Here are our latest reviews of films on DVD from 2010 and earlier.
Attenberg
Gregory J. Smalley @ 366 Weird Movies
- Excerpt: Although “normal” movie audiences may find the casual, naturalistic surrealism of “Attenberg” insufferable, around here we see it as a case where an infusion of welcome weirdness spices up what otherwise might have been a dreary drama about a disaffected daughter and her dying dad.
The Bunny Game
Dennis Schwartz @ Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews
Capote
Dustin Freeley @ Movies About Gladiators.com
Chafed Elbows
Dennis Schwartz @ Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews
The Conversation
Stephen Carty @ Flix Capacitor
Days of Thunder
Stephen Carty @ Flix Capacitor
Exorcist II: The Heretic
Tim Brayton @ Antagony & Ecstasy
- Excerpt: In a film that is by no means light on candidates for Worst Single Element, Richard Burton is pretty clearly the very bottom.
The Faculty
Tim Brayton @ Antagony & Ecstasy
- Excerpt: A zesty, charming sci-fi horror-thriller with better performances and far better production values than you’d expect.
Forgotten Garbage: If You Don’t Stop It…You’ll Go Blind!!!
Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
- Excerpt: Forgotten Garbage is an occasional feature in which I spotlight terrible movies that briefly made a blip on the cinematic radar before shuffling off to obscurity
Ghosts of the Abyss
- Excerpt: Although “Ghosts” paved the way for Cameron to make his mark on 21st century filmmaking, it also extended and expanded his fascination with the Titanic.
Inquietude
Dennis Schwartz @ Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews
The Journey
Dennis Schwartz @ Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews
Judex
Marilyn Ferdinand @ Ferdy on Films
- Excerpt: Amongst early pioneers in film is Louis Feuillade, whose famous serials made between the lead-up to World War I and his early death in 1925, have been sustained and transmitted through innumerable tributes and imitations, both drawing from and contributing to the common lore of pulp heroism and comic-book super-heroism. Georges Franju’s 1963 remake dashes through narrative with a troubadour’s rollicking wit, refashioning the tale as a display of subversive surfaces and magic-realist artifice.
Just One of the Guys
Korczak
- Excerpt: I know there can be some trepidation when it comes to sitting down and watching a Holocaust movie…And while “Korczak” doesn’t have a false happy ending, it does have an inviting storytelling style that takes a great subject–Dr. Janusz Korczak, a crusader for children in the Warsaw Ghetto–and portrays him in such a way so as to demonstrate what an extraordinary human being he really was.
Late Spring
Mathieu Li-Goyette @ Panorama-cinéma [French]
- Excerpt: La visite au temple et la vie paisible en banlieue de Tokyo se présentent alors comme une ponctuation – des points de suspensions et de montage – retardant toujours la décision finale et inévitable de Noriko amenant non pas une conclusion, mais bien une ouverture au film. En ce sens, le temps y est fréquemment présenté (l’horloge grand-père, l’âge de Noriko, les rendez-vous fixés) et la démarche du cinéaste requiert une attention constante du spectateur sur laquelle repose cette contemplation dont nous parlions plus haut.
The Lord of the Rings, Extended Blu-ray Editions
John J. Puccio @ Movie Metropolis
- Excerpt: They’re exactly the same discs found in the box set, only this time you can buy each part of the movie separately.
Mad Monster Party
- Excerpt: At 95 minutes, “Mad Monster Party” runs twice as long as one of Rankin/Bass’ typically hour-long TV specials and that certainly shows.
Mutant Girls Squad
Gregory J. Smalley @ 366 Weird Movies
- Excerpt: Mutant Girls Squad’s only real ambition is to zip from one outlandish, grotesque image to the next, and to do so as fast as possible so its audience never has the slightest opportunity to get bored.
Never Say Never Again
Tim Brayton @ Antagony & Ecstasy
- Excerpt: An ugly, unwanted epilogue [to Connery’s Bond], in which the character who was so iconic and perfect is reduced to a self-conscious joke.
A New Leaf
- Excerpt: ‘A New Leaf’ was mostly a forgotten film, with no home video love beyond its original VHS release, and while it’s a little bit of a mess, it’s fascinating, entertaining, and lovably peculiar.
Nympho Diver: G-String Festival
Peter Nellhaus @ Coffee Coffee and more Coffee
On The Town
Joshua Brunsting @ CriterionCast
Ornette: Made in America
Donald Levit @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
Out of Africa
People I Know
Presumed Innocent
Dennis Schwartz @ Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews
Redacted
Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto
Mathieu Li-Goyette @ Panorama-cinéma [French]
- Excerpt: La plus grande force de ce cinéaste aujourd’hui méconnu et qui aurait mérité pourtant bien meilleur sort, c’est sa capacité impressionnante à compacter toute l’émotion d’une scène en un unique plan. Extrêmement mobile, sa caméra y va de travellings rapides, latéraux comme circulaires, pour restituer à l’unité d’action et de temps sa fonction émotive; Inagaki écrit à très gros traits des poèmes aux rimes riches qui auraient bénéficié d’un peu plus de finesse, mais dont le résultat, toujours au rendez-vous, l’excuse des facilités qu’il adopte.
The Ten
Gregory J. Smalley @ 366 Weird Movies
- Excerpt: Basically “The Decalogue” re-imagined as a grossout sketch comedy series, “The Ten” is sporadically amusing, but non-essential viewing.
Three Strangers
Bob Cashill @ Cineaste
- Excerpt: A Lorre-Greenstreet favorite takes its place in the Warner Archive.
Titanic
John J. Puccio @ Movie Metropolis
- Excerpt: While I admit Cameron’s epic does not impress me as much as it does most other people, there is no questioning its passion and excitement.
Tokyo Story
Mathieu Li-Goyette @ Panorama-cinéma [French]
- Excerpt: Voyage à Tokyo obéit à l’idéal zen d’Ozu de laisser couler le quotidien, le présentant tel une forme de lucidité inégalable. Fleuve se déversant jusqu’à la capitale puis s’éloignant de son delta pour retourner à sa source mère, le voyage des grands-parents se veut un aller-retour dans lequel la marche du point A à B puis de B à A créera tout le sens du film : la famille décomposée se réunira et se séparera de nouveau à la mort de Tomi.
War Of The Worlds
Stephen Carty @ Flix Capacitor
Way of Gaucho
Bob Cashill @ Cineaste
- Excerpt: Uncovering a lesser-known Jacques Tourneur film.
