my less-predictable
choices, of releases that I felt deserved more love than our poll might express
to them. They are in alphabetical order:
21 Grams
[Blu-ray]
(Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2003) Universal
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
23 Paces to Baker Street
[Blu-ray]
(Henry Hathaway, 1956) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Adventures of Captain Marvel
[Blu-ray]
(John English, William Witney, 1941) Kino Lorber (BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Agnès Varda Collection (Cleo from 5 to 7, Jacquot de Nantes,
L'une chante, l'autre pas, Le Bonheur, The Gleaners and I, The Beaches of Agnès,
Vagabond, La Pointe Courte) [Blu-ray]
(Agnès Varda) RB UK Curzon Artificial Eye
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Barton Fink [Blu-ray]
(Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, 1991) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Beggars of Life
[Blu-ray]
(William A. Wellman, 1928) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Burning Bed [Blu-ray]
(Robert Greenwald, 1984) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
China Moon [Blu-ray]
(John Bailey, 1994) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Compulsion [Blu-ray] (Richard Fleischer, 1959) - Kino
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Criss Cross
[Blu-ray]
(Robert Siodmak, 1949) Cinema Cult
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Culpepper Cattle Co.
[Blu-ray]
(Dick Richards, 1972) RB UK Signal One
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Dawson City: Frozen Time
[Blu-ray]
(Bill Morrison, 2016) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Day of the Jackal [Blu-ray]
(Fred Zinnemann, 1973) Arrow UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Death in the Land of Encantos
(Lav Diaz, 2007) Region FREE Dissidenz Films
Erik the Conqueror
[Blu-ray]
(Mario Bava, 1961) Arrow UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Fritz Lang: The Silent Films
(The Spiders, Harakiri (SD), The Wandering
Shadow (SD), Four Around a Woman, Destiny, Dr.
Mabuse the Gambler, Die Nibelungen, Metropolis, Spies,
Woman in the Moon, The Plague in Florence) [Blu-ray]
(Fritz Lang, 1919-1929) Kino
German Concentration Camps Factual Survey [Blu-ray]
- RB UK BFI
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Gold [Blu-ray]
(Stephen Gaghan, 2016) Lionsgate
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
(50th Anniversary Special Edition)
[Blu-ray]
(Sergio Leone, 1966) - Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Hammer Film Edition [Blu-ray]
(The
Horror of Frankenstein, Scars
of Dracula,
Blood
from the Mummy's Tomb, Demons
of the Mind, Straight
on Till Morning, Fear
in the Night,
and Dr
Jekyll & Sister Hyde)
Studio Canal
DE
Hammer Volume One: Fear Warning
[Blu-ray]
(Maniac, The Gorgon, Curse of the Mummy's Tomb, Fanatic) Indicator UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW) (BEAVER
REVIEW) (BEAVER
REVIEW) (BEAVER
REVIEW)
Housekeeping [Blu-ray]
(Bill Forsyth, 1987) Region FREE Indicator UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
I'll Be Seeing You [Blu-ray]
(William Dieterle, 1945) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Indian Runner [Blu-ray]
(Sean Penn, 1991) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Inferno 2D + 3D
[Blu-ray] (Roy Ward Baker, 1953) Twilight Time
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Informer
[Blu-ray]
(Arthur Robison, 1929) - RB UK BFI
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Island of Terror
[Blu-ray]
(Terence Fisher, 1966) Shout! Factory
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Junior Bonner
[Blu-ray]
(Sam Peckinpah, 1972) Kino Classics
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Lifeboat [Blu-ray]
(Alfred Hitchcock, 1944) Kino
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Lost World
[Blu-ray]
(Harry O. Hoyt, 1925) Flicker Alley
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Love Witch [ Blu-ray]
(Anna Biller, 2016) Oscilloscope Laboratories
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Love with the Proper Stranger
[ Blu-ray]
(Robert Mulligan, 1963) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Lovers on the Bridge [ Blu-ray]
(Leos Carax, 1991) Kino
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Ludwig (4-Disc Limited Edition)
[Blu-ray]
(Luchino Visconti, 1973) RB Arrow UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Magnificent Obsession [Blu-ray]
(Douglas Sirk, 1954) RB FR Elephant Films
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Man from Planet X [Blu-ray]
(Edgar G. Ulmer, 1951) Shout! Factory
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Man with Two Brains
[ Blu-ray]
(Carl Reiner, 1983) Warner Archive
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Manster - Half Man, Half Monster [Blu-ray]
(George P. Breakston, Kenneth G. Crane,
1959) Shout! Factory
The Miracle Worker
[Blu-ray]
(Arthur Penn, 1962) Olive
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Night Moves [Blu-ray]
(Arthur Penn, 1975) Warner Archive
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
OSS 117: Five Film Collection
(OSS 117 Is Unleashed / OSS 117: Panic in Bangkok / OSS 117: Mission For a
Killer / OSS 117: Mission to Tokyo / OSS 117: Double Agent)
[Blu-ray]
(various, 1963-1968) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Party [Blu-ray]
(Blake Edwards, 1968) RB UK Eureka Classics
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Piano Teacher
[Blu-ray]
(Michael Haneke, 2001) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Portrait of Jennie
[Blu-ray]
(William Dieterle, 1948) Kino Classics
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Quarry [Blu-ray]
TV Series (Michael D. Fuller, Graham Gordy, 2016) HBO
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Rawhead Rex
[Blu-ray]
(George Pavlou, 1986) Kino Classics
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Rawhide [Blu-ray]
(Henry Hathaway, 1951) RB UK Signal One
Entertainment
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Ride the High Country [Blu-ray]
(Sam Peckinpah, 1962) Warner Archive
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Savage Innocents [Blu-ray]
(Nicholas Ray, 1960) Olive Films
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Seven Days in May
[Blu-ray]
(John Frankenheimer, 1964) Warner Archive
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Sicilian Clan
[Blu-ray]
(Henri Verneuil, 1969) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Silkwood
[Blu-ray]
(Mike Nichols, 1983) Kino
Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Since You Went Away [Blu-ray]
(John Cromwell, 1944) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Something Wild
[Blu-ray]
(Jack Garfein, 1961) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
La Strada
[Blu-ray]
(Federico Fellini, 1954) RB UK Studio Canal
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Strange Vice Of Mrs Wardh
[Blu-ray]
(Sergio Martino, 1971) RB UK Shameless
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Streets of Fire [Blu-ray]
(Walter Hill, 1984) Shout! Factory
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Swept Away [Blu-ray]
(Lina Wertmüller, 1974) Kino
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Take the Money and Run
[Blu-ray]
(Woody Allen, 1969) Kino
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Terror in a Texas Town [ Blu-ray]
(Joseph H. Lewis, 1958) Arrow US/ UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
They Shoot Horses, Don't
They?
[Blu-ray]
(Sydney Pollack, 1969) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Tower
[Blu-ray]
(Keith Maitland, 2016) - Kino
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Umberto D
[Blu-ray]
(Vittorio De Sica, 1952) RB UK Cult Films
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Unknown Girl
[Blu-ray] (Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc
Dardenne, 2016) RB UK Artificial Eye
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Vampire's Ghost
[Blu-ray]
(Lesley Selander, 1945) Olive
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Veep - Season 5 [Blu-ray]
- HBO
The Vikings
[Blu-ray]
(Richard Fleischer, 1958) RB UK Eureka Classics
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Wasp Woman / Beast from Haunted Cave [Blu-ray]
(Roger Corman, Jack Hill, Monte Hellman, 1959)
Retromedia
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Wonderful Worlds Of Ray Harryhausen, Volume 2:
1961-1964
[Blu-ray]
(Mysterious Island, Jason and the Argonauts, First Men
in the Moon) Indicator UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Woody Allen: Seven Films - 1986-1991 [ Blu-ray]
- Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Radio Days (1987),
September (1987), Another Woman (1988), Crimes and
Misdemeanors (1989), Alice (1990), Shadows and Fog
(1991) - RB UK Arrow Academy
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Yellow Handkerchief
(Yoji Yamada, 1977)
Twilight Time; RA
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
DVD
Coronet Blue - The Complete Series
(1967) Kino Lorber
The Goddess (Yonggang Wu, 1934) R2 UK BFI
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
The Spring River Flows East (Chusheng Cai, Junli
