CriterionCast » DVD Reviews

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Akira Kurosawa’s Sanshiro Sugata

David Blakeslee — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:20:04 +0000

A look at Kurosawa's debut feature, a martial arts saga that laid the foundation for many themes he'd explore over the following fifty years. With LOTS of screencaps.

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Takashi Nomura’s A Colt Is My Passport

David Blakeslee — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:00:51 +0000

In this 1967 film, Japanese tough guy Joe Shishido warmed up for his role in Branded To Kill as a steely-nerved hitman running for his life from the gang that betrayed him.

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Three Popular Films by Jean-Pierre Gorin

David Blakeslee — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:29:21 +0000

In the newest offering from Eclipse, the so-called "Southern California Trilogy" uses three disparate subjects (developmentally delayed twins, model railroad builders and urban street gangs) to ponder how we learn, communicate and make sense of the world around us.

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Dušan Makavejev’s Man Is Not a Bird

David Blakeslee — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 07:21:26 +0000

Testing the limits of both Communist censorship standards and narrative filmmaking conventions was a specialty of the great Serbian director Dusan Makavejev. In the muted satire of Man Is Not a Bird, he began the trek that made him one of the most notorious agitators in cinematic history.

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Yasujiro Ozu’s Late Autumn

David Blakeslee — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 04:24:07 +0000

Tucked away toward the end of Yasujiro Ozu's monumental filmography, Late Autumn is a must-see for fans of his acclaimed masterpiece Late Spring, reworking its central plot and revealing much in both the similarities and contrasts between the two.

James Reviews Shinji Imaoka’s Underwater Love [UK DVD Review]

James McCormick — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 02:43:46 +0000

For months we were hearing little whispers of this pinku eiga film from Japan. Why was a pinku eiga film getting so much attention? [...]

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Ernst Lubitsch’s The Smiling Lieutenant

David Blakeslee — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 19:07:35 +0000

If you're as smitten with Miriam Hopkins as I am after watching her illuminate the screen in Criterion's new Design for Living DVD/Blu-ray, take heart! There's more of Miriam to enjoy, starting with her first appearance in a comedy, The Smiling Lieutenant, with Maurice Chevalier and Claudette Colbert.

Joshua Reviews The Warner Archive’s ‘What! No Beer?’ [DVD Review]

Joshua Brunsting — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 05:32:36 +0000

Joshua reviews the Buster Keaton talkie 'What! No Beer?' and it's DVD release via The Warner Archive

Joshua Reviews The Warner Archive’s ‘Sidewalks Of New York’ [DVD Review]

Joshua Brunsting — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:27:06 +0000

Joshua reviews an early talkie from Buster Keaton, 'Sidewalks Of New York', and its home video release thanks to The Warner Archive. Spoiler: it's a winner.

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Robert Flaherty & Zoltan Korda’s Elephant Boy

David Blakeslee — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 06:52:12 +0000

Criterion fans know Sabu's feisty charisma from The Thief of Bagdad and Black Narcissus. His screen debut in Elephant Boy shows that his transition from orphaned servant to international movie star was instinctive, instantaneous and seemingly inevitable.

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Kenji Mizoguchi’s Sisters of the Gion

David Blakeslee — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:00:39 +0000

This past October marked the 75th anniversary of the release of Sisters of the Gion, and that fact [...]

James Reviews MST3K’s “Manos” The Hands of Fate [DVD Review]

James McCormick — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 06:18:01 +0000

Where does one begin when speaking about one of the worst movies ever made? Well, when you’re the Mystery Science Theater 3000 [...]

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Akira Kurosawa’s One Wonderful Sunday

David Blakeslee — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:00:06 +0000

If one were to somehow make a word cloud of all the superlatives that have been written in praising the films of [...]

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Koreyoshi Kurahara’s The Warped Ones

David Blakeslee — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:00:59 +0000

Regular readers of this column know by now that whenever an Eclipse film falls into the chronology I’ve created for my

Joshua Reviews Ely Mennin’s ‘The Waterhole’ [DVD Review]

Joshua Brunsting — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 02:13:45 +0000

Movies about men and their relationships with one another seem to be the darling of Hollywood. Be it big budget pieces like The [...]

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Aki Kaurismäki’s Leningrad Cowboys

David Blakeslee — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 19:00:46 +0000

Jimi Hendrix. The Who. Janis Joplin. Simon & Garfunkel. The Rolling Stones. The Monkees. Spinal Tap. Beastie Boys. Despite the [...]

Joshua Reviews Shout Factory’s Lethal Ladies DVD Set [DVD Review]

Joshua Brunsting — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 03:12:09 +0000

When it comes to B-movies, sometimes, too much is indeed a bad thing.

