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Cary Grant, long past his days as a matinee idol, is
effortlessly suave and charming and convincing as a leading man opposite Eva
Marie Saint, in her first and only blond sexpot role. Everything clicks and sly
fox Alfred Hitchcock slides sexual innuendo and erotic flirtation under his most
purely entertaining thriller. The set pieces are brilliant, the dialogue
sparkles and the music is magnificent, and the Blu-ray debut, newly remastered
from original VistaVision film elements, has a stunning richness and clarity.
New to this edition is the original hour-long documentary "The Master's
Touch: Hitchcock's Signature Style," a superb tour through famous Hitch moments
via interviews with critics and directors (including Martin Scorsese and John
Carpenter, who share the lessons they learned from the master) and, of course, a
rich collection of clips from the breadth of his career. Five of those directors
chime in on the 25-minute "North by Northwest: One for the Ages," which is more
appreciation than making-of featurette. Previously released supplements include
an engrossing commentary track by screenwriter Ernest Lehman, the smartly
directed, 40-minute documentary "Destination Hitchcock: The Making of North by
Northwest" and the 2003 TCM documentary "Cary Grant: A Class Apart."
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| Wings of Desire |
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"There are angels over the streets of Berlin." Wim Wenders
struck a chord with audiences all over the world in this lyrical 1987 fantasy.
As seen by the angels in black-and-white, Berlin is a city of yearning souls
whose musings play over the silvery beauty of cinematographer Henri Alekan s
images. But one angel (Bruno Ganz) wants touch, communication, the emotional
rapture of love and the colors of humanity. Wenders delivers all with a film
attuned to the transient moments of being alive and fragile moments of human
joy. The Blu-ray edition is astounding, with black-and-white footage that looks
both ethereal and crisp, and the color is cool and clear and tactile.
The
commentary for this edition by prepared by Mark Rance from interviews he
conducted with Wenders (alone and with Peter Falk) between 1996 and 1997. The
43-minute documentary "Angels Among Us," a loving, elegantly simple production
directed by JM Kenny in 2003, was featured on MGM's earlier DVD releases, as was
the gorgeous collection of deleted footage. But there's a wealth of previously
unseen archival discoveries, including interviews with director of photography
Henri Alekan, footage of Wenders on the set and outtakes, plus a booklet.
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| Miracle on 34th Street (1947) |
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This engaging Christmas fairy tale manages to be both a slick
Hollywood artifact and a warm and quirky character-based comic drama. Edmund
Gwenn is particularly fine as the bearded old man hired by Macy's for its
department store Santa who thinks he's the real St. Nick, and cute little
Natalie Wood is sweet and genuine as the skeptical prodigy who wants to believe
in Santa Claus more than anything. The 1994 remake scripted and produced by John
Hughes is also available on Blu-ray, but there's no topping the original.
Includes commentary by Maureen O'Hara among the supplements.
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| Love Actually |
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The directorial debut of British romantic comedy writer Richard
Curtis is a star-studded Christmas comedy about love & actually. The film
skips through what seems like dozens of stories, following the romantic travails
of everyone from the prime minister (a charming Hugh Grant) to a love-struck
grade school kid and sketching ideas that only blossom into romantic heat in a
few instances. It's a light holiday treat of romantic hors d'oeuvres, and a
little spice provided by Bill Nighy as a washed-up rock star. Includes
commentary, deleted scenes and featurettes.
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| Easy Rider: 40th Anniversary |
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Forty years after it first roared across American screens, "Easy
Rider" remains a film of legendary proportions: the quintessential '60s film and
the road movie that captured a generation. Dennis Hopper (who also directs) and
Peter Fonda (producer and co-writer) star as a couple of bikers who score a
small fortune in cocaine in Mexico and set off on an odyssey to discover America
before selling their haul. The Blu-ray debut features the previously recorded
commentary by Hopper and the retrospective documentary "Easy Rider: Shaking the
Cage," plus the exclusive movieIQ, a BD-Live enabled trivia and information
track, and a booklet case.
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Sean Axmaker is a film critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, a DVD
columnist for MSN Entertainment and a contributing writer for GreenCine.com,
Turner Classic Movies Online, Parallax View and Asian Cult Cinema, among other
publications. Find links to all of this and more on his shamelessly self-promoting blog.
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Cheerleader MoviesWith Megan Fox in
'Jennifer's Body,' we look at our favorite cheerleader films | |
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