Jun 28, 2010 DVDs Web Exclusive

A lot of the backlash against Shutter Island isn't so much targeted at the direction, the performances, the cinematography or even the source material, it just had the bad luck of being Martin Scorsese's first narrative feature after winning the Oscar for directing The Departed (even though he should have won for Goodfellas). More

Jun 24, 2010 DVDs Web Exclusive

Mary and Max was the opening night film of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, the first animated movie to ever hold that position. Despite this, Adam Elliot's "clayography" never reached the wider audience it so deserved. Emotionally appealing animated movies, such as Pixar's Up, Wes Anderson's hilarious Fantastic Mr. Fox, Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey's The Secret of Kelis, and Henry Selick's Coraline, may have roped hype during Oscar season, but this simply engaging film deserved to be on the same pedestal. More

Jun 21, 2010 DVDs Web Exclusive

"You are making the documentary of a brain dead person" author Maurice Sendak warns, deadpan in the opening scene of Tell Them Anything You Want. A telling title, Sendak seems willing to explore his foibles in full, and what appears to be headed into fluffy fan-art territory swerves into a deeply personal and moving account of an artist who, despite waves of critical support, still feels like he never managed to truly express himself. More

Jun 20, 2010 DVDs Web Exclusive

The idea of a government-supported group called The Social Welfare Agency that creates and trains enhanced bio-cyborg little girl assassins may seem comical, but the moment protagonist Henrietta drops to one knee and fires round after round from her personal bullpup design FN P90 into encroaching baddies, pure awesomeness ensues. More

Jun 04, 2010 DVDs Web Exclusive

Every complaint about Avatar is dead-on: the dialogue is awful, the story is not much more than a gussied up FernGully, the acting is wooden, the opening minutes are close to unwatchable, and the mere mention of the term "Unobtainium" should elicit anything from giggles to scornful rage. More

May 13, 2010 DVDs Web Exclusive

Gamera, Daiei Studio's giant turtle answer to and rival of Toho Company, LTD.'s Godzilla, has unfairly been saddled with the reputation of being a knockoff of The King of the Monsters, a kind of GoBots of kaiju eiga. More

May 04, 2010 DVDs Web Exclusive

If you're a fan of the original A Nightmare on Elm Street saga, then you'll want to steer clear of the new cash grab remake and instead focus your sights on this excellent new documentary. Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy is an exhaustive four-hour documentary (with another four hours of extras!) focusing on the eight Nightmare movies that starred Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger. More

Apr 22, 2010 DVDs Web Exclusive

"Let's be quiet," Hunger director Steve McQueen says, raising his index finger to his lips during a video interview. "Let's shut up and just look, observe, before one makes a judgment of anything." At that moment in the interview—included as a special feature on this Criterion release—McQueen is explaining his decision to abandon dialogue throughout much of his impressive and sometimes disorienting debut feature, which depicts the disturbing events leading up to the starvation and death of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands in the Maze Prison outside of Belfast, Ireland in 1981. More

Mar 05, 2010 DVDs Web Exclusive

So this is what Charlie Kaufman has wrought. One had to wonder what effects Kaufman's flights of fancy (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation, etc.) would have on Hollywood. More