Stars: Joe Pesci, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Harvey Keitel, Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale, Anna Paquin, Stephen Graham | Written by Steven Zaillian | Directed by Martin Scorsese It’s a strange thing, really, that until I had a chance to check out the new Criterion Blu-ray release of The Irishman, I hadn’t seen it. It […]
Features: Harvey Milk, Anne Kronenberg, Tory Hartmann | Written by Judith Coburn, Carter Wilson | Directed by Rob Epstein Back in 1984, director Rob Epstein (Lovelace, Howl) along with narration writers Judith Coburn and Carter Wilson, worked together to bring us the acclaimed documentary film, The Times of Harvey Milk. A powerful 90 minute look […]
Stars: Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Allen Joseph, Jeanne Bates | Written and Directed by David Lynch David Lynch is well known for being a director who is not ashamed to go to some bizarre places, a man known for his surrealism, his specific and individualistic tone in works like Twin Peaks, Lost Highway and this, […]
Stars: Jacques Ledoux, Davos Hanich, Jean Négroni, Hélène Chatelain, Alexandra Stewart | Written and Directed by Chris Marker La Jetee is Chris Marker’s 1962 mini sci-fi film. It tells the story of the aftermath of World War 3, and the survivors living underground. A scientist (Jacques Ledoux) performs experiments in time travel, so a man (Davos Hanich) […]
Stars: Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Gladys Cooper, Claude Rains, Bonita Granville | Written by Casey Robinson | Directed by Irving Rapper The secret at the heart of the Boston social scene is Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis) – a shy, repressed, mentally unstable young woman, tortured by her overbearing mother (Gladys Cooper). Charlotte’s older sister (Bonita […]
Stars: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Eva Marie Saint | Written by Budd Schulberg | Directed by Elia Kazan The opening tells us everything. We can visualise the shipyard before we’re shown a single image. Leonard Bernstein’s horn-heavy score sounds like the song of ships. It’s almost peaceful. Then a piano […]
Stars: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Erni Mangold, Vernon Dobtcheff, Xenia Kalogeropoulou | Written by Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Kim Krizan | Directed by Richard Linklater Plaudits to Richard Linklater for his epic Boyhood, famously filmed over many years – a feat one day to be replicated with his Stephen Sondheim adaptation, Merrily We […]
Stars: Divine, Tab Hunter, Edith Massey, David Samson, Mary Garlington, Ken King | Written and Directed by John Waters After his prolific 1970s, enfant terrible John Waters directed only two films in the 1980s, at each end of the decade. They were also his two most mainstream and – relatively speaking – palatable works. One […]
Stars: Babek Ahmed Poor, Farhad Kheradmand, Mohamad Ali Keshavarz, Zarifeh Shiva, Buba Bayour, Khodabakhsh Defaei | Written and Directed by Abbas Kiarostami They may not have a breakneck pace, and they may seem unbearably light on explicit incident, but Abbas Kiarostami’s Koker Trilogy did the shared universe thing two decades before Marvel perfected the formula. […]
Stars: Constance Towers, Antony Eisley, Michael Dante, Virginia Grey, Patsy Kelly | Written and Directed by Samuel Fuller The Naked Kiss opens with a fight. And Kelly (Constance Towers) – an experienced escort reclaiming her money from a punter – will never stop fighting. Just for one night it looks like she’s left her worst […]
Starring: Peter Breck, Constance Towers, Larry Tucker, Gene Evans, Hari Rhodes, James Best | Written and Directed by Samuel Fuller The prolific Samuel Fuller carved a niche – or perhaps a gutter – in making exploitation shockers just outside the Hollywood studio system. His had an ability to elevate trash material to something approaching art. […]
Stars: Spike Lee, Danny Aiello, John Turtorro, Rosie Perez, Ossie Davis, Bill Nunn, Ruby Dee | Written and Directed by Spike Lee Spike Lee was still in his 20s when he wrote, directed and produced Do the Right Thing, his third feature. It’s a blistering piece of cinema in more ways than one. Set during […]
Stars: Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Charles Cioffi, Roy Scheider, Robert Milli | Written by Andy Lewis, Dave Lewis | Directed by Alan J. Pakula Released in 1971, Alan J. Pakula’s sophomore feature Klute is regarded as the first of his unofficial Paranoia Trilogy, which would go on to include The Parallax View and All the […]
Stars: Ralph Meeker, Nick Dennis, Maxine Cooper, Cloris Leachman, Gaby Rodgers | Written by A.I. Bezzerides | Directed by Robert Aldritch Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker) is driving down the freeway, minding his own business, when he almost hits a woman. Mike is a private investigator, and he knows trouble when he sees it, but he […]
Stars: John Cameron Mitchell, Andrea Martin, Michael Pitt, Stephen Trask, Miriam Shor | Written by John Cameron Mitchell, based on the musical by John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask | Directed by John Cameron Mitchell Born a boy in East Berlin, Hansel Schmidt (writer-director John Cameron Mitchell) was raised by a German mother and an […]
Stars: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Victor Moore, Helen Broderick, Eric Blore | Written by Howard Lindsay, Allan Scott | Directed by George Stevens Dazzling dancer “Lucky” (Fred Astaire) steps off stage and straight into his wedding outfit. But his colleagues don’t want to lose their star player to some dame, so they find ways to […]
Stars: Jim Lovell, Russell Schweickart, Eugene Cernan, Michael Collins, Charles Conrad | Directed by Al Reinert NASA’s historic Apollo programme only becomes more fascinating as time passes and technology advances. Ahead of the release of Todd Douglas Miller’s Apollo 11, Criterion are offering a chance to see another Space Race documentary, similarly relying on remastered […]
Stars: Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson, Miriam Hopkins | Written by Ruth Goetz, Augustus Goetz | Directed by William Wyler Ruth and Augustus Goetz adapted their own stage play (itself based on a 19thcentury Henry James novel) for this 1949 melodrama. Directed by William Wyler, just before his mega-budget 1950s period, it’s a […]
Stars: Jason London, Wiley Wiggins, Adam Goldberg, Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck, Anthony Rapp | Written and Directed by Richard Linklater A certain generation regards this 1993 comedy-drama from Richard “Boyhood” Linklater as their The Breakfast Club. Except its period setting makes it a recollection rather than a snapshot, so it has more in common with […]
Stars: Judy Davis, Sam Neill, Wendy Hughes, Robert Grubb, Peter Whitford | Written by Eleanor Whitcombe | Directed by Gillian Armstrong In the 19th century, on a remote Australian farm, teenager Sybylla (Judy Davis) dreams of a life of culture. Definitely a dreamer rather than a doer, she is shipped around various pockets of her extended […]
Stars: Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek, Warren Oates, Ramon Bieri, Alan Vint | Written and Directed by Terrence Malick Terrence Malick’s small-yet-mythic 1973 crime drama Badlands has its troubling aspects – on the surface, anyway – but it is a stunning debut feature. Based on the murder spree of Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate, it’s […]
