Here are our latest reviews of films on DVD from 2011 and earlier.
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Jerry Roberts @ Armchair Cinema
- Excerpt: The first great film to win the Oscar for Best Picture is still a powerful and often gut-wrenching statement of the brutality and futility of The First World War.
Bergman Island
Dennis Schwartz @ Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews
Bloodsucking Freaks
Gregory J. Smalley @ 366 Weird Movies
- Excerpt: It’s not my job to tell you not to see it, just to give you fair warning that it’s reputation is not exaggerated: this movie can scar your soul, and you will see things you may wish you could forget.
The Broadway Melody (1929)
Jerry Roberts @ Armchair Cinema
- Excerpt: The innovation of the first big sound musical has become a victim to the inevitability of time itself. In truth, what is left for us after all these years isn’t much.
Dementia 13
Marcio Sallem @ Em Cartaz [Portuguese]
Detachment
Marcio Sallem @ Em Cartaz [Portuguese]
Dirty Hearts
Marcio Sallem @ Em Cartaz [Portuguese]
Going My Way
Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Cafe Texan
- Excerpt: Going My Way is shamelessly sentimental, emotionally manipulative, and has a somewhat thin story. However, by the end one simply cannot resist its charm, sweetness, and total sincerity.
Gun Crazy
Tim Brayton @ Antagony & Ecstasy
- Excerpt: One of the great, specifically American love stories ever put to film… among the most overtly erotic films of the post-WWII era.
Heavy Traffic
Mathieu Li-Goyette @ Panorama-cinéma [French]
How Green Was My Valley
- Excerpt: The 1941 winner of the Best Picture Oscar, “How Green Was My Valley” is one of John Ford’s nostalgic tributes to a foreign land and a foreign time. Narrated from a modern vantage point, but set in a Welsh mining village at the outset of the 20th Century, the screenplay by Philip Dunne, adapted from a novel by Richard Llewellyn, recalls the changes that occurred in a country village as industry took over the town.
I Killed My Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meathook, and now I Have a Three-Picture Deal with Disney
The Insider
- Excerpt: The Insider is closer to three hours than two, but that time just flies in Michael Mann’s gripping presentation, a model of excellence for all talkative corporate dramas to aspire to.
Joy Division
Dennis Schwartz @ Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews
King: A Filmed Record
Peter Gutierrez @ School Library Journal
- Excerpt: Yes, it’s pretty amazing when the first disc ends with the entire, unabridged “I Have a Dream” speech but part of what makes it so particularly powerful is that we’ve also seen all the events that led up to that shining moment.
Lilith
Marilyn Ferdinand @ Ferdy on Films
- Excerpt: An aimless ex-GI finds work at a mental hospital and slowly falls under the spell of the beautiful nature girl Lilith in Robert Rossen’s final film.
Looking for Eric
Dennis Schwartz @ Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews
The Lovers of Teruel
Dennis Schwartz @ Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews
Marvin’s Room
- Excerpt: Not too unusual for something hailing from the stage, Marvin’s Room prefers character development and conversation to plot and action.
Mommie Dearest
Dennis Schwartz @ Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews
On the Waterfront
- Excerpt: A classic film makes a lavish Blu-ray debut in the highly satisfying manner you expect from a Criterion release of On the Waterfront.
Rashomon
Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Cafe Texan
She (1965)
A.J. Hakari @ Classic Movie Guide
- Excerpt: When it comes to relating a romance that’s spanned the ages, director Robert Day’s execution ranks slightly above high school squabbling.
A Star Is Born
Brent McKnight @ Beyond Hollywood
- Excerpt: When I ultimately seize control of the universe, which is, of course, an integral part of my five-year plan, there will be a special section of Hell reserved for Barbra Streisand.
Steel
- Excerpt: …it’s simply impossible to be inspired by or root for a seven-foot automaton who blurts out lines with the passion of a coma patient.
Stingray Sam
- Excerpt: …I had no problem going along with the quirky flow, which, lasting just an hour’s length, comes across as consistently fresh without overstaying its welcome.
The Tin Drum
Gregory J. Smalley @ 366 Weird Movies
- Excerpt: …a comic nightmare about “little people’s” acquiescence to Fascism.
Wings (1927)
Jerry Roberts @ Armchair Cinema
- Excerpt: Even after 86 years, Wings is a surprisingly effective technological wonder. The story, however, is a mess.
