L'amour fou: DVD Review of Shall We Kiss?

"Shall We Kiss?, a subdued romantic comedy from France, asks the question, is there such a thing as a kiss without consequence? It’s a question for the ages, one that’s been addressed implicitly throughout the years in countless tales of infidelity and explicitly in films like Fisher Stevens’ little-seen Just a Kiss. Shall We Kiss? mulls over the issue for nearly all of its 102-minutes, at first with levity, later with solemn reproach."

Click here to read my DVD review at PopMatters

Side-slipping: A Review of Downhill Racer

"Available for the first time on DVD, The Criterion Collection has put together a stunning transfer with fantastic visuals. This is the kind of DVD you want in your collection if for no other reason than to demonstrate the beauty found in your new flat screen TV."

Click here to read my DVD review at PopMatters

Inside Baseball: A DVD Review of Sugar

"Melancholic and pragmatic, Sugar is not a rousing Saturday night sports movie. But it is a brilliantly executed film that provides insight into a world most viewers rarely think about. As far as sobering sports movies go, Sugar would make a strong double-feature with last year’s The Wrestler, as both films are dedicated to examining the psychology of minor league athletes just outside the spotlight."

Click here to read my review at PopMatters

My Summer of Love: A Review of Adventureland

"Unassuming and naturalistic, Adventureland has a remarkable sense of pathos for a young adult comedy. But its appealing ensemble, pitch-perfect soundtrack, and controlled filmmaking help the tougher moments go down smoothly. It’s a hugely enjoyable blend of humor and agony that captures the confused, painful, but open-ended state of late adolescence. "

Click here to read my DVD review at PopMatters

Animal Husbandry: A DVD Review of Husbands

There is still a lot to appreciate about the film: the open-minded camerawork (so much happens outside of the frame), the long, expressive close-ups, the natural dialogue and the very funny moments that it creates and its general unpredictability. But truthfully, these pleasures are on display in Cassavetes’ other films too. And they don’t come with the same self-involvement and frustrating incoherence that permeates Husbands.

Click here to read my review at PopMatters

Postcards from the Edge: A review of Doc Martin: Series 2

"Fans of British television – and British scenery – should be perfectly satiated by the 464-minutes of Doc Martin contained in this package. Like a good doctor, it’s dependable, easily accessible and comfortingly familiar."

Click here to read my DVD review on PopMatters

Death Every Afternoon: A DVD review of The Hit

"...despite its generic title and the professions of its central characters, The Hit bears little resemblance to the gangster film in the traditional sense. It’s closer in nature to Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell’s Performance, a film that opens as a full-on gritty gangster film but radically shifts gears to become a psychedelic head trip about questioning self-identity. The Hit is a less complex (and less frustrating) film but it follows a similar trajectory of using gangster film qualities to philosophize about the nature of death."

Click here to read my review at PopMatters

One Night with the Boss: A DVD Review of Bruce Springsteen On the Road

"Bruce Springsteen On the Road: 40 Years with the Boss is the definition of a mixed bag; and also a misnomer – these two discs neither show tour footage nor cover the promised 40-year span of Bruce’s career. The second disc might be too technical for casual fans of Springsteen and the first disc is so shoddily constructed that it can’t even serve as a primer for new recruits. Nevertheless, strong Bruce supporters will definitely be captivated by the second disc and I’m inclined to say that if you can find the set at a reduced cost it would be worth picking up."

Click here to read my review at PopMatters

Time for Me to Fly: A Review of Wings: The Final Season

"It would be easy to say that by its eighth and final year, Wings was coasting on fumes but the fact of the matter is Wings never really soared that high to begin with. The pleasures on offer here are modest but dependable. The final season of Wings isn’t its best but it gets the job done."

Click here to read my DVD review at PopMatters

London Calling: A Review of Last Chance Harvey

"Last Chance Harvey isn’t particularly ambitious, and its minimal storytelling scope indicates it wasn’t designed for more than home video viewing (or perhaps in-flight entertainment), but it does offer a few certain charms. It’s the equivalent of a competently written paperback or a leftover helping of Ma’s comfort food. With the right expectations there’s nothing to be disappointed by – but there’s also nothing to be challenged by, either."

