Posts Tagged ‘Classic’

Warlock (1959) DVD Review: A Dynamic Western Presented in an Outdated, Eviscerating Format

Posted: 17 April, 2013 in Movies/TV, TV
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Warlock (1959) DVD Review: A Dynamic Western Presented in an Outdated, Eviscerating Format

OK, so let me bring you up-to-date here, kids: recently, Fox Cinema Archives released several classic motion pictures – originally presented in theaters in CinemaScope – in the dreaded, severely outdated process of pan-and-scan (something that was used for older 4:3 TVs, but which is flat-out ridiculous in this day and age, what with widescreen television sets and all). As Douglas Adams would say: “This made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.” Well, seeing as how everyone else has griped about this faux pas (or would that be a “Fox pas“?) – including Cinema Sentries writer Will McKinley -  I’m just going to bypass the introductory bitching and actually discuss the fine motion picture Fox has massacred by presenting on DVD in this outdated, eviscerating format in 2013. Read the rest of this entry »

Blu-ray Review: Lisa and the Devil/The House of Exorcism – Arrow Video Release

Posted: 13 March, 2013 in Movies/TV
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Blu-ray Review: Lisa and the Devil/The House of Exorcism – Arrow Video Release

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: Lisa and the Devil/The House of Exorcism – Arrow Video Release on Blogcritics.

A misguided sense of marketing can be an amazing thing. It can lead promising individuals down a dark path wherein they sell their own souls just to keep the holy dollar rolling in — while guiding others to cater to the most obscenely heinous of gimmicks in order to gratify patrons that would probably do better without anyway (e.g. Beer Pong Tuesdays at a wine bar). And then there are those horrible folks that decide to change somebody else’s work just so they can cash-in on a topical craze. During the ’70s, many a shady film distributor would re-title a motion picture under their control and advertise it locally according to the current demand of a specific region. (more…)

Blu-ray Review: Black Sunday (1960) – Arrow Video Release

Posted: 25 February, 2013 in Movies/TV
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Blu-ray Review: Black Sunday (1960) – Arrow Video Release

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: Black Sunday (1960) – Arrow Video Release on Blogcritics.

In 1956, two Italian filmmakers set out to accomplish what surely seemed like an impossible feat at the time: to create a horror film in a country that had banned such a concept several decades earlier. The movie would come to be known in its native country as I Vampiri (and in America as The Devil’s Commandment) and its director — a fellow by the name of Riccardo Freda — eventually wound up leaving the project when his backers refused to allow him more time to complete the film in the meager 12-day shooting schedule they were given. This action left Freda’s cinematographer partner holding the (film) can, who was miraculously able to finish the second half of the feature in just two days. (more…)

DVD Review: Rosemary’s Baby – The Criterion Collection

Posted: 25 February, 2013 in Movies/TV
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DVD Review: Rosemary’s Baby – The Criterion Collection

Article first published as DVD Review: Rosemary’s Baby – The Criterion Collection on Blogcritics.

Whether you were raised in a household that was even slightly religious, or you grew up on the rough streets of an urban community, there’s a greater than average chance that you’ve heard the expression “Devil may care” at least once at some point in your existence. Indeed, sometimes that Lucifer fellow does in fact care — about someone’s existence, at that — thus, the occasional story or motion picture comes along that centers on a less-than-immaculate conception between Satan and some poor, hapless lass who resides in the human-based world. And there is perhaps no better tale of such an underworldly match-up than Rosemary’s Baby — the 1968 thriller from Roman Polanski based on the Ira Levin book of the same name. (more…)

Blu-ray Review: The Princess Bride – 25th Anniversary Edition

Posted: 7 February, 2013 in Movies/TV
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Blu-ray Review: The Princess Bride – 25th Anniversary Edition

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: The Princess Bride – 25th Anniversary Edition on Blogcritics.

