River of No Return (1954)

River of No Return is my favorite Marilyn Monroe film. Her performance in this on-the-road story of a saloon singer caught in a love triangle is a little more subtle than some of her other characters. When Monroe shares quiet moments with her young co-star (Tommy Rettig) she's at her best. There's something right about seeing Monroe smack-dab in Heartland country. She seems more natural, more herself, in blue jeans and boots compared to her iconic white dress blowing in the wind persona.

Robert Micthum is perfectly cast as the brooding, "man of the wild" that shows Monroe's character a more simple way of living. River of No Return is exactly the kind of movie that should be programmed the at TCM Film Festival.

River of No Return is available on Netflix.

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The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is a French musical that was nominated for five Academy Awards including best original song and best screenplay. If it's not on your classic quirky list then it should be. The film centers around two young lovers, a store keeper and a mechanic, and their quest to stay together despite their different social standings.

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Notable New Releases

Edge of Darkness
Mel Gibson's return to acting is decent but not anything special. It's not as complex as the UK mini-series it's based on and there isn't a lot of action, so it ends up being just a lighter version of Taken.

Extras include:

• Deleted Scenes
• Craven's War of Attrition
• Mel's Back
• Director Martin Campbell
• Making a Ghost Character Real
• Boston as a Character
• Adapting the Edge of Darkness Mini-series
• Revisiting the Edge of Darkness Mini-series
• Edge of Your Seat
• Scoring the Film

Daybreakers
Have heard good things about the Spierig Brothers' (Undead) vampire flick, so i'll have to check it out.

Extras include:

• Commentary
• The Making of Daybreakers - 2 hour documentary
• The Big Picture - Spierig Bros. Short Film
• Bonusview Storyboards/Animatics
• Poster Art Gallery

[READ MORE...]

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Notable New Releases

Nine
Despite the bad reviews, as a fan of Fellini and Daniel Day-Lewis I must give it a rent.

Extras include:

• Commentary
• The Incomparable Daniel Day-Lewis
• The Women of Nine
• Director Rob Marshall
• Behind the Look of Nine
• The Dancers of Nine
• The Choreography of 'Be Italian'
• The Making of 'Cinema Italiano'
• The Choreography of 'Cinema Italiano'
• Sophia Loren Remembers Cinecitta Studios
• Screen Actors Guild Q&A
• Music Videos: "Cinema Italiano" featuring Kate Hudson, "Take it All" featuring Marion Cotillard, and "Unusual Way" featuring Griffith Frank

Tetro
I can't wait to see Francis Ford Coppola's latest!

Extras include:

• Commentary
• The Ballet
• Mihai Malaimare, Jr.: The Cinematographer of Tetro
• The Rehearsal Process
• Osvaldo Golijov: Music Born from the Film
• La Colifata: Siempre Fui Loco (I've Always Been Crazy)
• Fausta: A Drama in Verse
• Tetro End Credits

Doctor Zhivago Blu-ray
David Lean's classic has always been split up due ot its length but now is available on one disc and in high-def!

Extras include:

• Commentary
• Doctor Zhivago: A Celebration, Parts 1 & 2
• The Making of Doctor Zhivago
• New York Press Interviews
• Behind the Camera with David Lean
• David Lean's Film of Doctor Zhivago
• Pasternak
• Moscow in Madrid
• Geraldine Chaplin Screen Test
• This Is Shorts - brief introductions to Sharif, Christie, and Chaplin
• Cast & Crew
• Awards
• Soundtrack Sampler CD

[READ MORE...]

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TCM Classic Film Fest: Metropolis + Some Like It Hot

The TCM Classic Film Fest is a great place for movie buffs to enjoy watching some of their favorites in a packed theater. Tonight marks the closing ceremonies for the festival including showings of Metropolis at Grauman's Chinese Theatre (7pm) and Some Like it Hot at the Egyptian Theatre (7:15pm).

Metropolis will include a live orchestra accompanying the film and Some Like It Hot includes a discussion with star Tony Curtis.

For ticket info visit www.tcm.com/festival

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TCM Classic Film Fest: Breathless

Don't miss the opportunity to see Jean-Luc Godard's French New Wave classic Breathless on the big screen. The showing will include an appearance from star Jean-Paul Belmondo at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. 8pm.

For ticket info visit www.tcm.com/festival

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Notable New Releases

Crazy Heart
It's a lot like The Wrestler, but with country music. Very simple and very effective. Jeff Bridges' performance as washed out country singer Bad Blake is magnificent. He completely inhabits the role and does all his own singing and playing. Maggie Gyllenhaal is just as great, playing opposite him as struggling single mother Jean. The music is of course amazing and the final song (which we see Blake writing throughout the film) will break you.

