DVDBeaver Newsletter
for the Week of November 23rd, 2020
http://www.dvdbeaver.com
What an overwhelming week!
More Fellini magic (4) all with impressive video upgrades - P.S. the set
comes out Tuesday!, one of the most fascinatingly provocative large-budget
films ever made... and directed by a Canadian, Paul Leni's last film; a
wonderful Silent Era fantasy with horror elements, a kitschy 60's Japanese
Ishirô Honda kaiju genre effort, 50's Brit Noir with Diana Dors at her best,
one of the most highly regarded, and probably my favorite, French films
EVER made, one of the most impressive modern Mexican films ever made,
10 Yiddish films in one 5 X Blu-ray package with The Dybbuk (1937), Tevya
(1939) and more...
Enjoy!
Gary
RELEASES the WEEK of
November 23rd, 2020 (Recommended titles have
"**")
________________
Buck Rogers in the
25th Century [Blu-ray] (Daniel Haller, 1979)
Kino
COMMENTS: 500 Years into the
Future... One Hero... An Entire Universe... Let the Adventure Begin! Blast
off with this groundbreaking theatrical feature of the action-packed sci-fi
adventure that launched the hit TV series starring Gil Gerard, Erin Gray,
Felix Silla and Tim O’Connor. Join legendary intergalactic crimefighters
William “Buck” Rogers (Gerard) and Colonel Wilma Deering (Gray) as they lead
the crew of the starship Searcher against a galaxy of evil from the past,
present and faraway future.
________________
Buck Rogers in the
25th Century - The Complete Collection
[Blu-ray] - Kino Lorber
COMMENTS: Blast off to the
25th century with Buck Rogers, one of the most popular sci-fi heroes of all
time! When 20th-century astronaut William “Buck” Rogers (Gil Gerard) is
awakened—500 years after a deep-space disaster—to an Earth in recovery from
nuclear war, he must join Colonel Wilma Deering (Erin Gray) to lead the crew
of the starship Searcher against a galaxy of evil from the past, present and
faraway future. Co-starring Felix Silla, Tim O’Connor and the legendary
voice of Mel Blanc as Twiki. This 9-disc set includes, the pilot episode,
the theatrical feature and all 32 action-packed Season One and Season 2
episodes of the epic series with phenomenal guest stars Jamie Lee Curtis,
Julie Newmar, Henry Silva, Pamela Hensley, Jack Palance, Roddy McDowall,
Macdonald Carey, Cesar Romero
________________
Cemetery of Terror
[Blu-ray] (Rubén Galindo Jr., 1985) Vinegar Syndrome
US: https://amzn.to/3jK9cWi
COMMENTS: It's Halloween
night and a group of bored teenagers decide to pull a ghastly prank (as a
means of getting lucky): stealing a corpse from the local morgue and taking
it to a nearby cemetery where they perform a Satanic ritual in an attempt to
bring it back to life. Unfortunately, they happen to choose the body of a
savage serial killer who has just been shot dead by police, ending a recent
spate of satanically influenced murders. Unwittingly reviving the
bloodthirsty sadist to the realm of the undead, the group of fun-seeking
youngsters risk becoming dinner for the devil worshipping zombie, with only
occult expert, Dr. Carden (legendary Mexican character actor Hugo Stiglitz),
able to try and put an end to the madness.
________________
**Le Cercle Rouge**
[Blu-ray] (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1970) RB UK Studiocanal
OUR ALT-REVIEW:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare2/cerclerouge/cerclerouge3.html
COMMENTS: Alain Delon (The Leopard, Le samouraï) plays a master thief, fresh
out of prison, who crosses paths with a notorious escapee and an alcoholic
ex-cop (The Wages of Fear’s Yves Montand). The unlikely trio plot a heist,
against impossible odds, and then a relentless inspector and their own pasts
seal their fates. Le cercle rouge, from Jean-Pierre Melville (Le samouraï,
Army of Shadows), combines honorable antiheroes, coolly atmospheric
cinematography, and breathtaking set pieces to create a masterpiece of crime
cinema.