Over the past year or so, the crew [...]

For Criterion Consideration: Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita

David Blakeslee — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:27:01 +0000

Instead of doing my usual Journey Through the Eclipse Series thing this week, I’m borrowing an idea that James McCormick [...]

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Samuel Fuller’s The Baron of Arizona

David Blakeslee — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 04:22:04 +0000

To start things off, let me admit that the main reason I picked The Baron of Arizona for this week’s [...]

Joshua Reviews Kino’s Go West And Battling Butler 2-Disc Set [DVD Review]

Joshua Brunsting — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 04:09:05 +0000

When it comes to Buster Keaton, more is truly better.

That is why, throughout their run of releasing Keaton’s films on DVD and [...]

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: William Klein’s Who Are You, Polly Magoo?

David Blakeslee — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 19:00:46 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, someone on Twitter (I can’t remember who) mentioned that William Klein’s 1966 debut feature

Joshua Reviews Shout Factory’s Bad Dreams And Visiting Hours Killer Double Feature [DVD Review]

Joshua Brunsting — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 03:32:35 +0000

Not everything truly comes better in pairs.

Prime example: the latest release from Shout Factory, their “Killer Double Feature,” the pairing of the [...]

Joshua Reviews Shout Factory’s The Inspector General [DVD Review]

Joshua Brunsting — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:08:59 +0000

Buster Keaton. Charlie Chaplin. The Marx Brothers. These are just some of the names that people think of when they are asked who [...]

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Basil Dearden’s The League of Gentlemen

David Blakeslee — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 19:00:57 +0000

As a guy who turned 50 at the end of last month (yes, you read me right – F-I-F-T-Y! I’m [...]

Joshua Reviews Kino Lorber’s American Grindhouse / Nightmares In Red, White And Blue Box Set [DVD Review]

Joshua Brunsting — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 05:44:28 +0000

Some things are just better in pairs.

While the Criterion Collection may be a bit short on true horror pieces (although that [...]

A Journey Through The Eclipse Series: Sacha Guitry’s Quadrille

David Blakeslee — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 05:32:12 +0000

In the heart of Paris, that most romantic of all cities, a whirlwind love affair erupts, with life-changing consequences for everyone it [...]

A Journey Through The Eclipse Series: Koreyoshi Kurahara’s Intimidation

David Blakeslee — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 19:00:10 +0000

Fans of Criterion’s Eclipse line of DVDs have no doubt already taken notice that a new box set was just [...]

A Journey Through The Eclipse Series: Hiroshi Shimizu’s Ornamental Hairpin

David Blakeslee — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 06:13:24 +0000

Here’s a bonus installment of my Journey Through The Eclipse Series, which I regularly crank out on a weekly schedule. [...]

A Journey Through The Eclipse Series: Ingmar Bergman’s Thirst

David Blakeslee — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 05:31:21 +0000

Over the past week or so, I’ve had two significant preoccupations on my mind: first and foremost, the [...]

Joshua Reviews Joan Freeman’s Streetwalkin’ [DVD Review]

Joshua Brunsting — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 06:07:09 +0000

Everyone starts somewhere, right?

While she may now be best known as having the title of Oscar Award Winner tossed before her [...]

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Seijun Suzuki’s Take Aim At The Police Van

David Blakeslee — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 02:07:07 +0000

As Ryan mentioned in his excellent summary of recent Criterion-related blogging activity, I’ve spent considerable time over the past [...]

A Journey Through The Eclipse Series: Aki Kaurismaki’s The Match Factory Girl

David Blakeslee — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 19:00:17 +0000

Though he hasn’t quite risen to “blaring headlines” level, Aki Kaurismaki’s name has been generating something louder than a low rumble in [...]

James Reviews MST3K Vs. Gamera: Mystery Science Theater 3000, Vol. XXI [DVD Review]

James McCormick — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 05:04:59 +0000

The gang from the Satellite of Love are back, and this time their tackling the first five Gamera films. When being sent [...]

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Mikio Naruse’s Every-Night Dreams

David Blakeslee — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 19:00:26 +0000

As some of you may know, my personal blog, Criterion Reflections, serves as my on-going journal (over 2 [...]

James Reviews Doctor Who Season 6 Part 1 [DVD Review]

James McCormick — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 07:07:09 +0000

Amy Pond and Rory Williams haven’t seen the Doctor in some time as have we, the audience, since the stellar [...]

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Akira Kurosawa’s Scandal

David Blakeslee — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 04:05:50 +0000

Another one of the great films of Akira Kurosawa is about to receive its well-deserved upgrade to the Blu-ray format tomorrow, as [...]