Extras include:

• Deleted Scenes
• Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Robert Duvall interviews (BD exclusive)

The Lovely Bones
Missed this one and it got terrible reviews, but i'm willing to give Peter Jackson a chance and it has a really extensive making of doc.

Extras include:

• Introduction by Peter Jackson
• Filming 'The Lovely Bones' - a three hour documentary that chronicles the making of the film (BD exclusive)

The Young Victoria
Nothing new but a solid period romance. Emily Blunt does great work here.

Extras include:

• Deleted Scenes
• Making of The Young Victoria
• The Real Queen Victoria
• The Coronation
• The Wedding
• Lavish History: A Look at the Costumes and Locations

[READ MORE...]

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Criterion Collection Announces July Titles

The Red Shoes
On July 20th, the studio will release Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's classic The Red Shoes (1948) on DVD/Blu-ray with a new, restored high-definition digital transfer (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition).

Extras include:

• Audio commentary by film historian Ian Christie, featuring interviews with stars Marius Goring and Moira Shearer, cinematographer Jack Cardiff, composer Brian Easdale, and filmmaker Martin Scorsese
• Introductory restoration demonstration with Scorsese
• Profile of 'The Red Shoes' (2000), a 25-minute documentary
• Video interview with Thelma Schoonmaker Powell, Michael Powell's widow
• Gallery from Scorsese's collection of The Red Shoes memorabilia
• The 'Red Shoes' Sketches, an animated film made from Hein Heckroth's painted storyboards
• Readings by actor Jeremy Irons of excerpts from Powell and Pressburger's novelization of The Red Shoes and the original Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale
• Theatrical trailer
• A booklet featuring an essay by Ian Christie

Black Narcissus
On July 20th, they will also release Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's Black Narcissus (1947) on DVD/Blu-ray with a new, restored high-definition digital transfer (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition).

Extras include:

• Video introduction by French filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier
• Audio commentary featuring the late director Michael Powell and filmmaker Martin Scorsese
• The Audacious Adventurer, a 2006 video piece in which Tavernier discusses Black Narcissus and Powell
• Profile of 'Black Narcissus' (2000), a 25-minute documentary
• Painting with Light, a twenty-seven-minute documentary about Jack Cardiff's Oscar-winning cinematography on Black Narcissus
• Original theatrical trailer
• A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Kent Jones

[READ MORE...]

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Notable New Releases

Fantastic Mr. Fox
Wes Anderson does Roald Dahl with excellent results. One of my favorite films of last year. It's a funny, odd, sweet, visual masterpiece. Cussin' buy it!

Extras include:

• The Look of Fantastic Mr. Fox (BD-exclusive)
• From Script to Screen
• The Puppet Makers (BD-exclusive)
• Still Life: Puppet Animation
• The Cast (BD-exclusive)
• Bill and His Badger (BD-exclusive)
• A Beginner's Guide to Whack-Bat
• Fantastic Mr. Fox: The World of Roald Dahl (BD-exclusive)

Brothers
Missed it in theaters, but heard its got some great performances so i'll have to check it out.

Extras include:

• Commentary
• Remade In The USA
• Jim Sheridan - Film and Family

Mad Men: Season Three
The return of Don Draper. One of the best shows on TV right now.

Extras include:

• Commentaries for all episodes
• 'Medgar Evers: An Unsung Hero'
• Up In Smoke - a visual depiction of the juxtaposition between the world of advertising and big tobacco
• We Shall Overcome: The March on Washington - Dr. King's speech accompanied by images detailing the historical moment when over 250,000 people came together for the March on Washington
• Mad Men Illustrated - Dyna Moe invites you to scroll through the slightly "animated" photo gallery of the Mad Men Illustrations accompanied with commentary from the illustrator extraordinaire
• Flashback 1963 - An interactive look at the events and themes that defined the year

[READ MORE...]

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Criterion Collection Announces June Titles

Mystery Train
First, on June 15, the studio will release Mystery Train (1989) on DVD/Blu-ray, with a transfer supervised and approved by director Jim Jarmusch (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition).

