Of games of death and dragons and fists and big bosses. Continue reading
Tagged with criterion …
“Best of Criterion’s New Releases, April 2020”
Me, you, and everyone we know, including Destry and the Cremator, take a trip to the Grand Budapest Hotel but get caught out by an army of shadows. Continue reading
“Best of Criterion’s New Releases, December 2019”
Temple Drake’s gonna tell her story with tunes of glory until the end of the world. Continue reading
“Best of Criterion’s New Releases, November 2019”
In November’s Criterion round-up: There’s a cold war being fought, Betty Blue and Eve make the voyage all about themselves. Continue reading
“Best of Criterion’s New Releases, October 2019”
All I want is to talk about Godzilla, but I’ll have to just settle for talking about Josef von Sternberg instead, even though his movies do not have radioactive thunder lizards in them. Continue reading
“Best of Criterion’s New Releases, August 2019”
And now, Andy gets to talk a little bit about Jane Campion. But only a little bit, because if he talks too much, you won’t click the link. Continue reading
Best of Criterion’s New Releases, May 2019
Two French masters, a Montanan master, and an Austrian master all walk into the Criterion Collection and that’s it, that’s the joke. Continue reading
“Best of Criterion’s New Releases, January 2019”
Elaine May, Alfred Hitchcock, Abbas “We Miss You” Kiarostami, and Norman Jewison’s unexpected tonic for “Green Book” make up the DNA of this month’s Criterion round-up. Continue reading
“Best of Criterion’s New Releases, November 2018”
I didn’t share this the other day because…I’m…lazy, I think? I gotta be honest, keeping this ol’ sucker up to date is a chore on my middling days (and don’t worry, it’s a joy on my best days). Also, I am never sure what the best way is to sum up the Criterion round-ups. We watched … Continue reading
“Best of Criterion’s New Releases, October 2018”
Want some words on the October Criterion Collection slate? As you wish! …look, I had to do it. I didn’t write about The Princess Bride; I had some Shampoo in my eyes. (I had to do that, too. Full of applesauce today, I am.) But in case you can never get enough of The Princess Bride, we have that. We … Continue reading
“Best of Criterion’s New Releases, September 2018”
Question: Does anyone care if Paste‘s Criterion round-ups publish the month after they’re intended for? This used to bother me just on grounds of professional, writerly pride, but I’m not sure anymore if it’s worth me being bothered by; by the time these pieces land, every release from the preceding month is commercially available, which feels … Continue reading
“Best of Criterion’s New Releases, August 2018”
It’s Criterion time! This time: A smaller slate, because at least one title got bumped from the August schedule. But as usual the slate’s damn good, even if my good buddy Oktay Ege Kozak didn’t like Smithereens as much as I did (and even if I did not like Smithereens anywhere near as much as I liked Memories … Continue reading
“Best of Criterion’s New Releases, July 2018”
This month via The Criterion Collection: Dragon Inn. That’s pretty much all you need to know. I went nuts over A Touch of Zen, King Hu’s other grand wuxia film, back in July of 2016, when Criterion added that one to their library and I wrote about the release, though apparently my writing on the matter never published … Continue reading
Best of Criterion’s New Releases, June 2018
…huh! Seems we missed out on our Criterion piece last May! How ’bout that. (Hey, don’t look at me. I just assemble the doc. And also write my blurbs. Such is life.) Good news is, the June slate rocked, as it usually does, and we managed to get the piece on Paste Magazine just under the wire; … Continue reading
“Best of Criterion’s New Releases, March 2018”
Foreword: Volker Schlöndorff’s Baal made me want to throw up all over myself. I’ve sat through some truly ugly and thoroughly noxious films in my time, many of them more overtly hideous than this one, but boy oh boy, I cannot think of the last time I sat through an 80 minute film that felt this … Continue reading
“Best of Criterion’s New Releases, February 2018”
And yet another entry in “better late than never,” though in this case you still get some utility out of the piece: Now you know which February Criterion releases are worth your time and money, courtesy of the team at Paste Magazine. (Hint: Night of the Living Dead.) (Second hint: Elevator to the Gallows.) (Third hint: Tom Jones, … Continue reading
Best of Criterion’s New Releases, January 2018
February! Paste Magazine! Criterion round-up for January! You know the drill! (The two musts, if you ask me, for January are the Pabst films. I’m only slightly biased, being as I wrote about both of them, but they’re essential regardless.)
Best of Criterion’s New Releases, December 2017
Happy New Year! Also: Happy Criterion Round-up! Election is nothing to sneeze at, but if you ask me, General Idi Amin Dada: A Self-Portrait is the film from The Criterion Collection’s December slate with the most contemporary significance. (It’s also really good. Keep that in mind. Even if Donald Trump wasn’t our fucking president, it’d still be … Continue reading
Best of Criterion’s New Releases, November 2017
Hey, hey! Another month, another monthly Criterion round-up for Paste Magazine. Disclosure: We couldn’t get a blurb together for Desert Hearts, which is too bad – it’s a pretty important landmark in queer cinema – but hey, we’re not perfect. (Still: Sorry!) We got blurbs for everything else, though, including my words on Terry Gilliam’s Jabberwocky, which … Continue reading
Best of Criterion’s New Releases, September 2017
Good news! I’m still here. I’m suffering a writer’s drought, but I’m still here. And here’s our first break in the drought: Paste Magazine’s monthly Criterion Collection round-up, this time for September (because that’s how months work). As with most Criterion months, September ’17 is pretty good, I think; I can’t speak for a couple … Continue reading
A Constant Visual Feast 