By Sean Axmaker

There's an introduction that puts an unexpected burden on an interview. "I promised myself that by Christmas I could stop," explains Kelly Reichardt at the beginning of our phone interview, conducted back in December. She laughs and continues: "I ran out of things to say about the film a long time ago. But woo-hoo, here we go."

Old Joy--a GreenCine Best of 2006 title--is now available on DVD.

Continue Reading Kelly Reichardt's New "Joy"

By Shade Rupe

With El Topo and The Holy Mountain seeing a limited theatrical release earlier this year, and now, at long last, official DVD releases as well, most of the well-justified hoopla has focused on these films as cult classics, landmarks in the early history of the pre-video era's "midnight movie" phenomenon. Some of the coverage has gone further, telling the story of the dispute between Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky and Beatles manager Allen Klein, who has owned the rights to these films and kept them out of circulation for three decades.

Continue Reading Alejandro Jodorowsky: Return to Holy Mountain

Continue Reading Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days

Continue Reading Little Children: Unnervingly good

More Oscar-connected releases see the light of day today, including a collection of the nominated shorts, as well as fine performances in Little Children and Dreamgirls; a Matthew Barney behind the scenes film; Alpha Dog; a near-simultaneous theatrical and DVD release for Diggers; and more!

Continue Reading New on DVD: May 1, 2007

By Cathleen Rountree

Upon first meeting one of the great humanist filmmakers, Hirokazu Kore-eda, last September at the Toronto International Film Festival, I was struck by his modesty and peacefulness, characteristics embodied also by Soza (Junichi Okada), the reluctant swordsman/hero in Kore-eda.s most recent film Hana, screening this week at SFIFF. An aficionada of his four previous films: Maborosi (1996), After Life (1999), Distance (2002), and Nobody Knows (2004), I was ecstatic at the opportunity to meet and speak with this foremost world cinema director, who, as far as I.m concerned, should be considered one of Japan.s Living Treasures.

Continue Reading Hirokazu Kore-eda: Syncing Up with the After Life

By Jonathan Marlow

On the occasion of the U.S. Premiere of Les Blank.s latest documentary, All in this Tea, at the San Francisco International Film Festival, Jonathan Marlow spoke with the remarkably accomplished filmmaker about his legendary career. What follows is the first of two parts.

The San Francisco International Film Festival is underway! Click here for more info.

Continue Reading Les Blank: Tea for Two

By Sean Axmaker

"'Everyone has his reasons,' that famous quote from the inexhaustible 1939 masterpiece The Rules of the Game, has been the standard critical stamp on the work of Jean Renoir. Every individual in a Renoir film is a unique person whom Renoir attempts to understand, or at least make understood to us," says Sean Axmaker in his article about the French master's films and characters. A special three disc Collector's Edition featuring some of Renoirs finest works is now available on DVD.

Continue Reading Jean Renoir: Master of the Game

Helen Mirren won a well-deserved Oscar for her fully dimensionalized portrayal of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II during the Princess Di years, while Michael Sheen will make you wish he really were Tony Blair. It's a "politically shrewd, unexpectedly funny yet immaculately tasteful docudrama," wrote LA Weekly's Scott Foundas.

(Read on:)

Continue Reading The Queen: Mirren rules

The absolutely bonkers Thai melodrama-Western Tears of the Black Tiger, finally out in a legit DVD release after a few years of bootlegs, "has a tendency to overextend its outrageous arias," noted Sean Axmaker in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "but this pop-art confection both spoofs and celebrates the crazy conventions of movie melodramas and genre cinema with pure affection."

It's a "a delightfully unabashed affair, conceived in such good, giddy spirits it might have been called Blissfully Yours," adds Nathan Lee of the Village Voice.

Continue Reading Tears of the Black Tiger: Fit to be Thai