Every now and then, the motion picture industry kicks some absolutely serious ass throughout an entire year with a venerable array of odds and ends that go down in cinematic history. One such year was 1987 — which delivered unto us movies to satisfy every genre lover: action (The Living Daylights), sci-fi (Predator), horror (Hellrasier), and even romance (Moonstruck). 1987 also gave us an unprecedented glimpse at to what can happen when someone successfully adapts a fantasy/adventure/comedy/romance novel many previously thought impossible to film. Never an easy task, indeed — especially back when movies didn’t have overrated CGI effects to rely upon. (more…)

Blu-ray Review: Universal 100th Anniversary Collection

Posted: 12 November, 2012 in Movies/TV
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Blu-ray Review: Universal 100th Anniversary Collection

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: Universal 100th Anniversary Collection on Blogcritics.

How does one even begin to describe the legacy that Universal Pictures has brought forth upon the film industry over the course of the last century? It is certainly an uneasy task — especially if you’re not all-too familiar with the movies the studio has released. Thankfully, should one be new to the world on home video in High-Definition (read: Blu-ray) and have saved up a few pennies to spend, the iconic company has released Universal 100th Anniversary Collection: a massive compilation of titles that earned them a few bucks back in the day — all of which have been released before as individual releases. (more…)

Fox Joins the MOD Race with Fox Cinema Archives

Posted: 18 October, 2012 in Movies/TV
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Fox Joins the MOD Race with Fox Cinema Archives

Article first published as Fox Joins the MOD Race with Fox Cinema Archives on Blogcritics.

When the folks at Warner Brothers beget their dynamic Warner Archive Collection in early 2009, movie lovers who had long found themselves on the verge of crying over their inability to locate obscure and hard-to-find movies on DVD finally found some peace. The burn-on-demand craze soon spread to other studios, with the folks at Sony, MGM, and Universal all contributed to completing (or at least adding to) cult and classic film enthusiasts’ collections all over. Now, here we are, a little more than three years down the line since Warner said “Hey, what if…?” and our friends at Fox have decided to bring their own movies to the party. (more…)

*Blu-ray Review* Universal Classics Monsters: The Essential Collection

Posted: 4 October, 2012 in Movies/TV
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Blu-ray Review: Universal Classics Monsters – The Essential Collection

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: Universal Classics Monsters – The Essential Collection on Blogcritics.

As a lad who grew up in the rural outlands of Northern California in the ’80s, there were few opportunities for me to catch many of the classic Universal horror films on the television (and absolutely no chances to see them in a theater). Thankfully, I managed to find the eight films which have been highly regarded as the truly quintessential monster masterpieces from Universal Studios over the years, and my obsession with the whole lot of ‘em only grew from childhood on. Well, most of ‘em: there was one that definitely didn’t move me the same way as the others — but more on that later. (more…)

Spin a Dark Web [aka Soho Incident] DVD Review: Forgotten British Film Noir

Posted: 19 July, 2012 in Movies/TV
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Spin a Dark Web [aka Soho Incident] DVD Review: Forgotten British Film Noir

With all the great American film noir movies out there, forever leaving their mark on experienced and newbie fans of cinema everywhere, it’s easy to forget that countries like England have contributed heavily to the genre. Sadly, many of them wind up getting swept underneath the giant carpet of time, waiting for the day when someone finds them and gives them a little distribution. One such forgotten item is a British flick that was originally entitled Soho Incident, but which was given the more lurid moniker Spin a Dark Web for its 1956 debut in the US.

[Read the rest at Cinema Sentries.]

*DVD Review* Sealab 2020: The Complete Series

Posted: 4 July, 2012 in Movies/TV, TV
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DVD Review: Sealab 2020 – The Complete Series

Article first published as DVD Review: Sealab 2020 – The Complete Series on Blogcritics.

You know, one really has to wonder where our advanced society would be today without the diligent pioneering efforts of animators William Hanna and Joseph Barbara. Why, without shows like The Flintstones, we might not have foot-powered cars made out of wood and stone. Were it not for The Jetsons, we wouldn’t be flying jet-cars and being waited on by robotic maids. And, if Hanna-Barbara not have given us the lesser-known animated cult classic, Sealab 2020, there stands an excellent chance that manned undersea scientific compounds would still be a figment of some sci-fi writer’s imagination. (more…)

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