RJ Ross Johnson

DVD Review THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP (BLU-RAY)

This beautifully restored British comedy has a great deal to say about aging and war without ever losing its light touch.
Release Date: ,

Read More...

Posted by: Ross Johnson - May 12, 2013, 2:51 pm - DVD Review
Keywords: officer, military, german, boer war

DVD Review PURPLE NOON (BLU-RAY)

Alain Delon's beautiful and cold Tom Ripley is one of film's all-time great villains, and this new edition of Purple Noon shows off the film's sensuous pleasures to great effect.
Release Date: ,

Read More...

Posted by: Ross Johnson - January 5, 2013, 3:37 pm - DVD Review
Keywords: french new wave, italy, ripley

DVD Review WEEKEND (BLU-RAY)

Weekend wisely avoids most of the traps of its genre, and is brought to life by great performances and a disarmingly naturalistic tone.
Release Date: ,

Read More...

Posted by: Ross Johnson - December 30, 2012, 2:32 pm - DVD Review
Keywords: gay, romance, drama

DVD Review JUAN OF THE DEAD

How will Havana respond to the zombie apocalypse? This zombie comedy from Cuba is sometimes scattershot, but also pointed, gory, and funny.
Release Date: ,

Read More...

Posted by: Ross Johnson - August 19, 2012, 12:13 pm - DVD Review
Keywords: zombie, cuba, havana

DVD Review THE DEVIL'S NEEDLE AND OTHER TALES OF VICE AND REDEMPTION (BLU-RAY)

None of these films is a masterpiece, nor are they in the best shape after almost a century of neglect. Nevertheless, they're extraordinary time capsules of a more liberal era.
Release Date: ,

Read More...

Posted by: Ross Johnson - August 7, 2012, 4:52 pm - DVD Review
Keywords: silent

DVD Review UP ALL NIGHT WITH ROBERT DOWNEY SR. (ECLIPSE SERIES 33)

Experimental and subversive, but more than that...funny. Robert Downey, Sr.'s output in the 60s and 70s makes for some of the best underground filmmaking of the era.
Release Date: ,

Read More...

Posted by: Ross Johnson - June 25, 2012, 6:35 pm - DVD Review
Keywords: criterion collection, eclipse series, subversive cinema

DVD Review TITANIC (BLU-RAY/DVD COMBO)

Clever and ultimately entertaining, this melodrama still barely manages to do its subject justice.
Release Date: ,

Read More...

Posted by: Ross Johnson - May 24, 2012, 3:45 pm - DVD Review
Keywords: titanic, miniseries

DVD Review THE TROUBLE WITH TOLSTOY

A challenging travelogue walks in the footsteps of Russia's biggest troublemaker.
Release Date: ,

Read More...

Posted by: Ross Johnson - May 8, 2012, 11:48 am - DVD Review
Keywords: art, documentary

DVD Review A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

A century after the disaster, this 1958 masterpiece remains the most thoughtful and accurate account of the Titanic's final night, as well as a gripping film in its own right.
Release Date: ,

Read More...

Posted by: Ross Johnson - April 25, 2012, 12:30 pm - DVD Review
Keywords: titanic

DVD Review HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN TWO HOURS

Though you may not learn anything that you didn't already know, this very brief history of the universe is lively and entertaining without being dumb.
Release Date: ,

Read More...

Posted by: Ross Johnson - April 4, 2012, 11:07 am - DVD Review
Keywords: documentary, history

DVD Review ANATOMY OF A MURDER (BLU-RAY)

Preminger's Anatomy of a Murder is as entertaining as it is thoughtful about the limits of the law in grasping human nature. It feels fresh and mature even fifty years later, and stands as one of the best courtroom dramas in film history.
Release Date: ,

Read More...

Posted by: Ross Johnson - February 28, 2012, 1:20 pm - DVD Review
Keywords: attorney, murder, jazz

DVD Review COLD SWEAT (Sudor Frío)

There’s a fun movie to be made from the clever premise, and director Adrián García Bogliano has a good time with a low budget. Still, the gaps in logic and dumb protagonists make for a horror film that’s hard to get worked up over.
Release Date: ,

Read More...

