Videophiled Noir II: ’99 River Street’ debuts on Blu with ‘Shield for Murder’ and ‘Hidden Fear’

by Sean Axmaker | Jul 2, 2016 | Home Viewing, What's Hot

99 River Street (Kino Lorber, Blu-ray), released in 1953, is one of most underappreciated film noirs of the 1950s and arguably the greatest film by Phil Karlson, the toughest film noir director, and certainly his most beautifully brutal, a film driven by the fury of a...

Videophiled: Quentin Tarantino’s ‘The Hateful Eight’ and ‘The Primary Instinct’ of Stephen Tobolowsky

by Sean Axmaker | Mar 30, 2016 | Home Viewing, What's Hot

The Hateful Eight (Anchor Bay, Blu-ray, DVD, VOD), the eighth feature by Quentin Tarantino, is something strange and audacious even for a filmmaker whose films are rarely short of either. It’s a vivid widescreen western epic that runs nearly three hours yet...

Videophiled: Oscar winners ‘Room’ and ‘The Danish Girl,’ Oscar snub ‘Creed,’ and a defiant ‘Taxi’ in Tehran

by Sean Axmaker | Mar 1, 2016 | Home Viewing, Podcast, Reviews, What's Hot

Room (Lionsgate, Blu-ray, DVD, VOD) – Not The Room. Just Room, as if there were no others, and for Jack (Jacob Tremblay), the five-year-old son of a young mother (Brie Larson), there aren’t. It’s his entire universe and as far as he knows nothing exists...

Videophiled Sui Generis: Jacques Rivette’s nouvelle vague magnum opus ‘Out 1’ restored and reclaimed

by Sean Axmaker | Jan 13, 2016 | Home Viewing, What's Hot

Jacques Rivette’s Out 1 (Kino Lorber / Carlotta, Blu-ray+DVD) has been one of the Holy Grails of international cinema since its premier screening in 1971. Rejected by French TV and, at over 12 1/2 hours in its initial cut, too long for theaters, the definitive...

Videophiled Classics: Dick Powell noir ‘Murder My Sweet’ and ‘Pitfall’ and Alain Resnais’ ‘Je t’aime, je t’aime’

by Sean Axmaker | Dec 5, 2015 | Home Viewing, What's Hot

Murder My Sweet (Warner Archive, Blu-ray) is not just the most faithful screen version of Raymond Chandler’s hard-boiled hero Philip Marlowe from the classic era of film noir, it’s also one of the best. Dick Powell, the 1930s crooner and boy next door romantic...