________________
Dentist on the Job
[Blu-ray] (C.M. Pennington-Richards, 1961) RB UK Network
UK:
https://amzn.to/2SGR04u
COMMENTS:
Original Carry On stars Bob Monkhouse, Kenneth Connor, Shirley Eaton and
Eric Barker star in this hilarious sequel to 1960's Dentist in the Chair!
The launch of Proudfoot Industries' new toothpaste is a resounding failure,
much to the ire of its managing director. When a minion suggests they engage
a dentist to endorse the product, it's pointed out that dentists would be
struck off for such an endorsement so what they really need are some
clueless dentists with no common sense...
________________
**Ealing Studios
Comedy Collection**
[Blu-ray] (Whisky Galore!, The Maggie, Passport To Pimlico, The Tiitfield
Thunderbolt) - Film Movement Classics
OUR ALT-REVIEWS:
COMMENTS: Ealing Studios
output from the 1940s and 1950s helped define what was arguably the golden
age of British cinema. Featuring contributions from Ealing regulars such as
screenwriter T.E.B. Clarke (The Lavender Hill Mob, Sons and Lovers) and
directors Charles Crichton (Dead of Night, A Fish Called Wanda) and
Alexander MacKendrick (The Ladykillers, Sweet Smell of Success), this
digitally restored 4-disc collection includes some of the most beloved
comedy films of the postwar era. Includes: Whisky Galore! (1948), Passport
To Pimlico (1949), The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953), The Maggie (1954).
________________
****Essential
Fellini**** [Blu-ray] (Toby Dammit 1968,
Variety Lights 1950, The White Sheik 1952, I vitelloni 1953, La strada 1954,
Il bidone 1955, Nights of Cabiria 1957, La dolce vita 1960, 8½ 1963, Juliet
of the Spirits 1965, Fellini Satyricon 1969, Roma 1972, Amarcord 1973, And
the Ship Sails On 1983, Intervista 1987) Criterion
BEAVER REVIEWs:
COMMENTS: One hundred years
after his birth, Federico Fellini still stands apart as a giant of the
cinema. The Italian maestro is defined by his dualities: the sacred and the
profane, the masculine and the feminine, the provincial and the urbane. He
began his career working in the slice-of-life poetry of neorealism, and
though he soon spun off on his own freewheeling creative axis, he never lost
that grounding, evoking his dreams, memories, and obsessions in increasingly
grand productions teeming with carnivalesque imagery and flights of
phantasmagoric surrealism while maintaining an earthy, embodied connection
to humanity. Bringing together fourteen of the director’s greatest
spectacles, all beautifully restored, this centenary box set is a monument
to an artist who conjured a cinematic universe all his own: a vision of the
world as a three-ring circus in which his innermost infatuations, fears, and
fantasies take center stage.
________________
Finding Jack
Charlton [Blu-ray] (Gabriel Clarke , 2020) RB
UK Noah Media Group
UK:
https://amzn.to/33JsHt7
COMMENTS:
Finding Jack Charlton is the definitive portrait of an extraordinary man; an
English World Cup winning legend, who became an Irish hero. Directed by
Gabriel Clarke and Pete Thomas , and shot on location in Ireland and
England, the film also details Jack's previously undocumented life with
dementia. The documentary features key characters from throughout Jack's
career, including major figures in football, music, film, politics, and, for
the first time, Jack's family. These personal perspectives, along with
previously unseen archive, are an intimate window into Jack's charismatic
personality, his managerial philosophy and offer a new level of
understanding into Finding Jack Charlton.
________________
**La Haine**
[Blu-ray] (Mathieu Kassovitz, 1995) RB UK BFI
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews5/hate.htm
COMMENTS: Turning the camera away from iconic Paris to the concrete
banlieue, Mathieu Kassovitz's second film as a director changed the cultural
landscape of French cinema when it landed at the Cannes Film Festival in
1995, where it won the prize for Best Director. Taking place over 24 hours
following the police shooting of a young man, Kassovitz shows the world
through the eyes of three friends, Arab, Jew and Black, frustrated at
politicians and the media excusing police brutality. The black-and-white
visuals, thumping hip-hop soundtrack and graffiti-lined streets underscore
the urgency and rebellion at the heart of this game-changing classic.