Zheng, 1947) R2 UK BFI
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
|
 |
James White
Head of Restoration, Arrow Films
1.
Suspiria Three disc (2 Blu-rays + 1 CD) LE
[Blu-ray]
(Dario Argento, 1977) Synapse Films
2.
The Old Dark House
[Blu-ray]
(James Whale, 1932) Cohen Media Group
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
3.
The Cremator
[Blu-ray]
(Juraj Herz, 1969) RB UK Second Run
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
4.
Liquid Sky (Slava
Tsukerman, 1982) (Vinegar Syndrome
5.
The Breaking Point
[Blu-ray]
(Michael Curtiz, 1950) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
6.
Funeral Parade of Roses
[Blu-ray]
(Toshio Matsumoto, 1969) Cinelicious Pics
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
7.
Drunken Master
[Blu-ray]
(Yuen Woo-Ping, 1978) RB UK Masters of Cinema
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
8.
All the Sins of Sodom / Vibrations
[Blu-ray]
(Joseph W. Sarno, 1968) Film Movement Classics
9.
Hardcore
[Blu-ray]
(Paul Schrader, 1979) Region FREE
Indicator UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
10.
The Wages of Fear
[Blu-ray]
(Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953) RB UK BFI
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Protocol precludes me from including any of the Arrow titles I’ve worked on this
year, but I feel especially privileged to have overseen new restorations of
The Apartment
(Billy Wilder),
The Thing
(John Carpenter),
Ronin
(John Frankenheimer), Dario Argento’s
The Bird with the
Crystal Plumage,
Phenomena
and
Cat O’Nine Tails, George Romero’s
The Crazies and
Season of the Witch, Mario Bava’s
Caltiki, the Immortal Monster
and
Erik the Conqueror,
The Legend of the Holy Drinker
(Ermanno Olmi) and
A Fish Called Wanda
(Charles Crichton). My sincere thanks to the great restorations teams I’ve
worked with on these and all our other projects this year.
|
 |
Colin Zavitz
DVDBeaver VP
of business development and versatile misc. stuff,
Toronto, Ontario
1.
Stalker [Blu-ray]
(Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
2.
Suspiria Three disc (2 Blu-rays + 1 CD) LE
[Blu-ray]
(Dario Argento, 1977) Synapse Films
3.
Barry Lyndon
[Blu-ray]
(Stanley Kubrick, 1975) Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
4.
The Handmaiden - Special Edition
[Blu-ray]
(Chan-wook Park, 2016) RB UK Curzon Artificial Eye
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
5.
The Thing - 4K Restored
[Blu-ray]
(John Carpenter, 1982) RB UK Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
6.
Le samouraï [Blu-ray]
(Jean-Pierre Melville, 1967) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
7.
Blood Rage
[Blu-ray]
(John Grissmer, 1987) Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
8.
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage Limited Edition [Blu-ray]
(Dario Argento, 1970) UK/ US Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
9.
George Romero Between Night And Dawn Limited
Edition
[Blu-ray]
(In There s Always Vanilla, Season of the Witch
and 1973's The Crazies) Arrow US / UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
10.
Rawhead Rex
[Blu-ray]
(George Pavlou, 1986) Kino Classics
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
Top 10 SD-DVD Releases OF 2017
1.The Ornithologist (João
Pedro Rodrigues, 2016) Strand Releasing; R1
|
 |
TOP SELECTIONS IN ORDER
- Top 100 Voted Upon (minimum 3 separate votes required):
|
Votes |
1.
Barry Lyndon
[Blu-ray]
(Stanley Kubrick, 1975) Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
533 |
2.
Othello
[Blu-ray]
(Orson Welles, 1952) Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
462 |
3. Stalker [Blu-ray]
(Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
332 |
4. Suspiria Three disc (2 Blu-rays + 1 CD) LE
[Blu-ray]
(Dario Argento, 1977) Synapse Films |
229 |
5. The Thing - 4K Restored
[Blu-ray]
(John Carpenter, 1982) RB UK Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
216 |
6. The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
[Blu-ray]
(Karel Zeman, 1962) Region FREE UK Second Run
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
202 |
7.
Buster Keaton: 3 Films
[Blu-ray] (Sherlock Jr., The General, Steamboat Bill, Jr.) - RB UK
Masters of Cinema |
198 |
8.
Blow-Up [Blu-ray]
(Michelangelo Antonioni, 1966) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
197 |
9.
The Wages of Fear
[Blu-ray]
(Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953) RB UK BFI
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
191 |
10.
The Old Dark House
[Blu-ray]
(James Whale, 1932) Cohen Media Group
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
189 |
11.
The Marseille Trilogy
(Marius, Fanny, César)
[Blu-ray]
(Alexander Korda, Marc Allégret, Marcel Pagnol,
1931-1936) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
180 |
12. Early Women Filmmakers: An International Anthology
[Blu-ray]
(Alice Guy, Lois Weber, Mabel Normand, Madeline
Brandeis, Germaine Dulac, Lotte Reiniger,
et.al, 1902-1946) Flicker Alley
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
171 |
13. Le samouraï [Blu-ray]
(Jean-Pierre Melville, 1967) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
168 |
14. His Girl Friday
[Blu-ray]
(Howard Hawks, 1940) Criterion
Us / UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
165 |
15.
Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project No. 2 [Blu-ray]
(Limite - Mário Peixoto, Revenge - Ermek
Shinarbaev, Insiang - Lino Brocka, Mysterious
Object at Noon - Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Law
of the Border - Lütfi Ö. Akad, Taipei Story -
Edward Yang) - Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
158 |
16.
Celine and Julie Go Boating
[Blu-ray]
(Jacques Rivette, 1974) RB BFI
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
134 |
17.
Four Film Noir Classics
(The Dark Mirror, Secret Beyond the Door, Force of
Evil, The Big Combo)
[Blu-ray]
(Robert Siodmak, Fritz Lang, Abraham Polonsky, Joseph H.
Lewis, 1946-1955) RB UK Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
113 |
18.
Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy [Blu-ray]
( Rome Open City, Paisan, and Germany Year Zero)
Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
110 |
19.
The Lost World
[Blu-ray]
(Harry O. Hoyt, 1925) Flicker Alley
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
107 |
20.
The Before Trilogy [Blu-ray]
(Before Sunrise - 1995, Before Sunset - 2004, Before
Midnight - 2013) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
106 |
21.
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog [Blu-ray]
(Alfred Hitchcock, 1927) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
105 |
22.
Ana-ta-han
[Blu-ray]
(Josef von Sternberg, 1953) Kino
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
103 |
23.
Tampopo [Blu-ray]
(Juzo Itami, 1985) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
102 |
24.
The Breaking Point
[Blu-ray]
(Michael Curtiz, 1950) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
|
101 |
25.
Beggars of Life
[Blu-ray]
(William A. Wellman, 1928) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
99 |
26.
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
[Blu-ray]
(Sam Peckinpah, 1974) RB UK Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
97 |
27.
Le Moulin [Blu-ray]
(Huang Ya Li, 2015),
Roots Films (RA) |
95 |
28.
One-Eyed Jacks [Blu-ray]
(Marlon Brando, 1961) RB UK Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
|
94 |
29.
The Pumpkin Eater
[Blu-ray]
(Jack Clayton, 1964) UK Indicator
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
93 |
30.
The Young Girls of Rochefort [Blu-ray]
(Jacques Demy, 1967) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
90 |
31.
The Wonderful Worlds Of Ray Harryhausen, Volume 2:
1961-1964
[Blu-ray]
(Mysterious Island, Jason and the Argonauts, First Men
in the Moon) Indicator UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
84 |
32.
Ghost World [Blu-ray]
(Terry Zwigoff, 2001) Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
83 |
33.
Witchhammer
[Blu-ray]
(Otakar Vávra, 1970) Region FREE UK Second Run
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
82 |
34.
Ride the High Country [Blu-ray]
(Sam Peckinpah, 1962) Warner Archive
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
80 |
35.
Death in the Garden
[Blu-ray]
(Luis Buñuel, 1956) RB UK Masters of Cinema
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
77 |
35.
Housekeeping [Blu-ray]
(Bill Forsyth, 1987) Region FREE Indicator UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
76 |
37.
L'argent [Blu-ray]
(Robert Bresson, 1983) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
75 |
38.
The Cremator
[Blu-ray]
(Juraj Herz, 1969) RB UK Second Run
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
72 |
39.
The Éric Rohmer Collection
(The Aviator's Wife | A Good Marriage |
Pauline at the Beach | Full Moon in Paris |
The Green Ray | My Girlfriend's Boyfriend
| The Marquise of O... | Perceval |
Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle | The
Tree, the Mayor and the Mediatheque)
[Blu-ray]
(Éric Rohmer, 1976-1993) RB UK Arrow |
69 |
39.
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage Limited Edition [Blu-ray]
(Dario Argento, 1970) UK/ US Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
