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Showing posts from April, 2025

#1271: LONERGAN, Kenneth: You Can Count On Me (2000)

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LONERGAN, Kenneth (United States) You Can Count On Me [2000] Spine #1271 Blu-ray Celebrated playwright Kenneth Lonergan first brought his rich, humanist vision to the screen with this soulful look at the complexities of a sibling relationship whose roots are as knotted as they are deep. Years after Sammy (Laura Linney) and her younger brother, Terry (Mark Ruffalo), lost their parents in a car crash, small-town single mother Sammy is plunged into another crisis when the troubled, adrift Terry comes home for what turns out to be an extended stay—one that could either bring them closer together or tear them apart. With infinite grace and his peerless ear for dialogue, Lonergan offers something all too rare on-screen: beautifully flawed human beings whose journeys offer achingly relatable insight into what changes when you grow up—and what doesn’t. 111 minutes 5.1 Surround Color 1:85:1 Criterion Release 2025 Directors/Writer Kenneth Lonergan  was 38 when he directed You Can Count On ...

#1270: NICHOLS, Mike: Carnal Knowledge (1971)

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NICHOLS, Mike (United States) Carnal Knowledge [1971] Spine #1270 Blu-ray Amid the sexual revolution and social upheaval of the early 1970s, acclaimed director Mike Nichols delivered a zeitgeist-defining examination of American mores. Sharply written by Jules Feiffer, this acerbic drama flashes through more than twenty years in the lives of two college buddies (Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel) whose casual chauvinism is all fun and games—until it’s not. As the women who suffer and see through the friends’ insecure posturing, Candice Bergen, Ann-Margret, Rita Moreno, Carol Kane, and Cynthia O’Neal form an extraordinary ensemble that gives the film its soul. So controversial it became embroiled in an obscenity case that went all the way to the Supreme Court,  Carnal Knowledge  remains startling for its unnervingly frank look at postwar masculinity. 98 minutes Monaural Color 2:35:1 Criterion Release 2025 Directors/Writer Mike Nichols  was 40 when he directed Carnal Knowle...

#1269: LANG, Fritz: The Big Heat (1953)

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LANG, Fritz (United States) The Big Heat [1953] Spine #1269 Blu-ray Noir doesn’t get any more hard-boiled than this scorching tale of vice and retribution, a film that finds director Fritz Lang working at the peak of his Hollywood style—stripped to the bone, simmering with outrage, and fatalistic to the core. A tightly wound Glenn Ford stars as a homicide detective whose investigation into a sprawling crime syndicate becomes a shockingly personal, hate-fueled quest for revenge. Costarring an iconic Gloria Grahame as the mink-coated gangster’s moll with her own axe to grind, and featuring a supporting cast led by a sensationally sleazy Lee Marvin,  The Big Heat  hits with raw, unstoppable force. 89 minutes Monaural Black and White 1:37:1 Criterion Release 2025 Directors/Writer Fritz Lang  was 63 when he directed The Big Heat . The Film a Film Rating (0-60): 60 The Extras The Booklet Commentary Video tribute Documentary 1 Documentary 2 Documentary 3 Controversial altered ...