________________
He Came from the
Swamp: The William Grefé Collection [Blu-ray]
- Sting of Death (1966), Death Curse of Tartu (1966), The Hooked Generation
(1968), The Psychedelic Priest (1971), The Naked Zoo (1971), Mako: Jaws of
Death (1976) and Whiskey Mountain (1977) - Arrow US
COMMENTS: Killer sharks and
human jellyfish and living mummies, oh my! Arrow Video is proud to present
the first ever collection of works by William Wild Bill Grefé, the maverick
filmmaker who braved the deep, dark depths of the Florida everglades to
deliver some of the most outrageous exploitation fare ever to go-go dance
its way across drive-in screens.
________________
**I Start Counting**
[Blu-ray](David Greene, 1969) Fun City Editions
US:
https://amzn.to/3edOa0R
COMMENTS: As
young Wynne (Jenny Agutter) comes of age, a psychotic killer of teen
schoolgirls stalks her hometown, which is rapidly transforming from an
antiquated village to a forward-looking "new town." Is the murderer Wynne's
much older foster brother George (Bryan Marshall)? The conflicted Wynne is
deeply in love with George, but also fears that he is guilty of the horrific
crimes. Director David Greene imbues Audrey Erskine Lindop's unsettling
story with sensitivity, social commentary, and a haunting ambience.
________________
**The Irishman**
[Blu-ray] (Martin Scorsese, 2019) Criterion
OUR REVIEW:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film9/blu-ray_review_130/the_irishman_blu-ray.htm
COMMENTS: Martin Scorsese’s cinematic mastery is on full display in this
sweeping crime saga, which serves as an elegiac summation of his six-decade
career. Left behind by the world, former hit man and union truck driver
Frank Sheeran (Robert DeNiro) looks back from a nursing home on his life’s
journey through the ranks of organized crime: from his involvement with
Philadelphia mob boss Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci) to his association with
Teamsters union head Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) to the rift that forced him to
choose between the two. An intimate story of loyalty and betrayal writ large
across the epic canvas of mid-twentieth-century American history, The
Irishman (based on the real-life Sheeran’s confessions, as told to writer
Charles Brandt for the book I Heard You Paint Houses) is a uniquely
reflective late-career triumph that balances its director’s virtuoso set
pieces with a profoundly personal rumination on aging, mortality, and the
decisions and regrets that shape a life.
________________
**The Jewish Soul:
Classics of Yiddish Cinema** [Blu-ray] (The
Dybbuk, Mir Kumen on, American matchmaker, Overtires to Glory, Tevya, The
Yiddish King Lear, Her Second Mother, Moteal the Operator, Eli Eli, Three
Daughters) Kino Lorber
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film9/blu-ray_review_131/jewish_soul_classics_of_yiddish_cinema_blu-ray.htm
COMMENTS: Kino's The Jewish Soul: Classics of Yiddish Cinema Blu-ray boxset
is fascinating from a cultural perspective. I felt I was learning from each
viewing and I thoroughly enjoyed the information exported in the
commentaries. I wish the video quality of a few of the films was better, but
the cloaking of the burned-in subtitles (or just watching with them) soon
gets forgotten and you get into the meat of the films - be it humor, drama,
music, fantasy, sadness or celebration. I can honestly say I have not seen
films like this before and the exposure was totally refreshing and uniquely
educational. Certainly recommended!
________________
**Libeled Lady**
[Blu-ray] (Jack Conway, 1936) Warner Archive
COMMENTS: Bill Chandler
(William Powell) is one of Americas great anglers, a sport fisherman without
peer, doom in waders to the wiliest trout. And that isnt the only fish story
Chandler tells. Four of Hollywoods greatest stars Powell, Jean Harlow, Myrna
Loy and Spencer Tracy reel in this whopper of a screwball romantic-comedy
classic nominated for a Best Picture Oscar®. It all starts when society diva
Loy slaps newsman Tracy with a libel suit. Tracy enlists fiancée Harlow and
down-on-his-luck Powell in a counter maneuver involving a rigged marriage, a
phony seduction, a fabulously funny fishing scene, fisticuffs, broken
promises and hearts, and eventually, true love for all. This Lady is one
fine catch.