69 |
39.
The Story of Sin [Blu-ray]
(Walerian Borowczyk, 1975) Arrow Video US |
69 |
42.
George Romero Between Night And Dawn Limited
Edition
[Blu-ray]
(In There s Always Vanilla, Season of the Witch
and 1973's The Crazies) Arrow US / UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
65 |
42.
The Earrings of Madame de... [Blu-ray]
(Max Ophüls, 1953) RB UK BFI
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
65 |
44.
Funeral Parade of Roses
[Blu-ray]
(Toshio Matsumoto, 1969) Cinelicious Pics
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
64 |
44.
The Big Heat
[Blu-ray]
(Fritz Lang, 1953) - UK Powerhouse Films
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
64 |
46. Hammer Volume One: Fear Warning
[Blu-ray]
(Maniac, The Gorgon, Curse of the Mummy's Tomb, Fanatic) Indicator UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW) (BEAVER
REVIEW) (BEAVER
REVIEW) (BEAVER
REVIEW) |
62 |
47.
The Vietnam War
(Ken Burns & Lynn Novick, 2017). PBS, RA |
57 |
47.
Charlie Chaplin: The Essanay Comedies
[Blu-ray]
- BFI
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
57 |
49.
Kiju Yoshida: Love + Anarchism [Blu-ray]
(Eros + Massacre, Heroic
Purgatory and Coup d'etat) - Arrow Academy
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
55 |
49.
Letter from an Unknown Woman
[Blu-ray]
(Max Ophüls, 1948) Olive Signature
(BEAVER
REVIEW |
55 |
51.
Rebecca
[Blu-ray]
(Alfred Hitchcock, 1940) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
|
53 |
52.
Behind the Door [Blu-ray]
(Irvin Willat, 1919) Flicker Alley
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
52 |
52.
Lino Brocka: Two Films [Blu-ray]
(Manila in the Claws, Light and Insiang) RB UK BFI
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
52 |
52.
Liquid Sky (Slava
Tsukerman, 1982) (Vinegar Syndrome |
52 |
55.
Junior Bonner
[Blu-ray]
(Sam Peckinpah, 1972) Kino Classics
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
50 |
55.
The Piano Teacher
[Blu-ray]
(Michael Haneke, 2001) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
50 |
57.
Melville Boxset
(Jean-Pierre Melville, 1956-1972) StudioCanal, RB |
43 |
57.
The Sinbad Trilogy (The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, The
Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger)
[Blu-ray]
(1958-1977) Region FREE Indicator UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
43 |
57.
They Live by Night [Blu-ray]
(Nicholas Ray, 1948) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
|
43 |
60.
Les Sorcières de Salem
[Blu-ray]
(Raymond Rouleau, 1957), Pathé (RB) |
41 |
60.
Variety (aka Varieté)
[Blu-ray]
(Ewald André Dupont, 1925) Kino Lorber (Kino version with Berklee Silent
Orchestra score) |
41 |
62.
Death in the Land of Encantos
(Lav Diaz, 2007) Region FREE Dissidenz Films |
40 |
62.
Panic in the Streets
[Blu-ray] (Elia
Kazan, 1950) RB UK Signal One
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
40 |
62.
Spotlight on a Murderer [Blu-ray]
(Georges Franju, 1961) RB UK Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
40 |
65.
Sorcerer
[Blu-ray]
(40th Anniversary Collector’s Edition) (William
Friedkin, 1977) RB UK Entertainment One |
39 |
65.
Love with the Proper Stranger
[Blu-ray]
(Robert Mulligan, 1963) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
39 |
65.
The Last Detail [Blu-ray]
(Hal Ashby, 1973) RB Powerhouse Films UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
39 |
65.
The Yellow Handkerchief
(Yoji Yamada, 1977)
Twilight Time; RA
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
39 |
69.
Vampyr
[Blu-ray] (Carl Th. Dreyer, 1932) Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
37 |
70.
100 Years of Olympic Films [Blu-ray]
(Leni Riefenstahl, Kon Ichikawa, Claude Lelouch, Carlos
Saura, Miloš Forman etc.) - Criterion Collection
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
36 |
70.
The Handmaiden - Special Edition
[Blu-ray]
(Chan-wook Park, 2016) RB UK Curzon Artificial Eye
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
36 |
70.
Dawson City: Frozen Time
[Blu-ray]
(Bill Morrison, 2016) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
36 |
70.
The Philadelphia Story
[Blu-ray]
(George Cukor, 1940) Criterion
US / UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
36 |
70.
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T
[Blu-ray]
(Roy Rowland, 1953) Region FREE Indicator UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
36 |
75.
Deluge
[Blu-ray]
(Felix E. Feist, 1933) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
33 |
75.
Carrie - Limited Edition [Blu-ray] (Brian De
Palma, 1976) RB UK Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
33 |
77.
The Agnès Varda Collection (Cleo from 5 to 7, Jacquot de Nantes,
L'une chante, l'autre pas, Le Bonheur, The Gleaners and I, The Beaches of Agnès,
Vagabond, La Pointe Courte) [Blu-ray]
(Agnès Varda) RB UK Curzon Artificial Eye
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
31 |
78.
Swept Away [Blu-ray]
(Lina Wertmüller, 1974) Kino
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
30 |
78.
Since You Went Away [Blu-ray]
(John Cromwell, 1944) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
30 |
78.
I'll Be Seeing You [Blu-ray]
(William Dieterle, 1945) Kino Lorber
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
30 |
81.
Fritz Lang: The Silent Films
(The Spiders, Harakiri (SD), The Wandering
Shadow (SD), Four Around a Woman, Destiny, Dr.
Mabuse the Gambler, Die Nibelungen, Metropolis, Spies,
Woman in the Moon, The Plague in Florence) [Blu-ray]
(Fritz Lang, 1919-1929) Kino |
29 |
82.
Inferno 2D + 3D
[Blu-ray] (Roy Ward Baker, 1953) Twilight Time
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
27 |
83.
The Informer
[Blu-ray]
(Arthur Robison, 1929) - RB UK BFI
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
25 |
84.
Ludwig (4-Disc Limited Edition)
[Blu-ray]
(Luchino Visconti, 1973) RB Arrow UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
24 |
84.
The 4 Marx Brothers at Paramount (The
Cocoanuts, Animal Crackers, Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, Duck Soup)
[Blu-ray] (1929-1933) RB Arrow UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
24 |
86.
Vampir
Cuadecuc
[Blu-ray]
(Pere Portabella, 1971) R0 UK Second Run
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
|
22 |
86.
The Lady from Shanghai
[Blu-ray]
(Orson Welles, 1947) Region FREE Indicator UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
22 |
88.
The Love of a Woman
[Blu-ray]
(Jean Grémillon, 1953) US / UK Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
21 |
88.
Black Girl
[Blu-ray]
(Ousmane Sembène, 1966) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
21 |
88.
La Strada
[Blu-ray]
(Federico Fellini, 1954) RB UK Studio Canal
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
21 |
91.
Mildred Pierce [Blu-ray]
(Michael Curtiz, 1945) Criterion
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
20 |
91.
The Taisho Trilogy (Limited Edition) (Zigeunerweisen,
Kageroza, Yumeji) [Blu-ray]
(Seijun Suzuki, 1980-1991) Arrow US
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW)
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
20 |
93.
Bend of the River [Blu-ray] (Anthony
Mann, 1952) RB DE Alive
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
19 |
93.
The Legend of the Holy Drinker
[Blu-ray]
(Ermanno Olmi, 1988) Arrow UK
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
19 |
95.
Ken Loach Collection
[Blu-ray]
(Riff Raff, Raining Stones, Ladybird Ladybird) RB UK BFI
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
18 |
95.
Moses and Aaron
[Blu-ray]
(Danièle Huillet, Jean-Marie Straub, 1973) Grasshopper Film |
18 |
97.
Manina, The Lighthouse-Keeper's Daughter
[Blu-ray]
(Willy Rozier, 1952) RB UK Eureka
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
15 |
98.
The Adventures of Captain Marvel
[Blu-ray]
(John English, William Witney, 1941) Kino Lorber (BEAVER
REVIEW) |
14 |
99.
Variety
[Blu-ray]
(Ewald André Dupont, 1925) RB UK Masters Of
Cinema
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
13 |
99.
Blood Rage
[Blu-ray]
(John Grissmer, 1987) Arrow
(BEAVER
REVIEW) |
13 |
THE WINNERS - DVD
|
|
 |
First Place
is Icarus Films DVD of Eight Films By Jean Rouch.
Jean Rouch was an inspiration for the French New Wave (in 1968
Jacques Rivette would say Rouch is the force behind all French
cinema of the past ten years ), and a revolutionary force in
ethnography and the study of Africa. From 1946 when he made his
first film in Niger, until his death in 2004, Rouch made more than
100 films, most on African subjects, including the seven which are
the focus of this boxed-set. Beginning in 1955 with his most
controversial film THE MAD MASTERS (Les Maîtres fous),
through 1969 s darkly comic LITTLE BY LITTLE, these films
represent the most sustained flourishing of Rouch s practice of
shared anthropology, a process of collaboration with his subjects.
Astonishing on their own terms, now restored and released for the
first time, EIGHT FILMS BY JEAN ROUCH is essential for anyone
interested in better understanding the development of ethnography
and the cross-currents of colonialism and post-colonial social
change in Africa, as well as documentary film practice, film
history, and world cinema as a whole.
|

