Only In Theaters isn’t just a love letter to cinema but a story about the Laemmle family and living the American Dream. Over the course of two and a half years, filmmaker Raphael Sbarge traces the family’s history all the way back to the 1930s. He was given complete access and full creative control in telling their story. While the final run time is about an hour and a half, the initial cut ran around…
"Only In Theaters: The Laemmle Family and the American Dream"
Quentin Tarantino’s debut feature, Reservoir Dogs, gets the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray treatment over a month after its 30th anniversary. A few filmmakers changed the game for independent filmmaking when their films played Sundance: Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith, and Steven Soderbergh. Soderbegh started first with Sex, Lies, and Videotape in 1989. Tarantino was next with Reservoir Dogs in 1992. Finally, you had Kevin Smith premiere Clerks in 1992. While this film didn’t do much at…
"Reservoir Dogs Gets 4K Ultra HD Upgrade"
Blue Hawaii is the first of three Elvis films shot in Hawaii and it makes its arrival on 4K Ultra HD by way of the Paramount Presents line. A quick note about the Blue Hawaii restoration: they scanned the original 35mm negative in 4k/16BIT. Unfortunately, the opening sequence was grainy because it originally used duped film. As a result, they have rebuilt the sequence completely using the original film elements in the Paramount library. Because…
"Blue Hawaii Arrives on 4K Ultra HD"
All three cuts of Touch of Evil, a film noir directed by Orson Welles, are available on 4K Ultra HD by way of Kino Lorber Studio Classics. The new Kino Lorber 4K UHD release presents every cut of the film with a new Dolby Vision HDR master. I watched the reconstructed cut on Sunday since it is considered to be the definitive cut in the film. Walter Murch edits the film according to Welles’s original…
"Touch of Evil: The Reconstructed Cut in 4K Ultra HD"
The 7th Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards, hosted by Wyatt Cenac, are taking place tonight at the Edison Ballroom in New York. Fire of Love heads into the evening with seven nominations with Good Night Oppy following right behind with six nominations. For those not able to attend the ceremony in person, there is a live stream available to watch on both Facebook and YouTube starting at 7 PM ET/4 PM PT. National Geographic Documentary Films…
"The 7th Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards – Live Updates"
Saturday Night Live (SNL) decided to bring back transphobic comedian Dave Chappelle and he reinforced antisemitic stereotypes. During his monologue, Chappelle said he denounced antisemitism while proceeding to reinforce antisemitic stereotypes. The only reason why I know this is from the news alerts and social media outrage. Outside of the recent Paul Rudd episode during the Omicron surge, I’ve been largely boycotting Saturday Night Live because of Michael Che’s open transphobia during Weekend Update but…
"SNL Brings Back Dave Chappelle And He Gets Antisemitic"
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever joins Avengers: Endgame among the Marvel Studios films with LGBTQ representation problems. The following contains spoilers for the recently released sequel. If you haven’t seen the new film yet, please stop reading now. Here we go again. They always remove quick moments in countries that do not allow LGBTQ representation. It happened in Avengers: Endgame during the first scene after the cutaway to 2023. What is happening in Black Panther: Wakanda…
"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Has A LGBTQ Representation Problem"
Following their breakup, a former couple ends up duking it out in order to determine the right to their bar in the Bar Fight! The premise behind Bar Fight! is one that makes for a solid comedy. We’ve seen what couples go through when they break up or divorce. What many of these films do not generally show is what happens with their friends and other local favorites. It makes sense that they would keep…
"Bar Fight! Is A Battle For The Ages"
The very hysterical National Lampoon’s Xmas Vacation arrived on 4K Ultra HD last week and the comedy has never looked or sounded better. I’ve watched this film a number of times over the years, both before and after becoming a film critic. And yet, I’ve never formally written about the film until now. It just so happens that the National Lampoon’s Vacation sequel is finally available to buy on 4K UHD. I own the first…
"National Lampoon’s Xmas Vacation Arrives on 4K Ultra HD"
Lindsay Lohan makes her long-awaited return to rom-coms in Falling for Xmas, the first of two films in a multi-picture deal with Netflix. We’ve been long overdue to watch Lindsay Lohan in a leading role on screen. It wasn’t a question of if but when. I can tell you right now that the wait was worth it. Sure, this film falls into romantic comedy tropes but most rom-coms usually do. When you’ve seen one, you’ve seen…
"Falling for Xmas: Lindsay Lohan Returns In Netflix Film"