Columns By Mike WilmingtonWilmington@moviecitynews.com
Wilmington on DVDs. Co-Pick of the Week: Classic. The Four Feathers (Korda)
The Four Feathers (Three and a Half Stars) U.K.: Zolta Korda, 1939 (Criterion Collection) Four adventure-loving upper class British soldiers — best friends who are about to leave for the 1896-98 colonial wars in Sudan — symbolically exchange four white feathers, plucked from the plume of the beautiful Ethne (June Duprez), daughter of the harrumphing and…
Read the full article »20W2O: 51 Days To Go
Guilding The Lily
Is it a good thing or a bad thing that we are locked into 60% or so of the nominations for all groups by Thanksgiving and that the rest of the slots will be filled by a pool of films and talent that pretty much represents fewer than 15 films legitimately vying for Best Picture slots and 8 or fewer actors/directors/writers and other top talent competing for each of the other nomination slots?
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs. The Rest: Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark; I Don’t Know How She Does It; Devil’s Angels
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (Three Stars) U.S.: Troy Nixey, 2011 (Sony Pictures Home Entertaiment) What’s that noise over there? What’s that knocking in the walls? Those ashes stirring in the fireplace? Ah, it’s nothing, it’s nothing. Don’t worry. Even though you’re all alone and I know you’re anxious…that there may be something…wrong….
Read the full article »The DVD Wrapup: Contagion, Brighton Rock, The Guard, Tokyo Drifter, Don’t Know How She Does It, Santa Mesa, Glad My Mother Is Alive, X: The Unheard Music, Justified …
Contagion: Blu-ray If the cast and creative team behind “Contagion” were a baseball team, it would be the New York Yankees. It would be managed by Academy Award-winner Steven Soderbergh and feature a lineup that includes such Oscar- and BAFTA-level talent as Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Ehle, Marion…
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs. Co-Pick of the Week: New. Mildred Pierce (Haynes), Mildred Pierce (Curtiz)
Mildred Pierce (Also DVD/Blu-ray Collector’s Edition) (Two Discs) (Three and a Half Stars) U.S.: Todd Haynes, 2011 (HBO Home Video) Mildred Pierce (Four Stars) U.S.: Michael Curtiz, 1945 (Warner Bros.) If you’re a hard core movie lover, and you haven’t already sampled the curious and perverse (and sometimes classic) delights of HBO’s Tv mini-series adapted…
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs. Co-Pick of the Week: New. Contagion
Contagion (Blu-ray/DVD Combo, with UV Digital Copy) (Also Movie Only) (Two Discs) (Three and a Half Stars) U.S.: Steven Soderbergh, 2011 (Warner Home Video) Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion begins with a cough in the dark — something mundane, and ordinary, if irritating, that soon grows into something else: an explosion of fear, death, lawlessness and hysteria….
Read the full article »Dispatches: Marrakech International Film Festival II: Terry Gilliam
Smack in the middle of the nine days of the tribute-laden 11th edition of the Marrakech International Film Festival in early December, three sentences kept popping up among English-speaking journalists: “We’re in Africa“; “That’s a lot of food” and “Where’s Terry?” As in… Terry Gilliam. (Insert characteristic giggle.) A packed late-afternoon masterclass of largely young…
Read the full article »Wilmington on Movies: We Bought a Zoo
We Bought a Zoo (Also Blu-ray) (Two and a Half Stars) U.S.: Cameron Crowe, 2011 (20th Century Fox) 1. Once Upon a Time, There were all these animals… In Cameron Crowe’s new movie We Bought a Zoo, Matt Damon — using every bit of nice guy vibes at his disposal — plays…
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