1BR (retitled Apartment 1BR in the UK) was far and away the best film I saw at Grimmfest last year, and for a low-budget feature directorial debut, it’s quite remarkable. It’s most certainly flawed, but director David Marmor’s pure cinematic ambition is as intoxicating on-screen as the cult indoctrination that the film depicts. The creepy L.A. … Continue reading Apartment 1BR – Film Review →

Husbands was John Cassavetes' follow-up to Faces, which was his first "hit" film. Faces arrived after Shadows, which was an influential film (especially on a young Martin Scorsese), but not widely seen outside of film festivals. It's worth mentioning that Cassavetes dabbled in more commercial filmmaking in the early '60s as a director, with Too Late Blues and A Child is Waiting. Despite … Continue reading Husbands – Blu-Ray Review →

Sidney Lumet was at a crossroads when he was making Long Day's Journey Into Night in 1962. He was then still making "prestige pictures," and this would be the last of his early-period pictures, with 12 Angry Men being the only true masterpiece. They all came out of his live TV and Off-Broadway work, and were often filmed plays. … Continue reading Long Day’s Journey Into Night (1962) – Blu-Ray Review →

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is by the same director as Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Marielle Heller. Both films have stories about people who are deeply cynical who through some circumstance find someone who helps them find a way to navigate through life. The film is not a bio-pic of Fred Rogers, who … Continue reading A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – Blu-Ray Review →

Satyajit Ray is probably the most acclaimed Indian filmmaker of all time, and was part of a film movement created in response to Indian popular cinema (the sort that eventually became known as Bollywood films). Known as Parallel Cinema, it was inspired by the Italian neo-realism of the 1940s, which in turn had a heavy … Continue reading The Apu Trilogy – Blu-Ray Review →