Category: EDITOR’S BLOG

Early Technicolor Films: Part 1

Early Technicolor Films: Part 1

August 12, 2009 | By | Add a Comment

Back in July, Universal released Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936). The film is an important stepping stone in the history of colour cinema because it marked the first time a feature-length movie was shot on location with Technicolor’s new (and very big) 3-strip cameras.

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Leisure Still Rules

Leisure Still Rules

August 7, 2009 | By | Add a Comment

It’s no secret that around the time of Curly Sue (1991), his last effort in the director’s chair, John Hughes (1950 – 2009) was starting to lose his so-called golden touch, although that’s really a facile statement, since Hughes’ prominence came when he inadvertently overhauled the youth film from a stale genre to something energetic, witty, incisive and hugely commercial.

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Fall Canadian DVD & Blu-ray announcements

Fall Canadian DVD & Blu-ray announcements

August 7, 2009 | By | Add a Comment

J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek will street Nov. 17, and Paramount will spread the film out on single disc and 2-disc standard DVD editions, as well as a 3-disc Blu-ray release, the latter featuring what’s billed as “plot-based deleted scenes,” a new phrase that’s rather baffling, given most deleted scenes were originally conceived to advance plotting, if […]

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Music From The Movies DVD Column: Archived, and Good to Go

Music From The Movies DVD Column: Archived, and Good to Go

August 5, 2009 | By | Add a Comment

Why bother archiving old columns for DVD releases with unique film music content from years ago? Is it ego? Or just the cold hard fact that words written – good, bad, or blatherish – can vanish when a site folds? If one comes from a print background, the discomfort is when the physical medium of one’s work is no longer in print, and the content can’t be…

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From Shorts to Features – Part Two

From Shorts to Features – Part Two

August 1, 2009 | By | Add a Comment

Brian Hecker’s period at the AFI yielded the short Family Attraction (1998), which reportedly became one of the AFI’s most popular shorts – unsurprising that it would be the first of six films in Vanguard’s DVD 2003 collection, Celebrating AFI. Hecker eventually wrote and directed his first feature, Bart Got a Room (Anchor Bay/Starz) ten years later, wherein he mined his uncomfortable teen years for a refreshing take on guy-getting-girl-for-prom plot…

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