|
Second
Place is Warner's Porky Pig 101.
That’s NOT all, folks! Warner Bros. first cartoon superstar,
everyone’s favorite pantless porcine, Porky Pig, takes center
stage. From his humble beginnings as the breakout star of a
schoolhouse talent show in I Haven’t Got a Hat to his slimmer,
slaphappy sidekick stage alongside Daffy Duck in Porky Pig’s
Feat, across Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes, in two-strip
Technicolor and scintillating black and white, Porky’s ascent
from rascally school gang member to superstar spokespig is fully
on display in this 5-disc, 101-cartoon (plus some bonuses)
collection. Presented in chronological order, with key
commentary by noted animation scholar and superfan Jerry Beck on
select shorts of significance, this tome contains all the ’toons
you need to become a true professor of Porky Pig-ology.
.
|
 |

|
 |
Third Place is BFI's The Goddess ("Shen nu"). Ruan
Lingyu, one of the most famous stars of early Chinese cinema,
gives a devastating performance as an unnamed goddess an ironic
euphemism for a prostitute in this profoundly moving but rarely
seen classic of world cinema. A tragic tale of shame and
maternal sacrifice, Ruan stars as a mother desperate to provide
for her young son and forced to take brutal vengeance on her
pimp.
Newly restored by the Chinese Film Archive, this iconic film
boasts a new score by renowned composer Zou Ye. Premiered at the
BFI London Film Festival in 2014, this long-awaited release
makes one of the most important early Chinese films finally
available on DVD in the UK, and will delight all fans of silent
cinema.

