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Blu-ray Movies

"The Furies"

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Blu-ray movies

May 2021

Classical Mythology on the Range

The Criterion Collection 435
Format: BD

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Director Anthony Mann, a native of San Diego, long wanted to film Shakespeare’s King Lear as a Western. He had a plan for a final film, but died before it could get off the ground. Earlier Westerns, however, gave nods to the Bard of Avon, and the earliest example is The Furies (1950). Mann’s first A-list film, it was based on the popular novel of that title by Niven Busch, whose earlier novel Duel in the Sun had been filmed in 1946. Busch had already cowritten the scripts for The Westerner (1940), The Postman Always Rings Twice, and many other films. Like Mann, he strove to break away from the good-guys-in-white-hats Western to tell stories of greater psychological depth in which no character is wholly good or bad.

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"The Naked City"

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Blu-ray movies

March 2021

A City of Eight Million Stories

The Criterion Collection 380
Format: BD

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“There are eight million stories in the Naked City. This has been one of them.”

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"The Parallax View"

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Blu-ray movies

February 2021

Alan J. Pakula’s Masterpiece of Paranoia on BD

The Criterion Collection 1064
Format: BD

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The Parallax View (1974) is the second of what has been called director Alan J. Pakula’s Paranoia Trilogy, bracketed by Klute (1971) and All the President’s Men (1976). Although each film deals with a conspiracy, only the last is based on historical events.

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"Minding the Gap"

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Blu-ray movies

January 2021

Raw and Riveting Documentary About a Lot More than Skateboards

The Criterion Collection 1061
Format: BD

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While best known for their restorations of classic films, once in a while The Criterion Collection deems something recent worthy of its attentions—such as Minding the Gap (2018), the first feature-length film to be directed by Chinese-American cameraman Bing Liu. It’s less “a skateboarding movie” than a riveting documentary on the lasting effects of domestic abuse.

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"Moonstruck"

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Blu-ray movies

December 2020

The Moon, Magic, and Perfection in the Air

The Criterion Collection 1053
Format: BD

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Canadian Norman Jewison made some fine films in his 41-year career as a director, including The Cincinnati Kid (1965), In the Heat of the Night (1967), The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Fiddler on the Roof (1971), A Soldier’s Story (1984), and Agnes of God (1985). But Moonstruck (1987) stands out as a masterpiece of romantic comedy, a film so perfect I find no fault in it.

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"The Hit"

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Blu-ray movies

November 2020

A Slow-Burn, Murderous Road Trip Through Spain

The Criterion Collection 469
Format: BD

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Stephen Frears directed The Hit in 1984, shortly before making what many consider his best-known film, My Beautiful Laundrette (1985). In The Hit, Willie Parker (Terence Stamp), a London gangster, turns court evidence on his four co-conspirators. Flash forward ten years -- Willie, living the life of Riley in Spain, has a hacienda with a spectacular view, a fabulous book collection, and goes on bicycle rides accompanied by an inept bodyguard.

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"Brute Force"

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Blu-ray movies

October 2020

Prison-Reform Agitprop ca. 1947

The Criterion Collection 383
Format: BD

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In these weeks and months following the death of George Floyd, we’ve heard a lot about prison reform and police brutality. The issue has been around a while -- witness this 1947 film from director Jules Dassin and producer Mark Hellinger. But there’s a huge difference between the prison-reform controversy of the 1940s and today’s: Few Black faces are seen among the prisoners in Brute Force, who are mostly white. The themes, on the other hand, are all too familiar.

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"The Comfort of Strangers"

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Blu-ray movies

September 2020

Terror Lurks in the Shadows of Venice

The Criterion Collection 1041
Format: BD

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In The Comfort of Strangers (1990), Colin (Rupert Everett) and Mary (Natasha Richardson) are on holiday in Venice, trying to define their relationship. Mary wants a firmer commitment; Colin is happy with the loose arrangement they’ve had so far. In early scenes, they frankly address their differences -- or rather, Mary addresses, Colin deflects. Seemingly by accident, they run into a married couple, Robert (Christopher Walken) and Caroline (Helen Mirren), who live in a luxurious, Byzantine-style apartment. Robert tells them much of his history and acts as a tour guide; Caroline’s part in this story grows more gradually.

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"The War of the Worlds"

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Blu-ray movies

August 2020

A Sci-Fi Classic Reborn on Criterion BD

The Criterion Collection 1037
Format: BD

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H.G. Wells’s science-fiction novel The War of the Worlds was first serialized in Pearson’s Magazine in 1897, and published in hardcover by William Heinemann the following year. In the 122 years since it has appeared in numerous versions, including several films. But the 1953 version directed by Byron Haskin and produced by George Pal, though freely adapted from Wells’s story, has proven the most iconic and durable. Nearly 70 years after its release, The Criterion Collection’s bang-up edition informs us that it’s a classic that will remain in the repertory.

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"An Unmarried Woman"

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Blu-ray movies

July 2020

Jill Clayburgh’s Radiance and Depth

The Criterion Collection 1032
Format: BD

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After establishing shots of New York City set to composer Bill Conti’s jaunty main theme, we discover a jogging couple: Erica (Jill Clayburgh) and Martin (Michael Murphy). She’s happy and carefree; he’s quarrelsome, nervous, withdrawn. When he steps in some dog poop and begins having a conniption, she placates him, and they then run home to make love. There we’re introduced to their 15-year-old daughter, Patti (Lisa Lucas), and this well-to-do family’s domestic life. It all looks perfect. Later, as Erica and Martin are taking a walk, he trembles as he tells her, “I’m in love with another woman.”

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

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