Sanshō the Bailiff is a film by Kenji Mizoguchi, one of the most respected Japanese directors of all time. At the time, he was rated higher in France than Kurosawa, as he was seen as being more “Japanese” than Western. He made 90 films, but only lived to be 58—and was of course an influence on Kurosawa, … Continue reading Sansho the Bailiff – Blu-Ray Review
Cloak and Dagger is one of Fritz Lang’s anti-Nazi spy thrillers. It was also his first post-WW2 film, but it feels more like Man Hunt or Hangmen Also Die! than the fantastic string of noirs that he made not long after the war and on up to the mid '50s. Lang emigrated very soon after he had a meeting with … Continue reading Cloak and Dagger – Blu-Ray Review
Brad Pitt has some serious daddy issues! Kidding aside, Ad Astra is the latest film from one of France's favourite American auteurs from the past couple decades, James Gray. This is by far Gray’s biggest-budget film to date, in fact, its final $87.5 million budget isn't that far off from the entirety of his previous six films … Continue reading Ad Astra – Blu-Ray Review
Night Tide was Curtis Harrington’s debut feature after spending the entire '40s and '50s in the burgeoning underground/avant-garde/experimental/whatever-the-hell-you-want-to-call-it film world—Harrington seems fairly dismissive of all the various terms in interviews. He was a lifelong friend and sometimes antagonist of Kenneth Anger: they collaborated, with Harrington acting as cinematographer on Anger's Puce Moment and acting in Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome. He … Continue reading Night Tide – Blu-Ray Review
The Miracle Worker is a painfully uninteresting biopic on the early years of Helen Keller (played here by Patty Duke), whose life was far more interesting than what is depicted here. It's mainly told through the eyes of the young, partially blind Anne Sullivan (Anne Bancroft), who was a last-ditch tutor for Helen, who was deaf … Continue reading The Miracle Worker – Blu-Ray Review
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