Extras inlcude:

• Two video Q&As with Jarmusch, one from the 2009 All Tomorrow's Parties festival in New York and one in which he responds to questions sent in by fans
• Original documentary on Mystery Train's locations and Memphis's rich social and musical history
• On-set photos by Masayoshi Sukita, and behind-the-scenes photos
• A booklet featuring essays by writers Peter Guralnick and Dennis Lim, as well as a collectible poster

Close-Up
On June 22nd, they will release Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami's fiction-documentary hybrid Close-Up (1990) on DVD/Blu-ray, with a new, restored high-definition digital transfer.

Extras include:

• Audio commentary by Mehrnaz Saeed-Vafa and Jonathan Rosenbaum, authors of Abbas Kiarostami
• The Traveler, a notable early feature by director Abbas Kiarostami
• 'Close-Up' Long Shot, a forty-five-minute documentary on Close-up’s central figure, Hossein Sabzian, five years after Kiarostami’s film
• New video interview with Kiarostami
• A Walk with Kiarostami (2003), a thirty-two-minute documentary portrait of the director by Iranian film professor Jamsheed Akrami
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Godfrey Cheshire

[READ MORE...]

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Notable New Releases

Where The Wild Things Are
After years of anticipation, Spike Jonze's vision absolutely lived to my expectations. It is a beautiful film about childhood. Jim Henson's costumes, Karen O's music, Max Record's lead performance, the surprisingly dark script, and Jonze's loose direction all come together to form a pitch-perfect portrait of the isolation and imagination of a kid. It is a film that I will continue to revisit for years to come.

Extras include:

• Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More To Life Short Film
• HBO First Look
• Maurice and Spike
• Max and Spike
• The Records Family
• Carter Burwell
• The Absurd Difficulty of Filming a Dog
• The Big Prank
• The Kids Take Over the Picture
• Vampire Attack

Ponyo
It's Miyazaki. Buy it.

Extras include:

• Meet Ponyo
• Storyboard Experience Picture-in-Picture track
• The World of Ghibli - Behind the Studio
• The World of Ghibli - Enter the Lands Interactive Tour

[READ MORE...]

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Criterion Collection Announces May Titles

On May 11, the illustrious studio will release Fritz Lang's psychological thriller M on Blu-ray. A week later, Nicolas Roeg's Walkabout will hit shelves on DVD/Blu-ray. Finally, on May 25, Criterion will release John Ford's classic western Stagecoach and By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volumes One and Two on DVD/Blu-ray.

M Blu-ray
Peter Lorre stars as serial killer Hans Beckert in Fritz Lang’s harrowing masterwork M, a suspenseful panorama of private madness and public hysteria that to this day remains the blueprint for the psychological thriller.

Extras include:

• Audio commentary by German film scholars Anton Kaes and Eric Rentschler
• The long-lost English-language version of M
• Documentary on the physical history of M, from production to distribution to digital restoration
• Conversation with Fritz Lang, a fifty-minute film by William Friedkin
• Claude Chabrol's short film M le maudit, plus a video interview with Chabrol
• Classroom audiotapes of editor Paul Falkenberg discussing M and its history, set to clips from the film
• Video interview with Harold Nebenzal, son of M producer Seymour Nebenzal
• Stills gallery, with behind-the-scenes photos and production sketches
• A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Stanley Kauffmann, a 1963 interview with director Fritz Lang, the script for a missing scene, and contemporaneous newspaper articles

Walkabout
A young sister and brother are abandoned in the harsh Australian outback and must learn to exist in the natural world, without their usual comforts, in this hypnotic masterpiece from Nicolas Roeg.

Extras include:

• Audio commentary featuring director Nicolas Roeg and actress Jenny Agutter
• Video interviews with Agutter and actor Luc Roeg
• Gulpilil-One Red Blood (2002), an hour-long documentary on the life and career of actor David Gulpilil
• Theatrical trailer
• A booklet featuring an essay by author Paul Ryan

[READ MORE...]

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Notable New Releases

Black Dynamite
This blaxploitation parody looks hilarious and has gotten great reviews for its spot-on take on the genre.

Extras include:

• Commentary
• Deleted Scenes
• 'Lighting The Fuse' Making-of Featurette
• The 70's: Back in Action
• The Comic-Con Experience

Law Abiding Citizen
Didn't look great but everything I've heard suggests it's actually a pretty fun over-the-top revenge flick.

Extras include:

• Commentary
• The Justice of 'Law Abiding Citizen'
• Law in Black and White - Behind the Scenes
• Preliminary Arguments - Visual Effects Progressions
• The Verdict - Winning Trailer Mash-Up

Hunger (Criterion Collection)
Michael Fassbender's fearless performance has been earning rave reviews and I can't wait to check out the story of political prisoner Bobby Sands.