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Louis Malle’s Calcutta

David Blakeslee — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 19:00:31 +0000

With Criterion’s long-awaited addition of India’s Satyajit Ray to their pantheon of all-time great directors about to be made official tomorrow with the [...]

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Alexander Korda’s Rembrandt

David Blakeslee — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 19:00:42 +0000

This coming Friday, July 15, marks the birthday of the greatest of all Dutch painters, Rembrandt van Rijn. Born 505 years ago, [...]

Joshua Reviews Transformers – Japanese Collection: Headmasters [Shout Factory DVD Review]

Joshua Brunsting — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 06:52:34 +0000

With Transformers: Dark Of The Moon both blazing up the box office and tanking with critics, one can argue that the Transformers [...]

Joshua Reviews Paul Bogart’s Marlowe [Warner Archive DVD Review]

Joshua Brunsting — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 06:08:45 +0000

There are private detectives, and then there is Philip Marlowe. The iconic investigator created by Raymond Chandler has existed in the form [...]

James Reviews Shout Factory’s Gordon’s War / Off Limits Double Feature [DVD Review]

James McCormick — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 05:38:44 +0000

Shout! Factory once again is giving us a double feature DVD, one a blaxploitation film set in New York City and the [...]

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Allan King’s A Married Couple

David Blakeslee — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 15:00:36 +0000

When I mentioned in this column a few weeks back that I planned a short series of reviews on the topic of [...]

Joshua Reviews Rocko’s Modern Life Season One DVD [Shout! Factory DVD Review]

Joshua Brunsting — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 18:36:05 +0000

There are various cornerstones of a person’s childhood. Be it singular moments such as the first day of school, or [...]

David Reviews Eclipse Series 27, Raffaello Matarazzo’s Runaway Melodramas [DVD Review]

David Blakeslee — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 04:39:15 +0000

With this week’s New Release Tuesday now past, those of us obsessed with Criterion’s Eclipse Series of DVDs (as well as those who [...]

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Mikio Naruse’s Street Without End

David Blakeslee — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 16:00:39 +0000

Last week in this column I mentioned that I’m dedicating the month of June to watching and reviewing a few [...]

Joshua Reviews Ralph Nelson’s Soldier In The Rain [Warner Archive DVD Review]

Joshua Brunsting — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 06:03:19 +0000

When one thinks of Steve McQueen, the last thing that pops into that person’s mind is the iconic actor acting like a [...]

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Ernst Lubitsch’s One Hour With You

David Blakeslee — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 16:00:51 +0000

For the month of June, I’m trying something a little different for my (more or less) weekly review column here on CriterionCast.com. [...]

Joshua Reviews Arthur Lubin’s Hold On [Warner Archive DVD Review]

Joshua Brunsting — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 20:13:45 +0000

While names like The Beatles and The Monkees may rule the historic roost when it comes to mop-topped pop icons, a little [...]

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Ingmar Bergman’s Port of Call

David Blakeslee — Mon, 30 May 2011 17:07:04 +0000

As most readers of this site have probably heard by now, the late and great Swedish director Ingmar Bergman unexpectedly stirred up [...]

Catherine Reviews Mitch Glazer’s Passion Play [DVD Review]

Catherine Stebbins — Sat, 28 May 2011 19:11:27 +0000

Back in April, Mickey Rourke made a brutally unhinged comment about two of his upcoming films, Passion Play and 13. [...]

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Roberto Rossellini’s The Age of the Medici

David Blakeslee — Wed, 25 May 2011 19:51:01 +0000

A couple weekends ago, as part of my ongoing Criterion Reflections blogging project, I watched Il Generale Della [...]

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Kenji Mizoguchi’s Osaka Elegy

David Blakeslee — Thu, 19 May 2011 05:05:27 +0000

Last month, in the course of reviewing Hiroshi Shimizu’s The Masseurs and a Woman , I impulsively committed myself to [...]

James Reviews Mystery Science Theater 3000 Volume XX [DVD Review]

James McCormick — Fri, 13 May 2011 05:47:51 +0000

“Uh-oh. Seven years bad acting.”

It always feels like Christmas (no puns about Santa Claus films) when a new Mystery [...]

James Reviews The Ron Howard Action Pack With Eat My Dust And Grand Theft Auto [DVD Review]

James McCormick — Thu, 12 May 2011 05:24:28 +0000

I hear you, pappy. But I can’t quite reach you.

When you hear the name Ron Howard, I would assume [...]

James Reviews Blake Edwards’ Wild Rovers [DVD Review]

James McCormick — Wed, 11 May 2011 00:02:17 +0000

It’ll be safer than getting married.

When I first heard about this film, it was when I was being [...]

