When it comes to classy horror, everything looks better in black in white. See "Dr. Caligari." "Psycho." "Vampyr." "Night of the Living Dead." "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." ... And "Eyes Without a Face." Georges Franju, director of that French horror classic, once was asked why he preferred his chills in black and white. He pointed to … [Read more...]
Red-hot ‘Orange Is the New Black’
Addiction can land you in prison. Addiction to a TV series can keep you there. Netflix's new "Orange Is the New Black" looks like a hit, and for good reason. It's perhaps the best new TV show of the year, coming here in the swelter of mid-July. Created by the woman who made "Weeds," this prison dramedy stars Taylor Schilling as a trendy … [Read more...]
Criterion takes ‘3:10 to Yuma’
A plain-speaking western hero makes a lonely stand against a gang of outlaws. The clock ticks down. The townsfolk cower. A train steam-bellows down the tracks, its arrival presaging a shootout and near-certain death for the hero. That's "High Noon" all right, one of the most famous American westerns. But it's also "3:10 to Yuma," a lesser-known … [Read more...]
Fritz Lang’s ‘Ministry of Fear’
Funny thing about the wrong man: He never, ever did it. This lack of mystery never held back the thriller subgenre, in large part because of Alfred Hitchcock's fondness for tales of the unjustly accused on the run. The German director Fritz Lang also worked cases of mistaken identity, notably in "Fury" (1936) and "Ministry of Fear" … [Read more...]
‘Gold Rush’ hits motherlode on Blu-ray
"The Gold Rush" has been delighting audiences for almost 90 years -- it's one of the flat-out funniest films made in the silent era or any other. This is the movie Chaplin wanted to be remembered for. Probably the grandest silent-movie entertainment of them all. Close your eyes and let some of its classic scenes flicker across your mind -- … [Read more...]
