Blu-ray review – Stream On Demand

‘Long Way North’ – An animated odyssey on Peacock and Criterion Channel

!Featured, Animation, Blu-ray, Criterion Channel, DVD, family friendly, historical, International Cinema, Kid Stuff, Peacock, Shout! Factory, Streaming Movies, SVOD 12/23/2021 Sean Axmaker

This gorgeous French-Danish animated feature is a coming of age story, age of adventure odyssey, and finally survival tale in the icy North.

‘Try and Get Me!’ – lynch mob noir on Criterion Channel

!Featured, Blu-ray, Classic, Crime Cinema, Criterion Channel, DVD, film noir, Have You Seen...?, Hollywood Classic, Olive, SVOD 11/27/2021 Sean Axmaker

Frank Lovejoy and Lloyd Bridges star in Cy Enfield’s incendiary film noir, which turns into one of the most caustic cinematic social commentaries of anxiety and fear.

‘Woman on the Run’ with Ann Sheridan on Paramount+ and more

!Featured, American Independent Cinema, Blu-ray, Classic, Cohen Media Channel, DVD, Fandor, Flicker Alley, Free, Have You Seen...?, Hollywood Classic, Hoopla, Kanopy, Mystery, Paramount+, SVOD, thriller 11/25/2021 Sean Axmaker

Sheridan developed and produced this independent film noir, which was shot on location in San Francisco and makes great use of the city.

It’s ‘Too Late for Tears’ for Lizabeth Scott on Paramount+ and Criterion Channel

!Featured, American Independent Cinema, Blu-ray, Classic, Cohen Media Channel, Crime Cinema, Criterion Channel, DVD, film noir, Flicker Alley, Free, Hollywood Classic, Kanopy, SVOD 11/24/2021 Sean Axmaker

Scott plays one of the most ruthless heroines in film noir in this minor classic costarring Arthur Kennedy and Dan Duryea.

Dana Andrews and Arthur Kennedy in Elia Kazan's realist noir

‘Boomerang’ – small town noir on Criterion Channel

!Featured, Academy Award nominee, based on a true story, Blu-ray, Criterion Channel, drama, DVD, film noir, Hollywood Classic, Kino Lorber, SVOD 11/22/2021 Sean Axmaker

Elia Kazan directs this semi-documentary film noir based on the true story of a small town murder and the rush to find the killer.

Victor Mature stars in the classic film noir

‘I Wake Up Screaming’ on Criterion Channel

!Featured, based on a novel, Blu-ray, Classic, Criterion Channel, DVD, film noir, Hollywood Classic, Kino Lorber, suspense, SVOD, thriller 11/21/2021 Sean Axmaker

Victor Mature and Betty Grable star in one of the films that established the distinctive style and attitude of film noir, and one of the greatest movie titles of classic cinema.

Last chance: ‘The Bird with the Crystal Plumage’ – Dario Argento begins on Criterion Channel

!Featured, Arrow, Blu-ray, Criterion Channel, Cult Movies, DVD, giallo, horror, International Cinema, Last chance 09/21/2021 Sean Axmaker

The directorial debut of Dario Argento sets the tone and style for his baroque horror films and the genre he helped define: giallo.

Anna Pavlova stars in the 1916 silent movie epic directed by Lois Weber

‘The Dumb Girl of Portici’ – Lois Weber’s silent blockbuster on Criterion Channel

!Featured, Blu-ray, Classic, Criterion Channel, Directed by Women, DVD, historical, Milestone, Milestone Video, silent film 06/29/2021 Sean Axmaker

The first blockbuster helmed by a woman director in Hollywood, The Dumb Girl of Portici (1916), based on the opera by Daniel Auber, presents the legendary ballerina Anna Pavlova in her only feature film performance. It was not uncommon to cast luminaries of stage, opera, and other performing arts in movies as they evolved from […]

Kiyoshi Kurosawa's 2001 horror film from Japan is one of his greatest

Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s haunting horror film ‘Pulse’ on Amazon Prime

!Featured, Amazon Prime Video, Arrow, Blu-ray, Cult Movies, DVD, horror, International Cinema, supernatural, suspense, SVOD 04/07/2021 Sean Axmaker

“Do you want to meet a ghost?” The meditative and metaphysical horror cinema of Kiyoshi Kurosawa made him one of the masters of Japanese horror during its amazing cycle of surreal and nightmarish horror films of the 1990s and 2000s, but his films never really crossed over to the general audience in the U.S. His […]

Film Noir on Blu-ray: ‘Moonrise,’ ‘Gun Crazy,’ ‘No Orchids,’ and the restored ‘Man Who Cheated Himself’

Blu-ray, Criterion, Criterion Collecton, DVD, film noir, Flicker Alley, Kino Classics, Warner Archive 01/13/2019 Sean Axmaker

The Man Who Cheated Himself (Flicker Alley, Blu-ray+DVD)Moonrise (Criterion, Blu-ray, DVD)Gun Crazy (Warner Archive, Blu-ray)No Orchids for Miss Blandish (Kino, Blu-ray, DVD) Lee J. Cobb takes the lead as Lt. Ed Cullen, a veteran Homicide detective in a secret affair with socialite Lois Frazer (Jane Wyatt) while she’s in the midst of a divorce, in […]