________________
**The Lost Weekend**
[Blu-ray] (Billy Wilder, 1945) Kino
OUR REVIEW:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film9/blu-ray_review_133/the_lost_weekend_blu-ray.htm
COMMENTS: Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend is a subtly escalating film with
grim realism peering around every corner. Ray Milland is so good at
distracting with his congenial happiness and witty repartee. You can ignore
reality, but you can't ignore the consequences of reality. This remains one
of Wilder's best dramas. We bond to Don - accepting and understanding his
disease making his fall all the more impactful. I can't believe that it took
so long for this unforgettable masterpiece to come to Region 'A' Blu-ray.
We can easily recommend it as part of every digital library. Kino's McBride
commentary, and 4-K restored image adds significant value to their Blu-ray.
I'd even recommend double-dipping if you already own the UK edition. An
essential film to own in the best home theatre quality!
________________
**Mad Max**
[4K UHD Blu-ray] (George Miller, 1979) Kino
US:
https://amzn.to/3miMYge
COMMENTS: From
George Miller comes this post-apocalyptic masterpiece starring screen legend
Mel Gibson. In the ravaged near-future, a savage motorcycle gang rules the
road. Terrorizing innocent civilians while tearing up the streets, the
ruthless gang laughs in the face of a police force hell-bent on stopping
them. But they underestimate one officer: Max (Gibson). And when the bikers
brutalize Max’s best friend and family, they send him into a mad frenzy that
leaves him with only one thing left in the world to live for—revenge!
________________
**Monty Python's
Flying Circus: The Complete Series**
[Blu-ray] Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
________________
**Parasite**
(+B&W) [Blu-ray] (Bong Joon Ho, 2019) - RB UK Curzon Artificial Eye
OUR ALT-REVIEW:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film8/blu-ray_review_102/parasite_blu-ray.htm
COMMENTS: The Kim family are close. All four live in a tiny basement flat
and all four are unemployed. But when the son, Ki-woo, is recommended by his
friend to take a well-paid tutoring job, hopes of a regular income blossom
on the horizon. There's only one small issue - he's not a qualified teacher
and has to fake it. Carrying the expectations of all his family, Ki-woo
heads to the extravagant Park family home for an interview and after
securing the job discovers they also need an art tutor for their son,
something he thinks his sister could pretend to do... if they don't know
she's his sister. Soon the whole family has infiltrated the Park home but as
their deception unravels events begin to get increasingly out of hand in
ways you simply cannot imagine.
________________
Peninsula
[4K UHD Blu-ray] (Sang-ho Yeon, 2020) Well Go USA
COMMENTS: Four years after
South Korea's total decimation in Train to Busan, the zombie thriller that
captivated audiences worldwide, acclaimed director Yeon Sang-ho brings us
Peninsula, the next nail-biting chapter in his post-apocalyptic world.
Jung-seok, a soldier who previously escaped the diseased wasteland, relives
the horror when assigned to a covert operation with two simple objectives:
retrieve and survive. When his team unexpectedly stumbles upon survivors,
their lives will depend on whether the best—or worst—of human nature
prevails in the direst of circumstances.
________________
The Pirate
[Blu-ray] (Vincente Minnelli, 1948) Warner Archive
COMMENTS: Newly remastered
from the original Technicolor® negatives! A treasure trove of fun awaits
when a Caribbean beauty (Judy Garland) with a mad crush on a legendary
pirate meets a vagabond actor (Gene Kelly) who poses as the scoundrel.
Vincente Minnelli directs, bringing his uncanny skill with color and design
to this joyous romp set to Cole Porter tunes. Mixing tremulous girlishness
with hellcat hilarity, Garland was never better as a comedienne. Parodying
the rakish style of Fairbanks and Barrymore, Kelly duels, dupes and dances
with buccaneer bravado. All by itself, his Be a Clown (danced with the
Nicholas Brothers and reprised with Garland) is enough to convince all to be
a fan of The Pirate.