|

|
Fourth Place is BFI's
The Sprimng River Flows East ("Yi jiang chun shui xiang dong
liu").Often cited as one of the masterpieces of Chinese cinema,
The Spring River Flows East is an epic and tragic
melodrama set in Shanghai and Chungking around the time of the
Second Sino-Japanese War.
Part one, Eight War-Torn Years, tells the heart-rending
story of a working-class couple, Sufen (Bai Yang) and Zhang
Zhongliang (Tao Jin), who marriage is torn apart when the war
forces Zhongliang to flee from Shanghai to Chungking. Part two,
The Dawn, sees Zhongliang return to Shanghai. His
fortunes transformed, he has married into a wealthy bourgeois
family but his world is undone by a chance meeting with the
now-destitute Sufen.
 |
|

|
 |
Fifth Place is Strand Releasing's The
Ornithologist. Fernando, a solitary ornithologist, is looking for
endangered black storks along a remote river in northern Portugal when
he is swept away by the rapids. Rescued by a couple of Chinese pilgrim
girls on their way to Santiago de Compostela, he plunges into a dark,
eerie forest, trying to get back on track. But as he encounters
unexpected and uncanny obstacles and people who put him to the test,
Fernando is driven to extreme, transformative actions. Gradually he
becomes a different man: inspired, multifaceted, and finally
enlightened.
 |

|
BLU-RAYs OF THE YEAR |
|
|
First Place
is Criterion's Barry Lyndon. Stanley Kubrick bent the conventions of the historical drama to
his own will in this dazzling vision of brutal aristocracy, adapted from
a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray. In picaresque detail, Barry
Lyndon chronicles the adventures of an incorrigible trickster (Ryan
O'Neal) whose opportunism takes him from an Irish farm to the
battlefields of the Seven Years' War and the parlors of high society.
For the most sumptuously crafted film of his career, Kubrick recreated
the decadent surfaces and intricate social codes of the period, evoking
the light and texture of eighteenth-century painting with the help of
pioneering cinematographic techniques and lavish costume and production
design, all of which earned Academy Awards. The result is a masterpiece
a sardonic, devastating portrait of a vanishing world whose opulence
conceals the moral vacancy at its heart.
 |
 |

