“Blow Up”
A modern London photographer finds a suspicious detail in the shots he has taken of a beautiful woman. Michelangelo Antonioni‘s what-is-truth? meditation of 1960s freelove is filled with inherent dread as reality/illusion are blurred and has an enraptured audience seeing or not seeing, what they want to see. How much more 2017 can that be?
“Being There”
A dimwit gardener somehow finds his way as an advisor in Washington politics. A subtle, enigmatic “Gump,” Hal Ashby’s satirical film has the USA surrendering to, a never-better, Peter Sellers’ Gumpish simple-minded fool and his homespun evangelicalism.
“His Girl Friday”
Howard Hawks’ lightest film has Cary Grant’s newspaper editor trying desperately to nix his ex-wife’s wedding. Filled with screwball comedy, and enough one-liners to warrant multiple viewings, here’s a film that was way ahead of its time in its themes of feminism.
“They Live By Night”
An escaped, and injured, convict falls for the nurse thy’s taken him under her care. Nicolas Ray’s 1940’s film noir is both a crime film and a romance of the highest order. The expressionist documentary-style filmmaking also makes its one of the most influential films of the last 100 years.
“Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project No.2”
Cinephile Scorsese is on full- display here as his passion project unearths six indisputably great films from regions generally ill equipped to preserve their own cinematic traditions: Philippines (“Insiang”), Thailand (Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Mysterious Object at Noon”), Soviet Kazakhstan (“Revenge”), Brazil (“Limite”), Turkey (“Law of the Border”), and Taiwan (Edward Yang’s “Taipei Story”).
“100 Years of Olympic Films”
Until the 2020 arrive Games in Tokyo, Criterion’s “100 Years of Olympic Films” offers plenty of disks (32 Blu-ray or 43 DVD) which includes 53 newly restored films that cover a whopping 41 summer and winter Olympics from 1912 to 2012. There’s also a 216-page book with commentary by film scholar Peter Cowie. The highlights are undoubtedly Leni Riefenstahl’s infamous “Olympia” and “Triumph of the Will,” two Nazi-sponsored films which nevertheless changed the way we look at sporting events and brought the cinematic into them.
The Complete Monterey Pop Festival
Chronicling the June weekend of 1967, the beginning of the summer of love, the Monterey Pop festival brought forth some of the world’s biggest musicians to play for peace, love and understanding. Legendary non-fiction filmmakers such as D.A. Pennebaker, Chris Hegedus and Albert Maysles (working as a camera man) were there to capture every fleeting moment. Performances include Janis Joplin, Simon and Garfunkel, the Mamas and the Papas, the Who, the Byrds, Hugh Masekela, and the extraordinary Ravi Shankar among many others. The boxset includes three feature films, “Monterey Pop,” “Jimi Plays Monterey,” and “Shake! Otis at Monterey.”
“Game of Thrones Seasons 1-7 Gift Set” & More HBO
The next season of “Game Of Thrones” is not expected to air until 2019 — too far away! — so, in the meantime, you might as well re-watch all 7 seasons of George R.R. Martin’s magnificent creation of the feud between Lannister and Stark to fill in all the gaps of your knowledge. There’s a lot to cover and as you can tell by this most recent season, the show has no qualms about jumping back to some piece of obscure narrative from season three just like that without a contexual flashback. You kind of need to take notes to keep it all straight. This 30 DVD boxset features never before seen footage, interviews with the cast and crew and much more. Suffice to say, the glorious HD makes it worth the money alone. Also available from HBO Home Entertainment this holiday season is the full “Big Little Lies” boxset and seasons one of “Crashing,” “Divorce,” and the underrated show we recommend you catch up with stat, “Insecure.”
“Twin Peaks: A Limited Event Series”
David Lynch’s presence is a gift to all of us period, and the director’s masterful return to the world of “Twin Peak”s had an abundance of clues sprinkled in almost every frame of every episode, to say this is the TV show that most demands repeat viewings would be an understatement. The 18 episodes are a masterful blend of surrealism and the best thing we’ve seen all year, in any medium. As a companion piece, don’t forget “Twin Peaks” co-creator Mark Frost‘s book “Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier” is also out now and fills the gaps of some of the show’s many, many mysteries.
“Alien” 6-Film Collection
It started off with Ridley Scott’s masterful 1979 horror film and then James Cameron’s great action sequel, and a franchise was born. The other 4 films, in the series, one directed by David Fincher, another by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (“Delicatessen“) and two more by Ridley himself returning to try and salvage the franchise, have been divisive to say the least, but they all share the ambition of Scott and Cameron’s visions. And as a whole, the Alien series is a marvel of special effects, character development and primal fear. Noticeably absent are all the “Aliens Vs. Predator” movies, but Scott’s prequel return with “Prometheus” and “Alien: Covenant” definitely makes the cut.
