Classic MGM Films and TV via CreateSpace DVD on Demand

Posted on March 28, 2010 at 3:00 pm

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment today announced that it will be offering 27 additional MGM titles, including never-before-released award-winning classic films, made-for-TV movies and television shows via CreateSpace’s DVD on Demand service. The list includes some neglected gems like Gore Vidal’s “The Best Man” (one of the sharpest political films ever made), “Cold Turkey” (a wild comedy about an entire town that quits smoking together), and “The Tenth Man,” a Graham Greene WWII drama with Anthony Hopkins and Kristin Scott Thomas.
Film
The Best Man (1964) Henry Fonda, Cliff Robertson, Edie Adams
The Caretakers (1963) Robert Stack, Polly Bergen, Joan Crawford
Cold Turkey (1971) Dick Van Dyke, Bob Newhart
Eight On The Lam (1967) Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller, Jonathan Winters
Fitzwilly (1967) Dick Van Dyke, Barbara Feldon
The Gallant Hours (1960) James Cagney, Dennis Weaver
Garbo Talks (1984) Anne Bancroft, Ron Silver, Carrie Fisher
The Glory Guys (1965) James Caan, Tom Tryon, Harve Presnell
The Honey Pot (1967) Rex Harrison, Susan Hayward, Cliff Robertson
House Of The Long Shadows (1984) Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, John Carradine
Hurricane Streets (1998) Edie Falco, Brendan Sexton III, Heather Matarazzo
Inherit The Wind (1999) Jack Lemmon, George C. Scott
The Landlord (1970) Beau Bridges, Lee Grant, Diana Sands, Pearl Baily
Man Of Iron (1981) Jerzy Radziwilowicz, Krystyna Janda
The Offence (1973) Sean Connery, Trevor Howard, Vivien Merchant
The Tenth Man (1988) Anthony Hopkins, Kristin Scott Thomas
Toys In The Attic (1963) Dean Martin, Geraldine Page, Gene Tierney
The Two Worlds of Jennie Logan (1979) Lindsay Wagner, Alan Feinstein, Linda Gray
Valentino (1977) Rudolf Nureyev, Leslie Caron, Michelle Phillips
Vanishing Fiancée (1978) François Truffaut, Nathalie Baye, Jean Dasté
The Whisperers (1967) Dame Edith Evans, Eric Portman
The White Buffalo (1977) Charles Bronson, Jack Warden, Will Sampson
Wicked Stepmother (1989) Bette Davis, David Rasche, Colleen Camp
Television Series
“Flipper” Season 2 (1964) Brian Kelly, Luke Halpin, Tommy Norden
“Flipper – The New Adventures” Season 1 (1995) Jessica Alba, Brian Wimmer, Colleen Flynn
“Highway Patrol” Season 1 (1955) Broderick Crawford
“Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot” Complete Series (1969) Kaneko Mitsunobu, Akio Itô, Shôzaburô Date

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Neglected gem Television

Movies About Writers

Posted on March 27, 2010 at 3:32 pm

Thanks to Kaitlyn Cole for sending me this list of 50 great movies about writers. I especially like the way it is broken down into categories — about writing (“Wonder Boys”), writers being bad (“Sunset Boulevard,” “The Shining”), and real-life writers. If I could, I’d add a category of writers being good (lots of great crusading journalist movies like “Call Northside 777” and “All the President’s Men,” both based on true stories), and documentaries about writers, including films about Hunter S. Thomson, Charles Bukowski, Ayn Rand, and Alan Ginsberg.

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For Your Netflix Queue Lists
Four Great New International Thrillers for Grown-Ups

Four Great New International Thrillers for Grown-Ups

Posted on March 26, 2010 at 8:00 am

It’s been a while since Hollywood has given us a great thriller for grown-ups. Fortunately, there are currently four from outside the US that are in theaters now and well worth seeing.

“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” is based on the international best-seller, the first of a trilogy by the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson. All three have been keeping readers up all night all over the world. A disgraced journalist joins forces with a damaged but determined and fiercely honest young woman to research the mysterious disappearance of a wealthy man’s favorite niece. An American movie version is in the works, but fans of the book should see this one now. It is a brilliant adaptation with a sensational performance by Noomi Rapace as the mesmerizing Lisbeth Salander.

“The Red Riding Trilogy” If you are a fan of “Prime Suspect,” you will love these three British films from three different directors that track a series of murders over more than a decade. It is based on David Peace’s The Red Riding Quartet. The first one, set in 1974, tracks a brash young reporter who uncovers corruption that may be tied to several murders. The second takes place in 1980 and focuses on a police officer investigating the “Yorkshire Ripper” murders. He is played by Paddy Considine of “In America.” The last, set in 1983, is about a lawyer (Mark Addy), the son of a policeman, who is finally able to put together what happened. The films are as dark and murky and twisted as the crimes, and completely engrossing.

“Mother” is a South Korean film about a woman whose shy son becomes the suspect in a murder case. It is up to her to prove him innocent. An award-winner at Cannes and Korea’s entry for the foreign language Oscar, this is filled with surprises up to the very last minute.

“Ghost Writer” is the latest and probably final film from legendary director Roman Polanski (“Chinatown,” “The Pianist”). It is the story of a writer (Ewan McGregor) brought in to fix the dull memoirs of a former British Prime Minister (Pierce Brosnan), now living in virtual exile on an island off the coast of Massachusetts. There is only one copy of the draft and it is kept in a locked drawer. I found it almost endearing that in this digital age a sole physical manuscript could become so sought after or that anything written by a retired politician could be considered incendiary.

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After the kids go to bed For Your Netflix Queue

The Eclipse

Posted on March 25, 2010 at 4:14 pm

B+
Lowest Recommended Age: Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating: Rated R for language and some disturbing images
Profanity: Very strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs: Drinking, smoking, drug references
Violence/ Scariness: Some fighting with punches, very disturbing supernatural images and jump out at you surprises
Diversity Issues: None
Date Released to Theaters: March 26, 2010

“The Eclipse” is a moody Irish thriller about a recently widowed teacher who is a volunteer at a local literary festival. Michael (a deeply moving Ciarán Hinds) is doing his best to stay strong for his children and his father-in-law, but has not begun to let himself think about how devastated he is by the loss of his wife.
He is assigned to be the driver for one of the authors at the festival, Lena (Iben Hjejle of “High Fidelity”), who writes non-fiction books about encounters with ghosts. The most prominent author at the festival, in more than one sense of the term, is the pugnacious and needy Nicholas Holden (Aidan Quinn). He comes to the festival in part to see Lena, with whom he has a history and hopes for a future.
All of this could work as a straight-forward drama but writer-director Conor McPherson adds a mysterious overlay of the supernatural that seeps into the interactions between the characters. It creates a pervasive tug of dread and uncertainty. The contrast between the forces the characters are struggling with, from the largest emotional conflicts to the smallest domestic tasks, and the forces that are just beyond reach but seem to be reaching for us. McPherson has a gift for silences and superb control of mood. The story explores the prism of liminality. It is not just the ghosts who are stuck between worlds.

(more…)

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Drama Movies -- format Thriller
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