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Blu-ray Movies

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Blu-ray movies

March 2022

Stylized Mob Characters in a Film with Memorable Set Pieces

The Criterion Collection 1112
Format: BD

Overall Enjoyment
***1/2

Picture Quality
****1/2

Sound Quality
***1/2

Extras
***1/2

Joel and Ethan Coen’s Miller’s Crossing was released in 1990, the same year as Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas, the movie many regard as the ultimate gangster flick. While Scorsese’s film aims for exaggerated realism, Miller’s Crossing embodies a highly stylized romanticism. But despite its memorable set pieces and earnest acting, it doesn’t seem to tell a story quite as well as its flashier competition.

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Blu-ray movies

February 2022

Netflix Film about Child Soldiers Gets Superb Blu-ray Treatment from Criterion

The Criterion Collection 1091
Format: BD

Overall Enjoyment
****

Picture Quality
****1/2

Sound Quality
****1/2

Extras
***1/2

Cary Joji Fukunaga has been making quite an impression lately as a director with vision and one who values diversity. He directed the first season of True Detective for television, and it was a doozy. In Beasts of No Nation, adapted from the novel of the same name by Nigerian-American author Uzodinma Iweala, he tackles the story of a child soldier. Its main character, Agu (played by impressive discovery Abraham Attah), is a young, upbeat boy living in a village in West Africa, who spends his time playing games of fantasy and make-believe with his friends.

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Blu-ray movies

January 2022

Definitive Video of a Classic on Criterion 4K

The Criterion Collection 44
Formats: BD, 4K Ultra HD

Overall Enjoyment
****

Picture Quality
*****

Sound Quality
***1/2

Extras
****

The Red Shoes has long been a staple of the Criterion Collection. Although the image quality has always been fairly decent, the company’s release of the 2009 restoration blows all previous efforts away. The new Blu-ray and 4K UHD discs, both included in the package, reveal a movie so chromatically intense, it virtually defies description.

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Blu-ray movies

December 2021

A True Masterpiece Receives the Criterion BD Treatment

The Criterion Collection 219
Format: BD

Overall Enjoyment
*****

Picture Quality
****1/2

Sound Quality
***

Extras
****

Released in the United States in 1956 (1954 in Italy), La Strada has proven to be a true cinematic masterpiece capable of withstanding the test of time. The film garnered international acclaim, both for director Federico Fellini and his wife, featured actress Giulietta Masina. Since Fellini set the movie in an indeterminate era (albeit one with motorcycles) and tells the story in the form of a fable, it can still elicit the same number of smiles and tears as it did 67 years ago.

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Blu-ray movies

November 2021

A Study of Banality That is Simply Boring Today

The Criterion Collection 308
Format: BD

Overall Enjoyment
**1/2

Picture Quality
****

Sound Quality
***1/2

Extras
***

Director Jean-Luc Godard’s film about Parisian youth was polarizing from the very start. Most praised it as perceptive and clever, others not so much. Looking at it from a contemporary vantage point, I must say that I fall in the latter camp.

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Blu-ray movies

October 2021

A Tour-de-Force Performance by Bob Hoskins on Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 107
Format: BD

Overall Enjoyment
****

Picture Quality
****1/2

Sound Quality
***1/2

Extras
****

What a joy it was to receive a pristine Blu-ray edition of this cinematic gem in the mail. Mona Lisa has long been a favorite in my household, and it has now received the treatment it deserves. Only 4K could make it better.

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Blu-ray movies

September 2021

Poland’s Struggle for Identity as World War II Ends

The Criterion Collection 285
Format: BD

Overall Enjoyment
****

Picture Quality
****

Sound Quality
***1/2

Extras
***

When World War II ended, most countries were propelled into an era of freedom. But Poland’s post-war trajectory would lead toward Communism. Working from the acclaimed novel of the same name by Jerzy Andrzejewski, young director Andrzej Wajda fashioned a political thriller that encapsulates this change in a series of events that take place in a single day.

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Blu-ray movies

August 2021

Love Conquers All, Even Love at First Sight

The Criterion Collection 1072
Format: BD

Overall Enjoyment
***

Picture Quality
****

Sound Quality
***1/2

Extras
***

Love at first sight, lasting or not, is a fairly common theme, especially in film, where rules can be easily broken. The romance in the 1937 film History Is Made at Night presents a telling example. It’s the type of movie you can expect from director Frank Borzage, for whom love conquered all. Though not on the level of the director’s other work—A Farewell to Arms (1932), No Greater Glory (1934), or the somewhat revisionist Billy the Kid (1941)—the film is nonetheless an interesting testament to love and features splendid performances by its leads.