|
 |
In Second Place Criterion's
Othello. Gloriously cinematic despite its tiny budget, Orson
Welles's Othello is a testament to the filmmaker s stubborn
willingness to pursue his vision to the ends of the earth. Unmatched in
his passionate identification with Shakespeare's imagination, Welles
brings his inventive visual approach to this enduring tragedy of
jealousy, bigotry, and rage, and also gives a towering performance as
the Moor of Venice, alongside Suzanne Cloutier as the innocent
Desdemona, and Micheal MacLiammoir as the scheming Iago. Shot over the
course of three years in Italy and Morocco and plagued by many
logistical problems, this fiercely independent film joins Macbeth and
Chimes at Midnight in making the case for Welles as the cinema's most
audacious interpreter of the Bard.
 |

|
Third Place
is Criterion's Blu-ray of Andrei Tarkovsky's final Soviet
feature - a metaphysical journey through an enigmatic postapocalyptic
landscape, and a rarefied cinematic experience like no other. A hired
guide the Stalker leads a writer and a scientist into the heart of the
Zone, the restricted site of a long-ago disaster, where the three men
eventually zero in on the Room, a place rumored to fulfill one s most
deeply held desires. Adapting a science-fiction novel by Arkady and
Boris Strugatsky, Tarkovsky created an immersive world with a wealth of
material detail and a sense of organic atmosphere. A religious allegory,
a reflection of contemporaneous political anxieties, a meditation on
film itself Stalker envelops the viewer by opening up a multitude of
possible meanings.
 |
 |

|
Fourth
Place
is Synapse Films, Limited Edition Steelbook, of Dario Argento's
masterpiece of horror comes to home video in an exclusive new 4K
restoration from the original uncut, uncensored 35mm Italian
camera negative and with the original 4.0 English surround
sound, for the first time EVER! Painstakingly restored over the
past three years, Synapse Films has created the ultimate special
edition of SUSPIRIA with the supervision and approval of
the film s Director of Photography, Luciano Tovoli, and loaded
with a separate Blu-ray disc of amazing extras! SUSPIRIA
is presented in its original glory for its 40th Anniversary!
 |
 |

|
Fifth Place
is Arrow's The Thing
- A research team
based out in the snowy wilds of Antarctica find themselves besieged by a
terrifying, shape-shifting creature which has found its way into their base.
When it becomes clear that the creature can take the form of any organism it so
chooses, the tension within the team reaches breaking point any one of them
could be... The Thing.
Critically panned at the time of its release, John Carpenter's The Thing has
rightly gone on to become one of the most celebrated sci-fi horror efforts ever
made now newly restored by Arrow Video in a stunning 4K transfer supervised by
Carpenter and director of photography Dean Cundey.
 |
 |

|
Sixth
Place
is Second Run's
The Fabulous
Baron Munchausen. Often described as the Czech Méliès ,
visionary filmmaker Karel Zeman has been a profound influence on
whole generations of film artists from Jan vankmajer to Tim
Burton, the Quay Brothers to Terry Gilliam, Steven Spielberg,
George Lucas and Wes Anderson. His ground-breaking innovations
in the use of live-action and animation mark him as one of the
great masters of 20th Century fantasy cinema, ranking alongside
his more celebrated Western counterparts Willis O Brien and Ray
Harryhausen. The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (Baron Prá il)
is perhaps Zeman's most beloved achievement.
Still regarded as the finest film adaptation of Gottfried August
Bürger's outlandish tales of Baron Munchausen (made famous in
his 1786 book), Zeman's wildly inventive and outrageously fun
take on the incredible adventures of the bragging Baron come to
life in a film celebrating the courage and imagination of
dreamers and poets.
 |
 |

|
Seventh Place is
Masters of Cinema's Buster Keaton: 3 Films (Sherlock
Jr., The General, Steamboat Bill, Jr.). Between 1920 and 1929,
Buster Keaton created a peerless run of feature films that established
him as "arguably the greatest actor-director in the history of the
movies". Collected here are three key films from that era; Sherlock
Jr., The General and Steamboat Bill, Jr. Together they
represent a true master at his peak, and The Masters of Cinema Series is
proud to present all three films from stunning new 4K restorations
available for the first time on Blu-ray anywhere in the world.
 |
 |

|
In Eight Place
is Criterion's
Blow-Up
- In 1966, Michelangelo Antonioni (L’avventura) transplanted his
existentialist ennui to the streets of swinging London for this
international sensation, the Italian filmmaker’s
English-language debut. A countercultural masterpiece about the
act of seeing and the art of image making, Blow-Up takes the
form of a psychological mystery, starring David Hemmings (Deep
Red) as a fashion photographer who unknowingly captures a death
on film after following two lovers in a park. Antonioni’s
meticulous aesthetic control and intoxicating color palette
breathe life into every frame, and the jazzy sounds of Herbie
Hancock, a beautifully evasive performance by Vanessa Redgrave
(Howards End), and a cameo by the Yardbirds make the film a
transporting time capsule from a bygone era. Blow‑Up is a
seductive immersion into creative passion, and a brilliant film
by one of cinema’s greatest artists.
.
 |
 |

|
 |
Ninth
Place
is BFI's 4K Restoration of Henri-Georges Clouzot
The Wages of Fear
Critically hailed upon its original release, The Wages of Fear
has maintained its reputation as a classic of world cinema and
was responsible for propelling its director Henri-Georges
Clouzot to international fame.
In a squalid South American village, four desperate men are
hired by a US oil company to embark on a treacherous journey,
transporting a volatile cargo of nitro-glycerine to a massive
oil well fire. Friendships and courage are pushed to the limit
in this nail-biting thriller by a director who would go on to be
dubbed the 'French Hitchcock'.
 |

|
Tenth Place
is Cohen Media's
The Old Dark House. From the director of Frankenstein, a group of
stranded travelers stumble upon a strange old house, and find themselves
at the mercy of the highly eccentric, and potentially dangerous, Femm
family. This well-performed, atmospheric thriller features the first
starring horror role for Boris Karloff, as the hulking, disfigured
butler. Based on the novel Benighted (1927) by J. B. Priestley.
The Cohen Film Collection is proud to present this stunning new 4K
restoration.
 |
 |

|
Label Results
Top Labels (total votes over 100)
#1 - Criterion (1984)
#2 - Arrow Video (717)
#3 - Kino Lorber (548)
#4 - Eureka - including MoC (416)
#5 - Indicator (402)
#6 - Warner (298)
#7 - BFI (297)
#8 - Second Run (264)
#9 + #10 - Flicker Alley and Synapse - tied (206)
Once again Criterion just have so many strong
releases, but congratulations should go to Kino who have jumped
up a few spots from last year and Second Run (solely on the
strength of their
Blu-ray releases). Honorable mention (in no order): Lionsgate, Twilight
Time, Vinegar Syndrome, Olive, Studio Canal (UK),
Severin, Artificial Eye, Signal One, Oscilloscope, Network,
Shout! Factory, Vinegar Syndrome, Universal, Sony and Cohen Media...