________________
The Severed Arm
[Blu-ray] (Tom Alderman, 1973) Vinegar Syndrome
US:
https://amzn.to/3mEN1T3
COMMENTS:
While camping, a group of friends become trapped in a cave. Desperate and
starving, they draw straws to decide which one should suffer the severing of
his arm so that the others can eat. But no sooner than making this fateful
amputation, they're rescued, though their unfortunate victim has been driven
hopelessly mad by the experience. Years later, the survivors have all moved
on with their lives, that is until someone with a very sharp axe to grind
begins stalking them and chopping off their arms, one by one...
________________
She Mob / The Girl
from Pussycat [Blu-ray] - American Genre Film
Archive
US:
https://amzn.to/37ZcORK
COMMENTS: Shot
on the sweaty backroads of Dallas and Waco, SHE MOB is an underground
miracle that feels like an alt-Earth FASTER PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL! as
realized by a young John Waters. Big Shim is the cone-bra-wearing butch
leader of a wild girl gang that's running from the law. After kidnapping a
gigolo named Tony, Shim and the girls demand a ransom from Tony's wealthy
lady keeper... OR ELSE!! Produced and directed by NBC News veteran Maurice
Levy, written by Diana Paschal, and featuring actresses culled from Jack
Ruby's infamous Dallas nightclub, SHE MOB is an essential jewel in the
other-dimensional vortex known as Texploitation.
________________
**Short Sharp
Shocks** [Blu-ray] (Lock Your Door, The
Reformation of St Jules, The Tell-Tale Heart, Death Was a Passenger,
Portrait of a Matador, Twenty Nine, The Sex Victims, The Lake, and The
Errand) - RB UK BFI
UK:
https://amzn.to/34N4bqe
COMMENTS: The
latest in the critically acclaimed BFI Flipside series continuing its
ongoing mission to curate an alternative Brit-screen history of overlooked
rarities in deluxe home-entertainment editions is a compelling compendium of
strange, striking, thrilling, horrific, eerie and eccentric short subjects
from the heyday of the British cinematic supporting programme. This
carefully-curated collection the first of its kind anywhere includes a
plethora of sought-after titles, some newly remastered in HD for the very
first time and showcases an eclectic range of delights spanning the second
half of the 20th Century from the 1940s right through to the 1980s.
________________
**The Siege of
Pinchgut** [Blu-ray] (Harry Watt, 1959) RB UK
Network
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film9/blu-ray_review_130/the_siege_of_pinchgut_blu-ray.htm
COMMENTS: The Siege of Pinchgut is very good - far exceeding my expectations
(it seemed like it might be a war picture as opposed to a crime-thriller.)
It is notable as Ealing Studios last film. Ealing is remembered for their
delightful comedies, often with Alec Guinness; The Lavender Hill Mob, Kind
Hearts and Coronets and The Man in the White Suit etc. but the studio did a
number of excellent noirish crime thrillers and unique efforts; The Blue
Lamp, Dead of Night, Pool of London, It Always Rains on Sunday, The Square
Ring, The Night My Number Came Up, The Captive Heart, They Came to a City
etc. It's hard to believe that a thriller this accomplished with the last
effort from the much beloved British studio. I enjoyed it immensely and I am
very happy the Network Blu-ray presentation and smattering of supplements.
Certainly recommended!
________________
Total Recall
Steelbook [4K UHD Blu-ray] (Paul Verhoeven,
1990) UK StudioCanal
UK:
https://amzn.to/3ma1Iyd
COMMENTS: Get
ready for a surprise, with a mind-blowing 4K restoration of the much loved
sci-fi action classic, TOTAL RECALL, directed by Paul Verhoeven. In
celebration of Total Recall's 30th anniversary, this collection is one you
won't forget. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger (Douglas Quaid) and Sharon
Stone (Lori Quaid), accompanied by an iconic soundtrack by Academy
Award-winner Jerry Goldsmith this is the ultimate version of the cult
classic.