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Blu-ray movies

July 2021

Pristine BD Transfer of a Classic Film Noir by Samuel Fuller

The Criterion Collection 224
Format: BD

Overall Enjoyment
****

Picture Quality
****1/2

Sound Quality
***1/2

Extras
***1/2

The title of this 1953 thriller rolls easily off the tongue, crackling with the promise of adventure and excitement. The film itself provides that and much more. In writing the succinct, hard-hitting screenplay, director Samuel Fuller used his background in journalism to bring to life Dwight Taylor’s original story, based on a rejected filmscript. In my opinion, it’s one of Fuller’s best films.

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Blu-ray movies

June 2021

A Memorable Descent into Hell in a Pristine BD Transfer

The Criterion Collection 1078
Format: BD

Overall Enjoyment
****

Picture Quality
****1/2

Sound Quality
***1/2

Extras
***1/2

In Nightmare Alley, Stanton “Stan” Carlisle is a self-proclaimed selfish heel—but, as played by Tyrone Power, you can’t take your eyes off him. Power took on this complicated character in an effort to prove that he could be more than a matinee idol. He succeeded—his multilayered performance was worthy of (though didn’t win) an Oscar. But Darrell F. Zanuck, then head of 20th Century Fox, didn’t like the film, didn’t promote it, and let it die a box-office failure and a write-off. Now it’s recognized by many film critics as a masterpiece, an A-list film disguised as a B movie, the darkest of films noirs.

