After handling the social dramas Gentleman’s Agreement and Pinky, director Elia Kazan returned to the docu-style of Boomerang, this time relishing the tension of a city manhunt for a handful of possibly infected plague carriers. Kazan’s use of genuine locations is superb, capturing the grime of poverty-row housing, ethnic ghettos, and the gleaming city buildings and streets which house nervous state officials looking for a quick fix for a messy problem…
After earning an Oscar Nomination for her starring role in Peyton Place (1957) and getting important supporting roles in The Young Lions (1958) and In Love and War (1958), Hope Lange was given the plum role of Caroline Baker, the suburban girl who travels to the Big Apple after earning a business degree, and slowly rises to the upper echelons of Derby Publishing from typist to book editor…
If a supporting role in Bernadine proved to Fox brass that singer Pat Boone could in fact act (and make money for the studio), then it seemed natural to quickly slide the crooner into a starring project that tied all the demographics together into a light, almost classically written puffball musical…
Return to: Home / Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews / J to L . Film: Very Good / BR Transfer: Very Good/ BR Extras: Excellent Label: Twilight Time / Region:All / Released: July 9, 2013 Genre: Romance / Drama / Biography Synopsis: A Eurasian doctor living in 1949 Hong Kong falls for a married American war correspondent. Special […]
Return to: Home / Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews / D . Film: Excellent/ BR Transfer: Excellent/ BR Extras: Excellent Label: Twilight Time/ Region: All / Released: 2013 Genre: Western Synopsis: Pioneers struggle to rebuild their lives after a marauding force of Tory-led Mohawks devastate their homestead. Special Features: Audio Commentary with film historians Julie Kirgo and Nick […]
Return to: Home / Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews / S . Film: Excellent/ BD Transfer: Excellent/ BD Extras: Excellent Label: Twilight Time/ Region: All / Released: March 26, 2013 Genre: Historical Drama Synopsis: Classic tale of Bernadette Soubirous, a young French girl who experiences a Holy vision and struggles against poverty, ridicule, and threats from the town […]
Return to: Home / Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews / P to R . Film: Excellent/ DVD Transfer: Very Good/ DVD Extras: Very Good Label: Twentieth Century-Fox/ Region: 1 (NTSC) / Released: November 1, 2005 Genre: Drama / Romance / Disaster Synopsis: The arrival of a wealthy trollop upsets the social balance of an Indian province prior to […]
Editor’s Blog on CinemaScope and reviews of The Robe (Fox) and Demetrius and the Gladiators (Twilight Time), plus Bella Darvi in Hell and High Water (Fox), and soundtrack reviews of Alfred Newman’s The Robe (La-La Land) and Franz Waxman’s Demetrius and the Gladiators (FSM).
Return to: Home / Soundtrack Reviews / P to R . Rating: Excellent Label: La-La Land Records/ Released: March 27, 2012 Tracks & Album Length: CD1: 18 tracks / (56:08) + CD2: 20 tracks / (55:23) . Special Notes: 12-page colour booklet with liner notes by film historian Julie Kirgo / Limited to 2,000 copies. . Composer: Alfred […]
Return to: Home / Soundtrack Reviews / D . Rating: Excellent Label: Film Score Monthly/ Released: January, 2002 Tracks & Album Length: 29 tracks / (61:52) . Special Notes: 16-page colour booklet with liner notes by Lukas Kendall and Christopher Husted / Limited to 3,000 copies. . Composer: Franz Waxman, Alfred Newman (“The Robe”theme) . . Review: […]
Walter Wanger’s Arabian Adventures
Reviews of two Arabian adventure-romance mini-epics from producer Walter Wanger: The Adventures of Hajji Baba (1954) on Blu from Twilight Time + Arabian Nights (1942) from Universal.
Stinkers of 2018: Mile 22 + Peppermint
Two of 2018’s action stinkers are reviewed this week: Peter Berg’s Mile 22 + Pierre Morel’s Peppermint.
Sunshine (1973) + R.I.P. Nick Redman (1955-2019)
Review of the touching docu-drama Sunshine (1973) + R.I.P. Twilight Time’s Nick Redman (1955-2019).
Trick Films I: Bad Times at the El Royale (2018) + The Hateful Eight (2015)
Reviews of Drew Goddard’s Bad Times at the El Royale (2018) + Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight (2015), films that converge towards tricky finales.
Two Shades of the Flint, Michigan, Water Crisis: Fahrentheit 11/9 (2018) + Flint (2017)
Reviews of two films ostensibly about the water Crisis in Flint, Michigan: Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 11/9 (2018) from WHV + Bruce Beresford’s Flint (2017) from Sony.
Viva Amiga’s Zach Weddington (and a bit of gear talk)
Podcast interview with Zach Weddington on Viva Amiga, his affectionate documentary on the pioneering multimedia computer (plus a bit of gear talk).
Patricia Rozema’s Singing Mermaids & White Room + Bonus Audio from NCFD 2018
Review of the CanCon classic I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing (1987) and much-maligned White Room (1990) + Q&A audio of director Patricia Rozema & journalist Kiva Reardon during National Canadian Film Day.
ArtScopeTO 07: Interview with Photographer Andre Vittorio
Aprils ArtScopeTO podcast features photographer Andre Vittorio, whose series Abstractions on Metal can be seen at Toronto’s Urban Gallery until Sat. April 28, 2018.
BR: Adventures of Hajji Baba, The (1954)
When Monogram Pictures morphed into Allied Artists around 1953, the poverty row studio took several cracks at B+ and the odd A-level picture during the mid-1950s, including their first foray into CinemaScope…
Inspired by the success of Rank’s Technicolor extravaganza The Thief of Bagdad (1940), producer Walter Wanger set up a sweet deal to produce films for Universal, and the first production to benefit from the studio’s talent and cash pool was Arabian Nights…
Action dramas about characters struggling to get from point A to B within a set time frame aren’t new – Richard Donner tackled one in 13 Blocks, although it helped shutter his lengthy, box office-friendly career after 2006 – but they’re rarely successful when the script fails…
Peppermint is the latest revenge thriller in which a mature actor plays a character whose family is either endangered (Taken) or dead, or whose own life is part of a larger scheme to hush an opponent permanently (The Gunman)…
Based on the published journals by Jacquelyn Helton, Carol Sobieski’s adaptation follows the basic chronology of a young mother diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer, and her decision to dictate personal thoughts, articulate feelings, and provide advice for the daughter and husband destined to lose her at age 20…
Written during his busiest period (1968-1970), Quincy Jones’ score for John and Mary was quite sparse, leaving obligatory space for the film’s myriad dialogue exchanges and source music, but the score is memorable for being atypical of the material Jones was writing at the time: action comedies (The Italian Job, The Hell with Heroes), comedies (Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice,Cactus Flower), and the funky style of They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!
For some soundtrack fans, it was a bit of surprise to learn the composer of pioneering synth scores had begun his career with large orchestral scores for John Boorman’s Excalibur (1981) and Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal (1982)…
LP: Bourne Identity, The (2002)
The first film in the enduring franchise gave John Powell the perfect opportunity to write what remains both his definitive action sound, and the definitive action score of that decade, blending large orchestral sounds with layers upon layers of electronics…
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