Posted by: Ross Johnson - February 15, 2012, 2:59 pm - DVD Review
Keywords: spanish, horror, foreign, nudity, argentina

DVD Review BOMBAY BEACH

Bombay Beach tells the stories of the residents of a once-thriving tourist resort now lost to the world. Director Alma Har'el's film, with its gauzy, dreamlike quality and choreographed sequences is at once beautiful and deeply problematic.
Release Date: ,

Read More...

Posted by: Ross Johnson - February 3, 2012, 12:54 pm - DVD Review
Keywords: documentary, environment, ecology

DVD Review MEDEA (BLU-RAY)

Pasolini's uncompromisingly arty Medea won't be to every taste, but the beauty and visceral brutality of the film is hypnotic.
Release Date: ,

Read More...

Posted by: Ross Johnson - January 25, 2012, 2:37 pm - DVD Review
Keywords: maria callas, italian, mythology

DVD Review LOUVRE CITY

This contemplative but unpretentious film goes behind-the-scenes at the Louvre museum. Director Nicolas Philipert documents a vibrant community--an entire world--that tourists never see.
Release Date: ,

Read More...

Posted by: Ross Johnson - January 24, 2012, 4:07 pm - DVD Review
Keywords: documentary, french, art, louvre

DVD Review BASIL DEARDEN'S LONDON UNDERGROUND (ECLIPSE SERIES 25)

Even given some weaknesses, the four films of this collection are never less than competent and entertaining. In their own quiet ways, this neglected director may have to guide Britain through a tumultuous time into a more tolerant post-war world.
Release Date: ,

Read More...

Posted by: Ross Johnson - February 11, 2011, 1:47 pm - DVD Review
Keywords: eclipse, jazz, othello, british, gay

DVD Review THE PATTY DUKE SHOW: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON

In its last year, The Patty Duke Show remains charming and well-written, a cut above the standard sixties-style family sitcom.
Release Date: ,

Read More...

Posted by: Ross Johnson - October 13, 2010, 6:39 am - DVD Review
Keywords: sitcom

DVD Review BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (BLU-RAY)

Many will question what an oft-abused silent film could possibly benefit from a high-def presentation. The answer is right here in this brilliant restoration of a brutal propaganda classic.
Release Date: ,

Read More...

Posted by: Ross Johnson - May 18, 2010, 7:44 pm - DVD Review
Keywords: eisenstein, kino, silent, military, war, russian

DVD Review THE CONSTANCE TALMADGE COLLECTION Her Night of Romance/Her Sister from Paris

The easy charm of an all-but-fogotten star of the silent era will make this disc a fun find for silent film fans.
Release Date: ,

Read More...

Posted by: Ross Johnson - April 15, 2010, 4:26 am - DVD Review
Keywords: silent, comedy

DVD Review GEORGE BERNARD SHAW ON FILM (ECLIPSE SERIES 20)

Of producer-director Gabriel Pascal's mission to bring Shaw to the screen, the results here are decidedly mixed. There's a great deal of fun to be had, though, and flashes of brilliance throughout.
Release Date: ,

Read More...

Posted by: Ross Johnson - February 24, 2010, 7:08 am - DVD Review
Keywords: shaw, tehnicolor

DVD Review THE PATTY DUKE SHOW: SEASON ONE

The fine folks at Shout Factory have put together a quality presentation of a surprisingly tasteful and entertaining (if never brilliant) TV classic.
Release Date: ,

Read More...

Posted by: Ross Johnson - November 4, 2009, 1:17 am - DVD Review
Keywords: television, comedy

DVD Review BERGMAN ISLAND The Criterion Collection

Of the great directors of filmís first century, Bergman is perhaps the least fashionable. Interest comes and goes, but he never seems to inspire the widespread passion of a Hitchcock, or a Fellini or Kurosawa.
Release Date: ,

Read More...

Posted by: Ross Johnson - October 4, 2009, 2:05 pm - DVD Review
Keywords: ingmar bergman, marie nyrerˆd, peter cowie, documentary,