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  1. "The Furies"
  2. "The Naked City"
  3. "The Parallax View"
  4. "Minding the Gap"
  5. "Moonstruck"
  6. "The Hit"
  7. "Brute Force"
  8. "The Comfort of Strangers"
  9. "The War of the Worlds"
  10. "An Unmarried Woman"
  11. "Matewan"
  12. "Torso"
  13. "So Dark the Night"
  14. "The Fugitive Kind"
  15. "Fail-Safe"
  16. "Now, Voyager"
  17. "The Daytrippers"
  18. "Cluny Brown"
  19. "Fists in the Pocket"
  20. "Magnificent Obsession" (1954)
  21. "Klute"
  22. "War and Peace" (1966-67)
  23. "The Heiress"
  24. “A Face in the Crowd”
  25. "To Sleep with Anger"
  26. "The Magnificent Ambersons"
  27. "Horror Express"
  28. "Forty Guns"
  29. "Lost Horizon"
  30. "Dragon Inn"
  31. "My Man Godfrey"
  32. "Heaven Can Wait" (1943)
  33. "A Matter of Life and Death"
  34. "The Addiction"
  35. "Moonrise"
  36. "Killer Klowns from Outer Space"
  37. "King of Jazz"
  38. "Tom Jones"
  39. "Pulp"
  40. "Barry Lyndon"
  41. "The Big Knife"
  42. "The Breaking Point"
  43. "Lost in America"
  44. "Spotlight on a Murderer"
  45. "Rumble Fish"
  46. "Blow-Up"
  47. "The Lair of the White Worm"
  48. "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown"
  49. "The Asphalt Jungle"
  50. "McCabe & Mrs. Miller"
  51. "Night Train to Munich"
  52. "Chimes at Midnight"
  53. "Carnival of Souls"
  54. "Here Comes Mr. Jordan"
  55. "In a Lonely Place"
  56. "Only Angels Have Wings"
  57. "Bicycle Thieves"
  58. "My Own Private Idaho"
  59. "Gilda"
  60. "The American Friend"
  61. "In Cold Blood"
  62. "Kwaidan"
  63. "The Honeymoon Killers"
  64. "Day for Night"
  65. "Night and the City"
  66. "The Killers"
  67. "Ride the Pink Horse"
  68. "Odd Man Out'
  69. "Sullivan's Travels"
  70. "The Soft Skin"
  71. "Mark of the Devil"
  72. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (75th Anniversary Edition)
  73. "The Sword of Doom"
  74. "The Palm Beach Story"
  75. "It Happened One Night"
  76. "Safe" (1995)
  77. "Time Bandits"
  78. "The Shooting / Ride in the Whirlwind"
  79. "F for Fake"
  80. "My Darling Clementine"
  81. "The Vanishing" (1988)
  82. "Dracula" (1979)
  83. "The Innocents"
  84. "Macbeth" (1971)
  85. "All That Jazz"
  86. "Vengeance Is Mine"
  87. "Insomnia" (1997)
  88. "Judex"
  89. "Red River"
  90. "Touch of Evil"
  91. "Ace in the Hole"
  92. "Double Indemnity: 70th Anniversary Limited Edition"
  93. "Riot in Cell Block 11"
  94. "Inside Llewyn Davis"
  95. "The Hidden Fortress"
  96. "Tess"
  97. "Foreign Correspondent"
  98. "Rififi"
  99. "Throne of Blood"
  100. "The Uninvited" (1944)
  101. "Eyes Without a Face"
  102. "The Devil’s Backbone"
  103. "Seconds"
  104. "Babette's Feast"
  105. "Things to Come"
  106. "Richard III"
  107. "Jack Reacher"
  108. "The Blob"
  109. "Badlands"
  110. "Africa: Eye to Eye with the Unknown"
  111. "On the Waterfront"
  112. "The Awakening"
  113. "The Tin Drum"
  114. "Purple Noon"
  115. "Manufactured Landscapes"
  116. "Rashomon"
  117. "Rosemary's Baby"
  118. "Moonrise Kingdom"
  119. "Les visiteurs du soir"
  120. "Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures"
  121. "Titanic"
  122. The Rescuers: 35th Anniversary Edition (The Rescuers / The Rescuers Down Under)
  123. "The Hunger Games"
  124. "Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax"
  125. "High Fidelity"
  126. "Down by Law"
  127. "Yellow Submarine"
  128. "Barbarella"
  129. "Shallow Grave"
  130. "Accident"
  131. "The Secret World of Arrietty"
  132. "Buck Privates"
  133. "Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol"
  134. "War Horse"
  135. "A Night to Remember"
  136. "To Catch a Thief"
  137. "Dangerous Liaisons"
  138. "Lady and the Tramp: Diamond Edition"
  139. "Real Steel"
  140. "Godzilla"
  141. "Design for Living"
  142. "Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy"
  143. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes"
  144. "The Lady Vanishes" (1938)
  145. "The Debt"
  146. "Super 8"
  147. "Beginners"
  148. "Island of Lost Souls"
  149. "The Four Feathers" (1939)
  150. "The Tree of Life"
  151. "Captain America: The First Avenger"
  152. "The Lion King: Diamond Edition"
  153. "Dumbo: 70th Anniversary Edition"
  154. "Hanna"
  155. "Cul-de-sac"
  156. "Jane Eyre"
  157. "Source Code"
  158. "Insidious"
  159. "Beauty and the Beast" (1946)
  160. "Kiss Me Deadly"
  161. "Solaris"
  162. "American Graffiti"
  163. "Papillon"
  164. "Smiles of a Summer Night"
  165. "Blow Out"
  166. "Kes"
  167. "The Incredibles"
  168. "Tron: Legacy / Tron: The Original Classic"
  169. "The Ten Commandments"
  170. "Topsy-Turvy"
  171. "Sweet Smell of Success"
  172. "Fish Tank"
  173. "Bambi"
  174. "Waiting for Superman"
  175. "Let Me In"
  176. "Alice in Wonderland: 60th Anniversary Edition"
  177. "Once Upon a Time in America"
  178. "The American"
  179. "Backdraft: Anniversary Edition"
  180. "The Disappearance of Alice Creed"
  181. "Cronos"
  182. "Fantasia / Fantasia 2000"
  183. "America Lost and Found: The BBS Story"
  184. "Disney’s A Christmas Carol"
  185. "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: Level Up! Collector’s Edition"
  186. "Toy Story 3"
  187. "I Am Love"
  188. "Psycho -- 50th Anniversary Edition"
  189. "The Magician"
  190. "Beauty and the Beast: Three-Disc Diamond Edition"
  191. "Babies"
  192. "Breathless"
  193. "Eyeborgs"
  194. "Black Orpheus"
  195. "Kalifornia"
  196. "Mother"
  197. "Black Narcissus"
  198. "Brooklyn’s Finest"
  199. "The Leopard"
  200. "Green Zone"
  201. "Flash Gordon"
  202. "The Wolfman: Two-Disc Unrated Director’s Cut"
  203. "The Road"
  204. "Tombstone"
  205. "Saving Private Ryan: Sapphire Series"
  206. "M"
  207. "Avatar"
  208. "Ride with the Devil"
  209. "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call -- New Orleans"
  210. "Sherlock Holmes"
  211. "Broken Embraces"
  212. "Toy Story: Special Edition"

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