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Jenny and Dale Williams have been married ten years and parents of a
nine-year-old daughter, “Cookie” Williams. They live well, have
separate careers, are surrounded by sophisticated friends, and are
afflicted with overattentive in-laws on each side. Celebrating their
tenth anniversary,this, of course, means it is time to tell each other
they want a divorce from each other. They talk about it. They talk to
their friends about it. The friends and in-laws talk to them and to
each other and to anyone who will listen about it.Read More »
Synopsis: In 1906, the popular Western Post newspaper sponsored a demanding cross-country horse race, attracting a motley crew of ambitious contestants. With a tempting $2,000 prize, the bold competitors–including the plucky former prostitute, Miss Jones; the ex-Rough Riders, Luke Matthews and Sam Clayton; a Mexican vaquero with a terrible toothache; the English gentleman, Sir Harry Norfolk; an ageing cowhand, and the arrogant cowboy, Carbo–will have to endure 700 miles of unforgiving desert and rugged terrain. The race is on. Who has what it takes to bite the bullet?Read More »
Craig Johnson’s poised and poignant first feature follows Sam (Mark Duplass), an, unbeknownst to him, washed-up rocker in the early stages of haggard. Jobless and apartment-less, he crashes with his aunt (a compassionate Melissa Leo) as a last resort and becomes reluctant camping-trip chaperone to her teenage son and a pal. That the three males are on par, maturity-wise, makes for engaging ensemble juvenilia. But in the stirring Pacific Northwest wilderness a surprising discovery turns dire — and the distance from boy to man must be covered overnight. Duplass’s ballsy and at times balls-out performance is a winner, particularly when Sam at long last takes stock of himself: it ain’t pretty.Read More »
dvdactive.com wrote:
John Waters does the best commentary tracks in the business. Yes, better than Bruce Campbell. He is engaging, lively, witty, self-deprecating, revealing, and has an encyclopedic knowledge of cinema. The Pink Flamingos commentary track is particularly revelatory, as he delves into the history of the film’s censorship, the court battles he has had to go through (and has never won) to try and get the film shown, and innumerable anecdotes about the cast, crew, and the making of the film. Absolutely invaluable.Read More »
From reel.com –
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The people at New Line Cinema are well aware of Waters’ expertise at audio commentaries, as their trio of bundled sets attest to. He’s joined on the Desperate Living disc by co-star Liz Renay, who plays the sexpot Muffy St. Jacques. Now 75 years old, this lively and scandalous lady offers some hysterical views on penis size and the nice people she met at Terminal Island, where she was imprisoned for perjury. (Some book publisher needs to offer her a contract for her autobiography!) Among his comments, Waters points out a lot of subliminal details and comically sums up the movie as a “lesbian fairy tale about political corruption.”Read More »
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A detective tracking a serial killer who preys on young women finds his investigation complicated by a glamorous Hollywood starlet and a ruthless crime kingpin in director Bertrand Tavernier’s adaptation of the James Lee Burke novel In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead.Read More »
Synopsis: Based on the turn-of-the-century play Our Two Consciences by Paul Anthelme, Hitchcock’s I Confess is set in Quebec. Montgomery Clift plays a priest who hears the confession of church sexton O.E. Hasse. “I…killed…a man” whispers Hasse in tight closeup–and, bound by the laws of the Confessional, Clift is unable to turn Hasse over to the police. But police-inspector Karl Malden has a pretty good idea who the guilty party is: all evidence points to Clift. It seems that the dead man had been blackmailing Anne Baxter, who was once in a factually innocent, but seemingly exploitable compromising position with Clift. Tried for murder, Clift is released due to lack of evidence, but he is ruined in the eyes of the community. Then it is Hasse’s turn to make that One Fatal Error. I Confess is frequently dismissed as a lesser Hitchcock, due mainly to the quirky performance of Montgomery Clift (who, it is said, steadfastly refused to take direction). Today, four decades removed from its on-set intrigues, the film has taken its place as one of the best of Hitchcock’s “between the classics” efforts. — Hal EricksonRead More »
