Articles
"Richard III"
- Category: Blu-ray movies
May 2013
A Classic Restored to Glory
The Criterion Collection 213
Format: Blu-ray
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The recent discovery of Richard III’s skeleton has called into question past assessments of his character and appearance. A facial reconstruction shows a young man of almost feminine beauty. There has been and there will be lots of speculation, but two things for sure: Richard III reigned but two short years and died a violent death at Bosworth Field in 1485. The wounds on the skeleton show that he was struck with many blows, including two extremely severe knocks to the head, which lends credence to Sir Laurence Olivier’s portrayal of his death, which shows dozens of soldiers pummeling the downed monarch.
"Jack Reacher"
- Category: Blu-ray movies
April 2013
A Pristine Blu-ray Reveals an Entertaining Crime Procedural
Paramount 7922916
Format: Blu-ray
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Werner Herzog. He’s a film director extraordinaire, having directed both documentaries (Grizzly Man, Encounters at the End of the World) and fiction adventures (Fitzcarraldo, Nosferatu the Vampyre, Rescue Dawn, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans). He has staged opera at Bayreuth and La Scala, written over 50 film scripts, produced over 20 titles, and has worked in many aspects of film, including sound. This everyman has also acted, and in Jack Reacher, we find him perfectly cast as the Zec, a man who has sacrificed his fingers over the years, proving that he’s willing to go to any length to survive.
"Badlands"
- Category: Blu-ray movies
March 2013
One Sumptuous-Looking Crime Spree
The Criterion Collection 651
Format: Blu-ray
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In 1973, Badlands established Terrence Malick as a new director to be noticed and launched the careers of Martin Sheen (Kit) and Sissy Spacek (Holly). It was Malick's first feature film, based on a killing spree by teenager Charles Starkweather that occurred in the late 1950s. Starkweather and his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, fled Lincoln, Nebraska, after Starkweather killed Fugate's mother, stepfather, and two-year-old stepsister. While on the run, Starkweather killed seven additional victims but was caught and sent to the electric chair on June 25, 1959. Fugate protested that she had been Starkweather's captive, but the court didn't buy it and found her guilty as an accessory. She served 17 years in prison.
"The Blob"
- Category: Blu-ray movies
April 2013
'50s Sci-Fi Fave in Radiant Color
The Criterion Collection 91
Format: Blu-ray
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"It creeps and leaps and glides and slides . . ." It's hard not to like a villain from outer space that can be described in a Burt Bacharach-Mack David title song, and it's easy to overlook The Blob's deficiencies, given such an earnest presentation. If it's not a great horror story or an A-list science-fiction thriller for you, The Blob is a slice of Americana and a time capsule to the long past 1950s. In spite of its cheesy special effects (or perhaps because of them), it has become a cult favorite.
"Africa: Eye to Eye with the Unknown"
- Category: Blu-ray movies
March 2013
BBC Earth Documentary Is One of the Best of Its Kind
BBC Earth
Format: Blu-ray
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Have you ever wondered what the black rhinos and elephants do after dark down by the watering hole? Puzzle no longer, as the newest BBC Earth documentary, Africa: Eye to Eye with the Unknown, uses special new starlight cameras to show you. Spoiler alert: it turns out that rhinos aren't really loners all the time, and that they can even go a little crazy by the light of the moon. One truly trips out. Elephants, not to be outdone, have their own sort of post-hippie love fest.
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