Film Noir on Blu-ray
Alfred Hitchcock, Fritz
Lang, Anthony Mann, Orson Welles, Nicholas Ray, Michael Curtiz,
Joseph H. Lewis, Robert Aldrich, Samuel Fuller are just a few of
heavy-hitters of film noir who saw their films upgraded to blu-ray
format last year, sometimes for the first time, sometime in
superior edition. There were a few hiccups - disappointing
upgrade of
The Stranger from Olive Films and a missing
minute of
The Big Knife from Arrow Academy (first
reported in a DVDBeaver review that, thankfully, was
acknowledged and a replacement program been promised). But
there have been more good news. We have 2 new studios joining
film noir market - Powerhouse Films in UK with their outstanding
presentation of Columbia Pictures movies (hopefully, more
studios will join) and ClassicFlix in US providing us with
remastered editions of neglected classics, often with nice
supplements. The Criterion Collection added a number of film
noirs to their lineup, including one of Gary's favorite
They Live by Night and one of
my favorites, little seen and
underrated until now
The Breaking Point. Looking back,
it's been a great year for "dark cinema" in HD, so here is the
list of titles released in 2017 (don't forget to check out our
Essential noir on blu page that debuted in 2017). We include
a few titles that may not be classified as film noir, but would
be interesting to seek by noir aficionados.
-Gregory
Meshman
Another Man's Poison
(Irving Rapper, 1951) ClassicFlix
The Big Combo (Joseph H. Lewis, 1955) RB UK Arrow
Academy
The Big Heat
(Fritz Lang, 1951) R0 UK Indicator (Powerhouse Films)
The Big Knife
(Robert Aldrich, 1955) Arrow Academy
The Breaking Point
(Michael Curtiz, 1950) The Criterion Collection
Call Northside 777 (Henry Hathaway, 1948) RB DE Pidax
Crime of Passion
(Gerd Oswald, 1957) ClassicFlix
The Crimson Kimono (Samuel Fuller, 1959) Twilight Time
Criss Cross
(Robert Siodmak, 1949) R0 AUSTRALIA Cinema Cult (Shock)
The Dark Mirror
(Robert Siodmak, 1950)
RB UK Arrow Academy
Force of Evil
(Gerd Oswald, 1948) RB UK Arrow Academy
Hangover Square
(John Brahm, 1945) Kino Lorber
He Walked By Night
(Alfred L. Werker, Anthony Mann, 1948) ClassicFlix
Hell Drivers (Cy Endfield, 1957) RB UK Network
Hell on Frisco Bay (Frank Tuttle, 1955) Warner Archive
The Killer Is Loose (Budd Boetticher, 1954) ClassicFlix
Kiss of Death (Henry Hathaway, 1947) Twilight Time
The Lady from Shanghai
(Orson Welles, 1947) R0
UK Indicator (Powerhouse Films)
The Man Between
(Carol Reed, 1953) RB UK StudioCanal
Man Hunt (Fritz Lang, 1941) RB UK Signal One
The Man Who Died Twice
(Joseph Kane, 1958) Kino Lorber
Mildred Pierce
(Michael Curtiz, 1945)
The Criterion Collection
Panic in the Streets
(Elia Kazan, 1950) RB UK Signal One
Rebecca (Alfred
Hitchcock, 1940) The Criterion Collection
The Scar (aka Hollow Triumph) (Steve Sekely, 1948) Kino
Lorber
Secret Beyond the Door (Fritz Lang, 1947) RB UK Arrow
Academy
The Stranger
(Orson Welles, 1946) Olive Films
T-Men (Anthony
Mann, 1947) ClassicFlix
They Live By Night
(Nicholas Ray, 1948) The Criterion Collection
You Only Live Once
(Fritz Lang, 1937) ClassicFlix
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Giallo on Blu-ray in 2017
The term "giallo" (translated literally as
"yellow") refers to a particular cinematic form of, mostly,
Italian-produced murder mystery films that can blur the line
between art and exploitation. There are new Giallo
Blu-ray releases this year from
Shameless, Shout! Factory, Cult Epics, X-Rated Kult Video, 88
Films, Arrow UK / US , Dorado Films, Synapse US, Code Red, Blue
Underground of films by Sergio Martino, Dario Argento, Lamberto
Bava, Fernando Di Leo, Luciano Ercoli, Lucio Fulci, Umberto
Lenzi, Emilio Miraglia, Francesco Barilli, Sergio Martino and
others.
NOTE: Death Walks / Red Queen are for standalone
editions that were released in 2017. Initially they were
released in sets in 2016.
All the Colors of the Dark [Blu-ray]
(Sergio Martino, 1972) RB UK Shameless
Amuck [Blu-ray]
(Silvio Amadio, 1972) RB UK 88 Films
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (Limited Edition)
[Blu-ray]
(Dario Argento, 1970) Arrow UK / US
Bitterer Whiskey
(aka Two Males for Alexa) [Blu-ray]
(Juan Logar, 1971) RB DE VZ-Handelsgesellschaft
Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll
(in The Paul Naschy Collection) [Blu-ray]
(Carlos Aured, 1974) Shout! Factory
Body Puzzle [Blu-ray]
(Lamberto Bava, 1992) RB UK 88 Films
Cold-Blooded Beast
(aka Slaughter Hotel) [Blu-ray]
(Fernando Di Leo, 1971) RB UK 88 Films
Death Laid an Egg
[Blu-ray]
(Giulio Questi, 1968) Cult Epics
(no review for this edition)
Death Walks at Midnight
[Blu-ray]
(Luciano Ercoli, 1972) Arrow Video UK / US
Death Walks on High Heels [Blu-ray]
(Luciano Ercoli, 1971) Arrow Video UK / US
Delirium [Blu-ray]
(Lamberto Bava, 1987) RB UK 88 Films / Code Red US
Don't Torture a Duckling
[Blu-ray]
(Lucio Fulci, 1972) Arrow Video UK / US
A Dragonfly for Each Corpse (in The Paul
Naschy Collection II) [Blu-ray]
(León Klimovsky, 1975) Shout! Factory
Eyeball [Blu-ray]
(Umberto Lenzi, 1975) RB DE X-Rated Kult Video
The Fox with a Velvet Tail
(aka In the Eye of the Hurricane) [Blu-ray]
(José María Forqué, 1971) Mondo Macabro US / RB UK 88 Films
The Night Evelyn Came Out Of The Grave [Blu-ray]
(Emilio Miraglia, 1971) Arrow UK / US
The Night of the Scorpion
[Blu-ray]
(Alfonso Balcázar, 1972) Dorado Films
The Perfume of the Lady in Black
[Blu-ray]
(Francesco Barilli, 1974) RB UK 88 Films
Phenomena [Blu-ray]
(Dario Argento, 1985) Synapse US / Arrow Video UK
The Red Queen Kills Seven Times
[Blu-ray]
(Emilio Miraglia, 1972) Arrow UK / US
The Slasher ...Is the Sex Maniac!
(aka So Sweet, So Dead) [Blu-ray]
(Roberto Bianchi Montero, 1972) Code Red
The Stendhal Syndrome
[Blu-ray]
(Dario Argento, 1996) Blue Underground
The Strange Vice Of Mrs Wardh
[Blu-ray]
(Sergio Martino, 1971) RB UK Shameless
The Suspicious Death of a Minor [Blu-ray]
(Sergio Martino, 1975) Arrow UK / US
Suspiria Three disc (2 Blu-rays + 1 CD) LE
[Blu-ray]
(Dario Argento, 1977) Synapse Films
Torso [Blu-ray]
(Sergio Martino, 1973) RB UK Shameless
Tropic of Cancer
[Blu-ray]
(Gian Paolo Lomi, Edoardo Mulargia, 1972) RB FR Le chat qui
fume
Watch Me When I Kill
[Blu-ray]
(Antonio Bido, 1977) RB UK 88 Films



