Filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen have spent the last seventeen years flaunting traditional movie storytelling with such quirky fare as ’Raising Arizona, ’ the Oscar-winning ’Fargo’ and ’O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ ’Blood Simple, ’ the 1984 [...]
Perhaps the most interesting observation after watching the 1962 thriller ’Cape Fear’ is that Martin Scorsese’s 1991 remake compliment each other, fleshing out themes but still respecting the inspiration. Universal Home Video has just released the [...]
Writing a review about "Citizen Kane" is like meeting your all-time favorite actor or director, only to stutter and stammer through the encounter. What new observations can I add that has not already been discussed in the six decades since the [...]
In revisiting Paul Verhoeven’s 1990 futuristic epic ’Total Recall, ’ Artisan Home Entertainment pulled out all the stops in their new, truly packed special edition DVD. An excellent transfer, remastered sound and a plethora of supplements including [...]
The premiere of "It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" in 1963 birthed a new movie form: the epic comedy. As far as genre conventions go, epics recount the noble deeds of great personages or immortalize heroic campaigns that changed the course of [...]
I began this project remembering that I might still have the golden ticket theaters handed out to patrons during the 1971 theatrical run of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." After digging around my garage, amid some View Master reels and [...]
When Wolfgang Petersen’s 1984 adaptation of Michael Ende’s epic novel ’The Neverending Story’ was first released, one critic astutely referred to it as ’the first post-modern, self reflexive fantasy film.’ Escaping school bullies, young [...]
Current conspiracy theorists might get a kick out of watching MGM Home Entertainment’s new DVD of ’Blow Out, ’ Brian De Palma’s paranoia thriller. The 1981 film stars John Travolta as Jack Terri, a sound effects technician who accidentally records [...]
"Hannibal, " both the Thomas Harris novel and Ridley Scott’s film adaptation, returns everyone’s favorite corprophagist, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, to the public eye. A decade ago, "Silence of the Lambs" beat the odds in adapting [...]
For the last week, I have tried on four separate occasions to sit through "Gormenghast, " the epic four-hour television production produced by the BBC. Life, in various forms, interrupted my attempts. I had requested the title for review, [...]
