Cinemaniac
Movies (Mostly) Not to See This Holiday Season
Every year around this time, the studios trot out their Oscar and Golden Globe hopefuls and I always greet them with trepidation. Usually they're lumps of coal and a bunch of mawkish, but well-acted, hooey.…
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Corman's World: Exploits Of a Hollywood Rebel -- A Great New Doc
Open in selected theaters this week is Alex Stapleton's sensational documentary, Corman's World: Exploits Of A Hollywood Rebel. The film chronicles the maverick director and producer Roger Corman, who began directing low-budget horror and sci-fi…
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Splatter Great Intruder On Blu-ray
Out now on a Blu-ray/DVD combo is the uncensored director's cut of Intruder (Synapse). This enjoyably grisly 1987 slasher movie is set in a supermarket, where a late crew doing inventory comes under attack from…
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Gorgeous, Timeless Meet Me In St. Louis On Blu-ray
Out now on Blu-ray is Vincent Minnelli's Meet Me In St. Louis (Warner Brothers). This timeless Technicolor movie stars Judy Garland as a member of the Smith family and their fears of having to move…
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Todd Haynes' Glittery, Visionary Velvet Goldmine On Blu-ray
Out now on Blu-ray is director Todd Haynes' (Poison, Far From Heaven) glittery, visionary pop-fable, Velvet Goldmine (Lionsgate/Miramax). Christian Bale plays Arthur Stuart, a reporter sent to track down the mysterious whereabouts of '70s glam…
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Racy Comedy Design For Living On Criterion DVD
Out now on DVD is the racy, delightful, pre-code comedy Design For Living (Criterion), based on Noel Coward's play which he wrote for his acting friends Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. The movie, however, was…
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Hilarious Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXII On DVD
Mystery Science Theater 3000 Volume XXII (Shout Factory), features episodes of the groundbreaking TV show about a stranded spacecraft and its occupants ( Joel Hodgson or Mike Nelson, and a few feisty robots) forced to…
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Furiously Paced, Supremely Suspenseful Point Blank On Blu-ray & DVD
Out this week on Blu-ray and DVD is the furiously paced, supremely suspenseful French thriller Point Blank (Magnolia). Skillfully directed by Fred Cavaye, this film plays like an Alfred Hitchcock wet dream. Samuel (Gilles Lellouche)…
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Maria Callas Stars In Medea On Blu-ray & DVD
This 1969 version of the Greek myth Medea stars legendary singer Maria Callas in the lead and was directed by the visionary director Pier Paolo Pasolini. Filmed in Turkey at the gorgeous Goreme Open-Air Museum,…
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Sci-fi/Horror Classic Horror Express On Blu-ray + DVD
Out now in a sensational Blu-ray/DVD combo is the first-rate sci-fi/horror film Horror Express (Severin). This 1971 film begins in Manchuria, where an archeologist (Christopher Lee) thinks he has discovered the missing link buried in…
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Beautifully Restored Sabu Dastagir Box Set On Criterion DVD
Out now on Criterion DVD in a wonderful box set is three beautifully restored movies starring Indian star of the 1930s and 1940s, Sabu Dastagir. Discovered by documentarian Robert Flaherty, Sabu became the lead in…
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Smart, Suspenseful BBC Mystery Whitechapel: The Ripper Returns On DVD
A killer is replicating, in chilling detail, a famous crime spree in Whitechapel: The Ripper Returns (BBC), and if you missed this on BBC America here's your chance to watch this terrific new TV series…
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RIP Ken Russell
I was saddened by the news this morning that iconoclastic British film director Ken Russell has passed away at age 84. Making a name for himself in the '60s with his flamboyant BBC documentaries on…
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Hilarious Splatter Comedy Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil On Blu-ray & DVD
Out this week on Blu-ray and DVD is the hilarious splatter comedy Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (Magnolia) If ever a movie deserved cult-hit status it's this rollicking, gruesome, horror tale from director Eli Craig.…
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Reasons to Be Thankful: Jean Harlow 100th Anniversary Collection On DVD
I know what I'll be doing over Thanksgiving -- diving into this new, glorious DVD set, Jean Harlow 100th Anniversary Collection (Warner Archives). This seven-movie DVD treat includes some of my all-time favorites starring the…
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Perry Mason: Season 6 (Vol.2), Guest Starring Bette Davis, On DVD
Out now on DVD is season six, volume two of the fun TV mystery series, Perry Mason (CBS DVD). Raymond Burr returns as the wily detective based on the books by Erle Stanley Gardner. During…
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Bloody And Immensely Satisfying Conan The Barbarian On Blu-ray & DVD
Out now on 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD is the rousing action film Conan The Barbarian (Lionsgate). The pulp hero Conan, created by Robert E. Howard, was made into a movie first in 1982 starring…
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Marvelous 1961 Adventure Classic Mysterious Island On Blu-ray
Out on Blu-ray and sold only through Screen Archives is the marvelous 1961 adventure classic Mysterious Island (Twilight Time). Based on the Jules Verne book, the film is about civil war soldiers who escape on…
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Inventive Cult Classic Evil Dead II 25th Anniversary Blu-ray Edition
Out now on Blu-ray is the 25th anniversary edition of Sam Raimi's cult-classic Evil Dead II (Lionsgate). This 1987 pedal-to-the-metal meta-re-imagining of the original Evil Dead film returns Bruce Campbell as Ash, who heads to…
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Infernal Affairs, Inspiration For Scorsese's The Departed, On Blu-ray
Out now on Blu-ray is the great Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs (Lionsgate), which was the basis for Martin Scorsese's The Departed. This is a great story about two moles -- one a gangster turned…
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