The new 4K UHD format requires both a 4K TV and
4K UHD Player. Ultra HD Blu-ray discs are incompatible with
existing Blu-ray players, although
the 4K UHD Players are backwards compatible (The
Oppo Digital UDP-203 will play 4K UHD
Blu-ray,
Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, DVD,
DVD-Audio, SACD, and CD.) The format currently supports three
disc capacities, each with their own data rate: 50 GB with 82
Mbit/s, 66 GB with 108 Mbit/s, and 100 GB with 128 Mbit/s. There
is content available from Sony, Lionsgate, Warner Bros. 20th
Century Fox, Paramount Home Media Distribution, and Walt Disney
Studios. It destroys streaming in terms of quality, this format
is Region FREE playable worldwide plus more broadcast is going
the 4K route - notably for live sports. This is different from
4K restored Blu-ray transfers which
are becoming more common from Criterion, Arrow and others. As
stated above, DVDBeaver has purchased a
OLED65 LG TV
with Dolby Vision + HDR (increasing the color depth to 10-bit per color)
plus a versatile
Oppo Digital UDP-203 4K
Ultra HD Blu-ray player. But we have not reviewed any UHD
titles to date. Predictably this format is superior to
Blu-ray (3,840 x 2,160 resolution)
and has initially gravitated to releasing popular, modern,
action and visually dynamic film in this disc format (see the
majority below). But David Lean's 1957
The Bridge on the River Kwai
coming to 4K UHD is encouraging (I have not see the quality)
as a precursor that we will see more older, respected and even
vintage cinema getting upgraded for superior home theatre
presentations. Imagine Michelangelo Antonioni, Stanley Kubrick,
Akira Kurosawa or Terrence Malick in 4K UHD - it's, no doubt,
coming! Many of the
Christopher Nolan
films were shot in 65mm and are reported to benefit greatly from
their new 4K UHD disc transfers. We hope to see some of our
favorite labels bring great films to this format in the near
future.
Michael B, tells us in
FaceBook: "I haven't had
much chance to have a proper investigation yet, but I can
unreservedly recommend 'The
Revenant', 'Blade
Runner' and 'Planet
Earth II'. And 'Billy
Lynn's Long Halftime Walk' is fascinating for
technical reasons, as it's 4K HDR mastered at 60fps - I'm not
convinced that it works very well as a dramatic medium for
cinema, but it could be incredible for capturing live
music/theatre."
and thanks to Monty B. for our
OLED65 LG TV
purchase recommendation where he tell us:
"You will get addicted to TV all over again. I
have never witnessed a TV image more beautiful than what an LG
OLED can give." He, of course, was right.
Here are only some of the 4K UHD tiles
that came out in 2017:
3:10 to Yuma [4K Ultra
Blu-ray]
(James Mangold, 2007) Lionsgate
Alien: Covenant
[4K UHD
Blu-ray]
(Ridley Scott, 2017) Fox Home Entertainment UK
Apollo 13
[4K UHD
Blu-ray]
(Ron Howard, 1995) Universal Studios
Baby Driver [4K UHD
Blu-ray] (Edgar Wright, 2017)
Sony Pictures UK
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk [4K
Ultra HD
Blu-ray]
(Ang Lee, 2016) Sony Pictures
Blade Runner: The Final Cut
[4K UHD
Blu-ray]
(Ridley Scott, 1982) Warner
The Bridge on the River Kwai
[4K UHD
Blu-ray]
(David Lean, 1957) Sony Pictures
A Charlie Brown Christmas
[4K UHD
Blu-ray]
(Bill Melendez, 1965) Warner
Christopher Nolan Collection
[4K UHD
Blu-ray]
(Dunkirk, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Inception, The
Prestige, The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar) Warner
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (40th Anniversary Edition)
[4K UHD
Blu-ray]
(Steven Spielberg, 1977) Sony Pictures
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
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