Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Movie News

Coming Soon to a Theater near you

Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodrigues team up again for the double feature Grindhouse. I'm sure this will engender as much debate as Kill Bill.

Coming Soon on DVD
Via DVD Journal
Our friends at The Criterion Collection have announced a two-disc release of Lindsay Anderson's 1968 If… starring Malcolm McDowell as hell-raising schoolboy Mick Travis — expect a new transfer from restored elements; a commentary featuring McDowell and film historian David Robinson.
If... is the predecessor and companion piece to Anderson's 1973 film, O Lucky Man! If... is the better picture, but the Alan Price soundtrack from O Lucky Man! is a classic.

Recent Viewing
The Departed and Hollywoodland are the two most recent DVDs that have found their way into my player.

As a longtime Scorsese fan, I am happy that he finally won the Oscar, and The Departed is definitely worth watching. The dialog, the performances, the story are all engaging and it is one of the fastest 150 minutes I've spent in a while. But it is not the film that Raging Bull or Goodfellas were. It feels a bit like a pity Oscar when you look at it in the context of Scorsese's earlier works, but it is a mile above the Aviator and is still worth watching.

Hollywoodland is the story of the death of George Reeves, TV's Superman in the fifties. Ben Affleck inhabits the vapid personality of Reeves and turns in one of his best performances. The film, unlike the over-the-top Black Dahlia, that came out around the same time last year, does not propose to offer a solution to the mystery of Reeves' death. A bit slow at times, but for lovers of tales of old Hollywood and fans of the old Superman series, well worth your time.

1 comment:

  1. Hey, since you are so interested in film you should check out sf360.org for daily updates on the San Francisco Bay Area's thriving film and media scene.

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