________________
Unhinged
[Blu-ray] (Derrick Borte, 2020) RB UK Altitude Film Distribution
UK:
https://amzn.to/2DcbeiD
COMMENTS:
Russell Crowe stars in Unhinged, a timely psychological thriller that
explores the fragile balance of a society pushed to the edge, taking
something we've all experienced - road rage - to an unpredictable and
terrifying conclusion. Rachel (Caren Pistorius) is running late to work when
she has an altercation at a traffic light with a stranger (Crowe) whose life
has left him feeling powerless and invisible. Soon, Rachel finds herself and
everyone she loves the target of a man who decides to make one last mark
upon the world by teaching her a series of deadly lessons. What follows is a
dangerous game of cat and mouse that proves you never know just how close
you are to someone who is about to become unhinged.
________________
We're No Angels
[Blu-ray] (Michael Curtiz, 1955) Paramount
US:
https://amzn.to/2TE42Af
COMMENTS:
Humphrey Bogart plays one of his rare comedy roles in this jaunty excursion
about three convicts - Joseph (Bogart), Albert (Aldo Ray), and Jules (Peter
Ustinov) - who are plotting their escape from Devil's Island. Fate
intervenes when they hide out with kindly, but inept Felix (Leo G. Carroll)
and his family. Felix manages a store for his arrogant cousin Andre (Basil
Rathbone), who makes the fatal mistake of stealing Albert's pet, a poisonous
snake. After resolving Felix's problems, the convicts return to prison,
convinced that the world is much too wicked. Based on the play by Albert
Husson.
________________________________________________
NOTABLE NEW CALENDAR
UPDATES:
November 30th, 2020
**Still Life**
(Zhangke Jia, 2006) Big World Pictures
December 7th, 2020
**Raining in the
Mountain** (King Hu, 1979) Film Movement
December 14th
Ip Man The Complete
Collection [4K UHD] Ip Man (2008), Ip Man 2:
Legend of the Grandmaster, Ip Man 3 (2015), Ip Man 4: The Finale (2019) -
Well Go USA
Tenet
4K UHD (Christopher Nolan, 2020) Warner Bros UK
December 24th
Fire in the Sky
(Robert Lieberman, 1993) Imprint
Year of the Dragon
(Michael Cimino, 1985) Imprint
January 4th
Beach Red
(Cornel Wilde, 1967) Kino Lorber
**Satantango**
(Béla Tarr, 1994) Arbelos Films
January 18th
**Marlene Dietrich
at Universal 1940-1942**: Seven Sinners,
Flame of New Orleans, The Spoilers & Pittsburgh RB UK BFI
January 25th
**The Court Jester**
(Melvin Frank, Norman Panama, 1955) Paramount
February 1st
Anna Lucasta
(Arnold Laven, 1958) Kino
**Dark Intruder**
(Harvey Hart, 1965) Kino
**A Man Called
Adam** (Leo Penn, 1966) Kino
February 8th
Man of the East
(Enzo Barbon, 1972) Kino
**The Parallax
View** (Alan J. Pakula, 1974) Criterion
**So Evil My Love**
(Lewis Allen, 1948) Kino
**The Suspect**
(Robert Siodmak, 1944) Kino
February 15th, 2020
**COLUMBIA NOIR #2**
- LE - FRAMED (Richard Wallace, 1947), 711 OCEAN DRIVE (Joseph M Newman,
1950), THE MOB (Robert Parrish, 1951), AFFAIR IN TRINIDAD (Vincent Sherman,
1952), TIGHT SPOT (Phil Karlson, 1955) and MURDER BY CONTRACT (Irving
Lerner, 1958) - RB UK Indicator
**The Kid Stays in
the Picture** (Nanette Burstein, Brett
Morgen, 2002) Kino
**Mandabi**
(Ousmane Sembene, 1968) Criterion
February 22nd
**Chop Shop**
(Ramin Bahrani, 2007) Criterion
**Man Push Cart**
(Ramin Bahrani, 2005) Criterion
**Smooth Talk**
(Joyce Chopra, 1985) Criterion
March 22nd,
**Targets**
(Peter Bogdanovich, 1968) RB UK BFI
Photo Archives" for
Patrons:
Gloria Grahame:
Monica Vitti:
Paul Newman:
Susan George:
Jacqueline Bisset:
Suzanne Pleshette:
THIS WEEK'S REVIEWS:
**8.5**
BD
OUR COMPARISON:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film9/blu-ray_review_131/8.5_blu-ray.htm
COMMENTS: One of the greatest films about film ever made, Federico Fellini’s
8½ marks the moment when the director’s always-personal approach to
filmmaking fully embraced self-reflexivity, pioneering a
stream-of-consciousness style that darts exuberantly among flashbacks, dream
sequences, and carnivalesque reality, and turning one man’s artistic crisis
into a grand epic of the cinema. Marcello Mastroianni plays Guido Anselmi, a
director whose new project is collapsing around him, along with his life, as
he struggles against creative block and helplessly juggles the women in his
life—including Anouk Aimée, Sandra Milo, and Claudia Cardinale. An early
working title for 8½ was The Beautiful Confusion, and Fellini’s masterpiece
is exactly that: a shimmering dream, a circus, and a magic act.
