A.V. Club (Free subscription) | 11/24/2009
For we happy few who believe that Judd Apatow’s Funny People will one day be regarded as one of 2009’s best movies, the road to revisionism begins today, with the release of the stunning special edition Funny People DVD and Blu-ray. Packed with outtakes, bonus stand-up footage, fake (and real) documentaries, and archival footage of Apatow and star Adam Sandler, the Funny People discs generously...
Largehearted Boy (Free subscription) | 11/23/2009
The Ron Howard thriller Angels & Demons is in stores this week, but I have my eyes on several less-anticipated DVDs. The Criterion Collection releases both Matteo Garrone's amazing story of modern organized crime in Naples, Gomorrah, as well...
DVD Talk (Free subscription) | 11/23/2009
Highly Recommended The Film: "Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground." -- Genesis 19:24-25 Gomorrah (Gomorra) begins with a mob hit, done in Italian director Matteo Garrone's methodical style. Slowly and steadily,...
Cinema Viewfinder (Free subscription) | 11/23/2009
Matteo Garrone's Gomorrah is one of the films I missed at last year's New York Film Festival. Too bad, I thought, since it had won the Grand Prix at Cannes—one of the few awards I put some stock in—earlier that year. It has been MIA on home video for quite a long time, relatively speaking. But tomorrow it debuts on Criterion DVD and Blu-ray, as part of a larger distribution deal between...
Popdose (Free subscription) | 11/23/2009
The Criterion Collection has an agreement with IFC Films to put some of its more noteworthy acquisitions on DVD, and so we have Matteo Garrone’s outstanding Gomorrah. I reviewed the film back in March. Earlier this year I didn’t feel ready to commit to a proper Top 10 list for films released in 2008, but [...]
The One-Line Review (Free subscription) | 11/21/2009
Italy Feature Film Original Title: Gomorra Director: Matteo Garrone Writers: Maurizio Braucci, Ugo Chiti, Gianni Di Gregorio, Matteo Garrone, Massimo Gaudioso, Roberto Saviano Cinematographer: Marco Onorato Cast: Toni Servillo, Gianfelice Imparato, Maria Nazionale, Salvatore Cantalupo, Gigio Morra, Salvatore Abruzzese, Marco Macor, Ciro Petrone, Carmine Paternoster Interweaving five stories of figures...
Fin de Cinema (Free subscription) | 11/13/2009
I've likely spoken at some length on the majority of these awards, seeing as how most of them were given out this year... which means this will be the last installment of the Awards section of The Decade List, as I hope to will finish this all up by the end of the year. The "national film prizes" sounded really great in theory, but it's actually been more of a hassle than anything else. I'm...
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 11/09/2009
Jacques Audiard's acclaimed prison drama shortlisted for six awards, including best film, best director and best actor for newcomer Tahar Rahim The signs all point to Un Prophète (A Prophet) at next month's European film awards. Jacques Audiard's prison-set crime saga leads the field with six nominations, including best film and director. Newcomer Tahar Rahim was also nominated in the best...
HorrorScope (Free subscription) | 10/27/2009
Directed by Matteo Garrone. Starring Toni Servillo, Salvatore Cantalupo, Gianfelice Imparato You might think there would be nothing more to say about the culture of organised crime in Italy. Gomorrah manages to inject a little vitality into the gangster flick and come at it from a slightly different angle. Its five stories look at the effect of the mafia on the the grassroots level of society in Naples....
Fin de Cinema (Free subscription) | 10/02/2009
Sometime last month, the European Film Academy announced the 48 films included on their selection list for the 2009 Awards. The nominations, which are to be announced sometime in November, will be pulled from these 48, and the official ceremony will be held in Germany on 12 December. Matteo Garrone's Gomorrah [ Gomorra ] was the big winner last year, taking prizes for Best Film, Director, Actor, Screenwriter...
Hollywood Elsewhere (Free subscription) | 08/17/2009
Criterion's November schedule has been inspected and Steven Soderbergh 's two Che movies aren't on it so a December release is the earliest possibility. Criterion will put a Bluray version of Matteo Garrone's Gomorrah in November, but only standard DVDs of Arnaud Desplechin's A Christmas Tale and Michael Ritchie's Downhill Racer ('69) that month. The Downhill Racer disc "will feature a restored...
Fin de Cinema (Free subscription) | 08/15/2009
After cluing a release of Steven Soderbergh's Che in an earlier newsletter, it looks official that Criterion and IFC have struck a pack, announcing two IFC titles for November: Arnaud Desplechin's A Christmas Tale [ Un conte de Noël ] and Matteo Garrone's Gomorrah [ Gomorra ]. Surprisingly though, Gomorrah is the only Blu-ray release set for November. Also announced Michael Ritchie's Downhill...
the deletions (Free subscription) | 08/08/2009
Yesterday I went to see Matteo Garrone’s film of Roberto Saviano’s novel about the Camorra syndicate in Naples and Caserta, Italy - Gomorrah . It’s a powerful exposé of corruption and of the brutal methods used to recruit young men who become so entangled in the web of crime that they have no choice but to continue living in a truly violent world. Only a few can even contemplate...
More Than Meets the Mogwai (Free subscription) | 07/09/2009
Where I weigh in on: PUBLIC ENEMIES (Michael Mann, 2009) USA WHATEVER WORKS (Woody Allen, 2009) USA AWAY WE GO (Sam Mendes, 2009) USA EASY VIRTUE (Stephan Elliott, 2008) USA GOMORRAH (Matteo Garrone, 2008) ITALY LAND OF THE LOST (Brad Silberling, 2009) USA NIGHTWATCHING (Peter Greenaway, 2007) NETHERLANDS/CANADA/UK/FRANCE/POLAND THE PROPOSAL (Anne Fletcher, 2009) USA SPACEMAN: A BASEBALL ODYSSEY (Brett...
The One-Line Review Presents (Free subscription) | 06/30/2009
filmcritic.com Dr. Strangelove, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) .. Stanley Kubrick The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) .. William Wyler Casablanca (1942) .. Michael Curtiz Fiddler on the Roof (1971) .. Norman Jewison The Bank Dick (1940) .. Edward F. Cline It's a Gift (1934) .. Norman Z. McLeod Tillie and Gus (1933) .. Francis Martin Doctor Zhivago (1965) .. David Lean An...
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