1981/2006 A grand cinematic achievement and one which remains disquietingly relevant, Warren Beatty’s magnum opus “Reds” stands as the last of a now-vanished breed: the intelligent, costly and compelling Hollywood epic “? to think that studios once cranked out films that not only dazzled with lavish locations, but also put words worth considering in actors’ […]
Arts & Culture
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Big Love: The Complete First Season
2006 HBO continues to search for the answer to that nagging question: What will the cable network do once “The Sopranos,” David Chase’s sprawling criminal saga, calls it quits early next year? An array of comedies and dramas are vying to be the savior and while “The Wire” and “Entourage” are leaving their marks, HBO […]
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The Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection
Various/2006 Here’s another collection from Universal, which seems determined to mine its reputation for Thirties to Fifties science fiction and horror for all it’s worth. This set contains five goofy sci-fi flicks from the Fifties, including one gem (“The Incredible Shrinking Man”), one near-miss (“Tarantula”) and three that are so silly, you’ll grin for […]
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The War Game/Culloden
1964/1965/2006 A jarring piece of docudrama filmmaking that retains its power to disturb more than 40 years later, Peter Watkins’ searing film about nuclear war and its terrifying aftermath in a typical English city was deemed too intense and violent to broadcast by the BBC in 1965, becoming a theatrical release instead. Deliberately low-budget […]
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A Nightmare on Elm Street: Infinifilm Edition
1984/2006 “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” Wes Craven’s surreal, scary breakthrough, cemented its creator as a horror director par excellence, delivered scarred maniac Freddy Krueger into America’s cinematic conscience and put fledgling studio New Line Cinema on the map —? oh, and some kid named Johnny Depp pops up here, too. I wonder if he […]
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Putney Swope
1969/2006 Very much a film of its time, Robert Downey Sr.’s anarchic satire “Putney Swope” plays now like less of an incendiary social commentary and more of an antiquated goof “? bizarre affectations, such as Downey dubbing all of his leading man’s lines, lend the film an even more dated air. The plot is […]
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The Break-Up
2006 “The Break-Up” is a sour surprise for anyone expecting a fluffy date-night confection. Gleefully peeling back the facade of a typical, blandly predictable Hollywood rom-com and brazenly wading into a splintering couple’s neuroses, director Peyton Reed and stars Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston perform a risky high-wire act to impressive effect. By […]
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Clean, Shaven: Criterion Collection
1994/2006 “Clean, Shaven” is not a film easily forgotten “? a shattering, immersive experience in which viewers are thrown headlong into the abyss of mental illness, placed in the fractured, confused mind of a schizophrenic (the masterful Peter Greene) as he tries to track down his daughter following his release from an institution. A […]
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The Boris Karloff Collection
Various/2006 You would think that a review of this set would begin with the phrase “just in time for Halloween,” but the truth is that “The Boris Karloff Collection” contains mostly historical melodramas “? a genre Karloff loved “? and one oddball crime story (“Night Key”), so it isn’t particularly Halloween-y at all. It’s […]
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Lady Vengeance
2005 Park Chan Wook concludes his revenge trilogy with “Lady Vengeance,” a terrific black comedy about a young woman who spends 13 years in prison for a crime she confessed to but didn’t commit. When she’s released, she has a plan in place for vengeance against the true perpetrator. The remarkable Yeong-ae Lee stars as […]