________________
**The Jewish Soul:
Classics of Yiddish Cinema** BD
OUR REVIEW:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film9/blu-ray_review_131/jewish_soul_classics_of_yiddish_cinema_blu-ray.htm
COMMENTS: Kino's The Jewish Soul: Classics of Yiddish Cinema Blu-ray boxset
is fascinating from a cultural perspective. I felt I was learning from each
viewing and I thoroughly enjoyed the information exported in the
commentaries. I wish the video quality of a few of the films was better, but
the cloaking of the burned-in subtitles (or just watching with them) soon
gets forgotten and you get into the meat of the films - be it humor, drama,
music, fantasy, sadness or celebration. I can honestly say I have not seen
films like this before and the exposure was totally refreshing and uniquely
educational. Certainly recommended!
________________
**Yield to the
Night** BD
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film9/blu-ray_review_133/yield_to_the_night_blu-ray.htm
COMMENTS: I've always really appreciated J. Lee Thompson's Yield to the
Night which definitively announced Diana Dors as a serious actress rather
than just another blonde bombshell in vacuous comedies like Is Your
Honeymoon Really Necessary? and My Wife's Lodger ... or even better family
comedies like Carol Reed's A Kid for Two Farthings. Yield to the Night paved
the way for another favorite British Noir Passport to Shame (strongly
recommended!). She is impressive in Yield to the Night; a powerful film
helmed by effective director J. Lee Thompson (1962's Cape Fear, Return From
the Ashes - both strongly recommended!). With the astronomically improved
Studio Canal Blu-ray a/v and new extras - this get a very strong
endorsement!
________________
**Amores Perros**
BD
OUR COMPARISON:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film6/blu-ray_reviews_79/amores_perrros_blu-ray.htm
COMMENTS: Amores perros is alive with vérité tensions, stark realism, human
emotion, love and survivalism. So great to have the intended filmmaker
presentation in HD. Plus all the new extras are an important addition in
making this an essential Blu-ray package. The film has retained its
inventive cinematic relevance and we given it a strong recommendation!
________________
**Variety Lights**
BD
OUR COMPARISON:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film9/blu-ray_review_133/variety_lights_blu-ray.htm
COMMENTS: Federico Fellini's Variety Lights is wonderful. It carries a
neorealist atmosphere capturing the essence of performance art and those who
dwell and toil there seeking acceptance and fame. This is another important
part of Criterion's upcoming Essential Fellini Blu-ray package... which is
the premium front-runner for best of the entire 2020 year.
________________
**And the Ship Sails
On** BD
OUR COMPARISON:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film9/blu-ray_review_131/and_the_ship_sails_on_blu-ray.htm
COMMENTS: Federico Fellini's And the Ship Sails On has a meandering,
unspecified plot, but relies on Fellini's menagerie of eccentric characters
- many belonging to a disaffected bourgeoisie class and it is part musical,
drama and comedy with a fabulous unforgettable ending. Totally brilliant -
especially in this dramatically improved a/v. This is another integral part
of Criterion's upcoming Essential Fellini Blu-ray package... which is the
front-runner for best of the entire 2020 year.
