Reviews Archive for April, 2009
Nickelodeon & The Last Picture Show
Peter Bogdanovich’s paean to the early days of moviemaking, Nickelodeon, has been released as a 2-Disc Double Feature Director’s Choice title by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Nickelodeon / The Last Picture Show. Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show was available previously as a Special Edition. Each film is presented on a separate platter and is in letterboxed format only,…
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: Nothing But the Truth, Johnny Got His Gun, In the Realm of the Senses and more…
PICK OF THE WEEK: NEW Nothing But the Truth” (Three Stars) U. S. Rod Lurie, 2008 (Sony) The most effective of writer-director (and ex-movie critic) Rod Lurie’s political melodramas
Read the full article »Frost/Nixon
Most reminiscent of (and more satisfying than) Good Night and Good Luck, Ron Howard’s 2008 docudrama, Frost/Nixon, from Universal, is about a television news personality who rises to the occasion and achieves a journalistic milestone when tasked with interviewing an emotionally enfortressed politician. Yes, the imitative but psychologically thorough performances by the two stars- Michael Sheen as David Frost…
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: Frost/Nixon, The Wrestler, In the Realm of the Senses, Assault on Precinct 13 and more …
CO-PICKS OF THE WEEK: NEW Frost/Nixon (Three-and-a-Half Stars) U.S.; Ron Howard Taken from Peter Morgan‘s stage play — which also starred the spot-on Frank Langella as
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: Doubt, Alexandra, The Last Metro, Fallen Angels, No Country for Old Men and more …
CO-PICKS OF THE WEEK: NEW Doubt (Four Stars) U.S.; John Patrick Shanley, 2008 (Miramax) In Doubt, Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman play a gorgon, dictatorial nun and a chubby-faced, affable progressive priest, battling in a Bronx parochial school in 1964. And they stage a classic actor‘s duel for director-writer John Patrick Shanley’s tense, humane…
Read the full article »Marley & Me: Bad Dog Edition
Running 115 minutes, the enormously popular 2008 family film, Marley & Me, depicts the full life of a family dog as the family grows up around him. In his younger years, he is especially rambunctious, which contributed to the film’s superb marketing campaign that suggested the movie would be another Beethoven-style slapstick piece. Instead, the…
Read the full article »Quantum of Solace
There is not a quantum of solace in the latest installment of the James Bond series, Quantum of Solace, a Metro Goldwyn Mayer 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment release. The action scenes move forward relentlessly and the dramatic interims barely interfere with the pace. The film is a true installment as well, with hardly a plot…
Read the full article »An American in Paris
So you’ve just bought a Blu-ray player and you’ve never seen An American in Paris before? Well, aren’t you in for a treat. Warner Home Video has released the 1951 Oscar winner on Blu-ray, and the colors are so rapturous that even the fabulous DVD, which has essentially the same transfer, is nowhere near as satisfying….
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