Click here to read my DVD review at PopMatters

Magic Eye: A review of Henry Poole Is Here

"Ultimately, the film isn’t religious enough to be shown in Sunday school, but has enough of a Christian bent that if it were a book it would be shelved in the Christian Inspiration section. "


Click here to read my DVD review of Henry Poole Is Here at PopMatters

Love's Labors Lost: A DVD review of Changeling

"Wading through the plethora of characters in the film’s many subplots gets to be pretty tiring, especially when the film is so clear about how it wants you to feel about each character. Amidst all these plot strands, the film chooses to ignore one of the most intriguing situations, the boy incorrectly returned to Christine."

Click here to read my DVD review at PopMatters

Take the Good with the Bad: A DVD review of Michael Powell Double Feature

"Age of Consent is, sadly, a rather unfortunate swan song for Powell and it’s unfortunate that this release has to remind viewers of that fact. But at any rate, the occasion for A Matter of Life and Death’s overdue arrival on region one DVD just about makes up for its inclusion in this package."

Click here to read my DVD review at PopMatters

Far and Away: A Review of Male and Female

"While Swanson has secured her legacy in cinema thanks to Sunset Boulevard, it’s a great shame that that particular film so often overshadows the rest of her career. In Male and Female, her enunciation appears so perfect that for once in a silent film I could read the performer’s lips routinely and consistently; there was none of the marble-mouthed miming or fast-talking gibberish that so often befuddles viewers. At the same time, her elocution never borders on histrionics. The effect made me feel like I could hear her speaking the lines of dialogue, which makes it all the more tragically ironic that it was the transition to sound cinema that signaled her departure from silver screen popularity."

Click here to read my review at Not Coming to a Theater Near You

Breathless: A review of Le Deuxieme Souffle

"Silence pervades most of the action in Le Deuxième souffle, a French gangster film where music is used sparingly and characters are reticent (it takes seven minutes for us to receive the first line of dialogue). Director Jean-Pierre Melville aspires to create organic suspense sequences where character movement is precious and the camera is respectfully observational – and boy, does it work. The film contains a much revered heist sequence where the anticipation plays out with realistic and unbearable intensity."

Click here to read my DVD review at PopMatters

Rebecca: My Last Duchess

"Rebecca holds the unique distinction of being the only Alfred Hitchcock film to win a Best Picture Oscar (more to that, it’s one of only three of the director’s films even nominated for the award). In retrospect, it seems absurd to think that Hitchcock – the most famous director in film history – received such little award recognition. How could this universally adored filmmaker (Have you ever heard someone say “I don’t like Hitchcock films”?) have been passed over so routinely?"

Click here to read my DVD review of Rebecca at PopMatters

Quid Pro Quo: Why Stand When You Can Sit?

"Quid Pro Quo offers the potentially provocative story of a journalist who uncovers a group of able-bodied people who pretend or desire to be disabled. But writer/director Carlos Brooks handles the subject matter in a somber and cautious manner, perhaps even to the point of indolence."

Click here to read my entire review at [with]TV

The Lookout: Keep Your Eyes Peeled

"The Lookout is one of the year’s most exciting films; a rousing, supremely entertaining crime thriller about a bank heist. But what the marketing doesn’t divulge is that it’s much more than just a genre picture. In fact, it’s an intense character study about a young man coming to terms with a self-induced disability."

Click here to read my entire review at the [with]tv blog

That Thing You Do!: Extended Cut

"It’s difficult for me to approach the new extended cut DVD of That Thing You Do! without stooping to rabid fanboy zeal as it is a film I unabashedly cite as one of my favorites of all time."

Click here to read the entire review at TheCinemaSource.com

A Good Year: Sour Grapes

"What was a quaint, modern-day fairy tale on page has turned into a glib, overcooked film so hung up on causality that it lacks any of the organic grace present in Mayle’s prose. "

Click here to read my entire review at TheCinemaSource.com