Articles Index

DVD Pick: “Mystic River”
Mystic River was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director (Clint Eastwood). The movie boasts what Eastwood calls a dream cast, including Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, and Laura Linney. Read a review of Mystic River on DVD, including an depth look at the special features on the three-disc set.

DVD Pick: [i]The Leopard [/i]
I think the 45-minute ball sequence in Luchino Visconti's masterpiece The Leopard is among the greatest in all of cinema. Read a review of the movie The Leopard on DVD.

DVD Pick: 'Gone With the Wind'
Gone With the Wind DVD review, including a review of Gone With the Wind the movie, DVD details and bonus materials. Read Ivana Redwine's review of the Gone With the Wind DVD.

DVD Pick: Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction was a box office smash and a huge critical success in its theatrical release. Miramax has released a Collector's Edition version of Pulp Fiction as a two-disc DVD set containing lots of extras. Read a review of Pulp Fiction on DVD.

"The Godfather Collection" on DVD
The Godfather Trilogy which consists of The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, and "The Godfather Part III, is arguably the greatest film trilogy of all time, and The Godfather DVD Collection includes all three films. Also, the DVD Collection provides audio commentary tracks by director-cowriter Francis Ford Coppola for all three films. The three movies take up four DVDs, and the Collection has a fifth DVD that contains bonus materials.

DVD Pick: M*A*S*H
Robert Altman's landmark film MASH chronicles the zany antics of American medical personnel who treat the wounded during a war in Asia, but the movie is darker and edgier than the TV series. Find out more about the movie and the DVD in this DVD review.

DVD Pick: The Matador
Pierce Brosnan gives a fine performance as the ironically named Julian Noble, the protagonist in The Matador. Julian has carried out assassinations all over the world for the same people for 22 years. Read a review of The Matador on DVD.

DVD Pick: Tristram Shandy: A Cock & Bull Story
I got some big laughs out of Tristram Shandy: A Cock & Bull Story (2005), a zany British film that stars Steve Coogan. After starting out as a comic and mime, Coogan became widely known in Britain in the 1990s for his mock television talk show Knowing Me, Knowing You With Alan Partridge.

DVD Pick: The World's Fastest Indian
The World's Fastest Indian is a feel-good biopic about a New Zealand senior citizen who customized a 1920 Indian motorcycle and rode it in speed competitions in the 1960s. Read a review of The World's Fastest Indian on DVD.

DVD Pick: The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada was a prizewinner at Cannes, and now that I've seen it, I can see why. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada is richly textured, dramatically compelling and satisfying. Read a review of The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada on DVD.

DVD Pick: The 400 Blows (Criterion Collection)
The 400 Blows is a lyrical and accessible movie that appears on most lists of great films. I'd say it's the best movie ever made about adolescence. Read a review of The 400 Blows on DVD.

DVD Pick: Transamerica
Transamerica is an indie comedy-drama starring Felicity Huffman, who got a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance. Read a review of Transamerica on DVD.

DVD Pick: The Pianist
The Pianist eschews easy emotional connections and refuses to oversimplify, and I think it is one of the most powerful Holocaust films ever made. Read an in-depth DVD review of The Pianist.

DVD Pick: Dancer in the Dark
Dancer in the Dark is a challenging English-language movie from Danish writer-director Lars von Trier. Read a review of Dancer in the Dark on DVD.

Review: Fahrenheit 9/11 DVD
Fahrenheit 9/11 is a feature-length film that expresses Michael Moore's highly opinionated view of the George W. Bush administration and the Iraq War. The movie received the Palme d'Or at Cannes, and it was a huge hit at the box office. Now Fahrenheit 9/11 has been released on DVD exactly four weeks prior to the day American voters are to choose whether or not to reelect Bush for another four-year term as President.

DVD Pick: The New World
The New World gets underway in 1607 in what later became known as Virginia, and the first character we see is Pocahontas, a member of an Algonquian-speaking tribe. She appears to be a playful adolescent, but her life changes drastically after the arrival of British men who set about building Jamestown, which will become the first permanent English settlement in America. Read a full-length review of The New World on DVD.

DVD Pick: Munich Two-Disc Collector's Edition
Munich is an emotionally and intellectually engaging movie that reminded me of cinema's power as an art form. Read a full-length review of Munich on DVD.

DVD Pick: Match Point
Match Point was written and directed by Woody Allen, but don't expect one-liners and laughs--the overarching tone of this film is quite serious. Read a review of Match Point on DVD.

DVD Pick: Bringing Up Baby
Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn star in the 1938 screwball comedy Bringing Up Baby, which was directed by Howard Hawks. The story is about a nerdy paleontologist, a madcap heiress, a pet leopard named Baby, a vivacious wire-haired fox terrier and a brontosaurus bone. Although Grant and Hepburn play characters that often look ridiculous, the two lead actors pull off the neat trick of always retaining their glamour.

DVD Pick: King Kong Two-Disc Special Edition
King Kong (2005), a remake of the 1933 classic, was directed by Peter Jackson. Read a review of this movie on DVD.

DVD Pick: Ushpizin
Ushpizin (2004) is a pleasant little film that takes place in an ultra-Orthodox community in modern-day Jerusalem, but its message is universal. The dialogue is in Hebrew, and the DVD provides English and Spanish subtitles. The story is about the clash between the religious and the secular, but what I like best about the movie is its humanism. Read a review of Ushpizin on DVD.

DVD Pick: Brokeback Mountain
Heath Ledger creates one of the most memorable characters in cinema history in Brokeback Mountain, a melancholy drama about forbidden love. Read a full-length review of Brokeback Mountain on DVD.

DVD Pick: Capote
Truman Capote (1924-84) has been celebrated both for his elegant prose and for his flamboyant lifestyle. The film Capote (2005) takes an interpretive look at the famous author during the five-and-a-half year period when he was researching and writing In Cold Blood. The movie is an absolutely fascinating character study. Read a review of Capote on DVD.

DVD Pick: Good Night, and Good Luck
Good Night, and Good Luck was nominated for six Academy Awards, and it's my idea of a nearly perfect little movie. Read a review of Good Night, and Good Luck on DVD.

DVD Pick: In Cold Blood
The 2005 film Capote is about writer Truman Capote during the years when he was working on his influential, fact-based In Cold Blood. A fine screen adaptation of that book was released in 1967, and it got nominated for four Academy Awards. Read a review of the movie In Cold Blood on DVD.

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