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**Mothra**
BD
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film9/blu-ray_review_131/mothra_blu-ray.htm
COMMENTS: Mothra has Ishirô Honda's kitschy 60's Japanese sci-fi appeal. I
much prefer it to the later efforts of the kaiju genre that were being
cranked-out endlessly. 'The Peanuts' (twin sisters Emi and Yumi Itō)
inclusion adds more of the desirable 'camp' element. Having both version and
the commentaries is a big bonus on the Masters of Cinema Blu-ray as is Kim
Newman and the entire slip-cased package cover. Yes, there is value here and
Mothra maintains the innocence, eventually lost in the ensuing cycle of
Japanese monster films.
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Symbiopsychotaxiplasm BD
OUR COMPARISON:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film9/blu-ray_review_130/symbiopsychotaxiplasm_blu-ray.htm
COMMENTS: In his one-of-a-kind fiction/documentary hybrid
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm Take One, director William Greaves presides over a
beleaguered film crew in New York's Central Park, leaving them to try to
figure out what kind of movie they're making. A couple enacts a break-up
scenario over and over, a documentary crew films a crew filming the crew,
locals wander casually into the frame: the project defies easy description.
Yet this wildly innovative sixties counterculture landmark remains one of
the most tightly focused and insightful movies ever made about making
movies.
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**I Vitelloni**
BD
OUR COMPARISON:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film9/blu-ray_review_130/i_vitelloni_blu-ray.htm
COMMENTS: While an outlier in the narrative aspect of Fellini's oeuvre with
multiple stories infusing humor and drama, this is still one of the
director's best and most enjoyable films.... another integral part of
Criterion's upcoming Essential Fellini Blu-ray package... which is an
obvious front-runner for best of the entire 2020 year.
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**Mouchette**
BD
OUR COMPARISON:
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**The Siege of
Pinchgut** BD
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film9/blu-ray_review_130/the_siege_of_pinchgut_blu-ray.htm
COMMENTS: The Siege of Pinchgut is very good - far exceeding my expectations
(it seemed like it might be a war picture as opposed to a crime-thriller.)
It is notable as Ealing Studios last film. Ealing is remembered for their
delightful comedies, often with Alec Guinness; The Lavender Hill Mob, Kind
Hearts and Coronets and The Man in the White Suit etc. but the studio did a
number of excellent noirish crime thrillers and unique efforts; The Blue
Lamp, Dead of Night, Pool of London, It Always Rains on Sunday, The Square
Ring, The Night My Number Came Up, The Captive Heart, They Came to a City
etc. It's hard to believe that a thriller this accomplished with the last
effort from the much beloved British studio. I enjoyed it immensely and I am
very happy the Network Blu-ray presentation and smattering of supplements.
Certainly recommended!
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**Waxworks**
BD
OUR REVIEW:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film9/blu-ray_review_130/waxworks_blu-ray.htm
COMMENTS: Paul Leni's Waxworks is a wonderful Silent Era fantasy with horror
elements. It has highly interesting effects and framing devices. Fans of
German Expressionism will delight in Leni's Waxworks. The three stories are
varied and have different appeal from suspense to humor. I'm thrilled to
own another Flicker Alley Blu-ray keepsake. It has an exceptional commentary
by Adrian Martin, Kim Newman, relevant extras on the restoration and the
collector’s booklet. Strongly recommended to all film fans.
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**Crash**
BD
OUR COMPARISON:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film9/blu-ray_review_130/crash_blu-ray.htm
COMMENTS: David Cronenberg's Crash is one of the most fascinating
large-budget films ever made. Some say it is akin to driving by a car
accident... and slowing down. I applaud the director's bravery and love all
his films for their uniqueness and bold, emotionally wrenching, expressions.
My ex-girlfriend was an editing intern on Crash. I loved revisiting this in
the image resolution of HD. The score is and effects are especially
effective in the lossless. It's such a curious film that it is ultimately
rewatchable over the years. I'm very happy with the Criterion Blu-ray for
both the 4K-restored, director approved a/v and the fabulous extras
including the invaluable commentary, Q+A and press conference. Our highest
recommendation!
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