Extras include:

• Steve McQueen interview
• The Making of Hunger
• Michael Fassbender interview
• 'The Provos' Last Card?' 1981 News Program
• Booklet - a 16-page illustrated booklet containing Chris Darke's essay 'On The Threshold'

[READ MORE...] 

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Notable New Releases

Zombieland

A really funny movie that's a must see for horror fans. It's got clever writing (and titles), fun performances, and an amazing cameo. Grab some twinkies and enjoy.
Extras include:

• Commentary
  
• Deleted Scenes
  
• In Search of Zombieland
  
• Zombieland Is Your Land
  
• Visual Effects Progression Scenes
  
• Theatrical Promo Trailers

The House of the Devil
One of the best horror films i've seen in a while. Ti West's throwback to 80's horror is pitch-perfect. This is how you make an homage. It's a slow burn of a film, in the tradition of early Polanski, that really deserves to be a cult classic. Also for those of you who still have VCRs, Amazon is releasing an exclusive DVD/VHS bundle!
Extras include:

• Commentary
• Deleted Scenes
• In The House of the Devil
• Behind The House of the Devil

New York, I Love You
Twelve interwoven short films by renowned directors. Missed it in its limited run, but I loved Paris, Je T'aime and can't wait to check this out. It's a great concept and I hope they will make more movies/cities.
Extras include:

• Deleted Scenes
• Interviews

[READ MORE...] 

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Criterion Collection Announces April Titles

Vivre sa vie
The Criterion Collection announced they will release the visually stunning New Wave Jean-Luc Godard masterwork Vivre sa vie DVD/Blu-ray on April 20th. It will feature a new, restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition.

Extras include:

• Audio commentary featuring film scholar Adrian Martin
• Video interview with film scholar Jean Narboni, conducted by historian Noël Simsolo
• Television interview from 1962 with actress Anna Karina
• Excerpts from a 1961 French television exposé on prostitution
• Illustrated essay on La prostitution, the book that served as inspiration for the film
• Stills gallery
• Director Jean-Luc Godard’s original theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Michael Atkinson, interviews with Godard, a reprint by critic Jean Collet on the film’s soundtrack, and Godard’s original scenario

Summer Hours
The Criterion Collection announced they will release Olivier Assayas' Summer Hours DVD/Blu-ray on April 20th. It will feature a new, restored high-definition digital transfer, approved by director Olivier Assayas and cinematographer Eric Gautier, with DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition.

Extras include:

• New video interview with Assayas
• A short documentary featuring interviews with Assayas and actors Charles Berling and Juliette Binoche, and showing the cast and crew on set
• Inventory, an hour-long documentary by Olivier Gonard, shot partly in Paris’s Musée d’Orsay, that examines the film’s approach to art
• Theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Kent Jones

[READ MORE...]

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Criterion Collection Announces March Titles

If you love DVDs then you know the Criterion Collection by name. They have been committed to releasing important films in the best possible editions since 1984. They have also started re-releasing certain titles on Blu-ray. This March, they offer a slew of selections for film buffs.

The Criterion Collection announced they will release Marco Ferreri's Dillinger Is Dead on March 16th. It will feature a new, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director of photography Mario Vulpiani.

Special features include:

• New video interviews with actor Michel Piccoli and Italian film historian Adriano Aprà

• Excerpts from a 1997 roundtable discussion about director Marco Ferreri, with filmmakers Bernardo Bertolucci and Francesco Rosi and film historian Aldo Tassone, including clips of interviews with Ferreri

• Theatrical trailer

• New and improved subtitle translation

• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Michael Joshua Rowin and a selection of reprinted interviews with Ferreri

[READ MORE...]

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Irma La Douce

A young Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine play a mismatched couple in this cutesy 1963 romantic comedy.

In Paris, an ex-cop falls in love with a prostitute, and tries to get her out of that life by paying for all of her time. Not so easy...

Irma La Douce is definitely worth a rental, it has lots of funny moments and I wouldn't be surprised if they did a modern remake. You can catch it on the Starz channel throughout the month of August.




For fans of... Pretty Woman and The Girlfriend Experience.

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Two for the Road

Audrey Hepburn is the epitome of a quirky leading lady.

Her performance in Two for the Road bears remnants in modern roles like Natalie Portman in Garden State, Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and pretty much any film where Zooey Deschanel plays the love interest. Away We Go seems to have a Two for the Road vibe as well.

To put it simply...


If you haven't seen Hepburn in this classic film then rent or buy it ASAP. It's essential!

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