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Paul Czinner’s The Rise of Catherine the Great

David Blakeslee — Wed, 04 May 2011 05:18:56 +0000

So you probably saw the headline and thought to yourself, “Oh Dave came up with a cute tie-in to all the pomp [...]

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Hiroshi Shimizu’s The Masseurs and a Woman

David Blakeslee — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 19:00:01 +0000

Family, job and taxes, that inevitable trio of obligations looming large over most of our lives, intruded severely enough on my leisure [...]

James Reviews Benjamin Meade’s Bazaar Bizarre [DVD Review]

James McCormick — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 06:23:28 +0000

Bob Berdella. Does the name ring a bell? I know it didn’t for me. But for Kansas City, the name [...]

James Reviews Steve Carver’s Capone [DVD Review]

James McCormick — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 05:49:49 +0000

“You spend all your time hitting people?”

“I take Sundays off.”

Al Capone is a man who has been [...]

Joshua Reviews Shout! Factory’s Dirty Mary Crazy Larry / Race With The Devil Double Feature [DVD Review]

Joshua Brunsting — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 05:36:04 +0000

Over the past few years, the world of the big screen genre film has seen a massive up swing.

Thanks to films [...]

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Yasujiro Ozu’s I Was Born, But…

David Blakeslee — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 04:52:04 +0000

Maybe it’s only fitting that family commitments (and, I’ll admit, the return of nice weather to the area where I live) kept [...]

Joshua Reviews Shout! Factory’s Roger Corman Action Packed Collection [DVD Review]

Joshua Brunsting — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 18:51:04 +0000

With the words “Action Packed” adorning the upper portion of the latest release from Shout! Factory and their long running series of [...]

Catherine Reviews Wanda Tuchock and George Nichols Jr’s Finishing School [DVD Review]

Catherine Stebbins — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 18:14:02 +0000

Right up until the end of the Production Code era of filmmaking in 1930’s Hollywood, the various studios churned out stories that pushed [...]

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Basil Dearden’s Sapphire

David Blakeslee — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 19:00:03 +0000

Last week this column featured a review from the most recent Eclipse Series release, Silent Naruse. Sharp-eyed, or perhaps [...]

Catherine Reviews Peter Godfrey’s The Two Mrs. Carrolls [DVD Review]

Catherine Stebbins — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 03:51:26 +0000

Sometimes ideas are better left unfulfilled. A case in point; taking two of the biggest studio stars of all time, Humphrey Bogart [...]

James Reviews Shout! Factory’s Gamera Vs Zigra / Gamera: The Super Monster [DVD Review]

James McCormick — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 03:41:25 +0000

Nobody has given credit where credit is due when it comes to Shout! Factory’s great treatment of the original Gamera series. Each [...]

Joshua Reviews Shout! Factory’s Jackson County Jail / Caged Heat! [Roger Corman Cult Classics DVD]

Joshua Brunsting — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 03:15:51 +0000

While he may be best known for his low-budget, science fiction pictures, nothing truly says Roger Corman or his New World Pictures [...]

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Mikio Naruse’s Flunky, Work Hard

David Blakeslee — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 03:03:58 +0000

Early 2007 saw the introduction of both the Eclipse line of DVDs (with the [...]

James Reviews Henry Saine’s The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu

James McCormick — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 20:26:11 +0000

As many of you know from reading our site and listening to our podcast, we are pretty big H.P. Lovecraft fans. Fans [...]

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Akira Kurosawa’s No Regrets for Our Youth

David Blakeslee — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 19:00:35 +0000

The natural and technological disasters that have fallen upon Japan over the past ten days have undoubtedly drawn the attention [...]

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Chantal Akerman’s Je tu il elle

David Blakeslee — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 19:00:43 +0000

Last week I was poking around in the MUBI.com Forum, as I’m inclined to do whenever I’m curious to see [...]

Catherine Reviews Elia Kazan’s America, America [DVD Review]

Catherine Stebbins — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 07:05:05 +0000

Elia Kazan’s deeply personal and ambitious epic America, America is based on his uncle’s immigration to America from Turkey at the turn [...]

A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Aki Kaurismäki’s Ariel

David Blakeslee — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 20:00:41 +0000

When it comes to ranking my favorite months of the year, there are none that I enjoy bidding good riddance to more [...]

Catherine Reviews Amy Hardie’s Edge of Dreaming [DVD Review]

Catherine Stebbins — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 07:37:32 +0000

How much stock do you put into your dreams? How much do you believe our reality impacts them? Do our [...]

Joshua Reviews Gordon Parks’ The Learning Tree [DVD Review]

Joshua Brunsting — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 23:25:48 +0000

It goes without saying that filmmaking is truly a labor of love.

Whether it be a film breaking box office records with [...]