Reviewer: Jeffrey M. Anderson
Rating (ouf of 5): ***** 

Dashiell Hammett's hard-boiled detective The Continental Op made his fiction debut in 1929, and the more famous Sam Spade followed in 1930. Raymond Chandler followed in 1939 with the debut of Philip Marlowe. Movie versions of these were made throughout the 1940s. In 1947, another hard-boiled detective hit the scene, in a book called I, the Jury, by Mickey Spillane. Private eye Mike Hammer wasn't like the others; he was tougher, greedier, more lowdown, maybe not as bright... in a word, he was more primal. He struck a chord with readers and the Hammer books outsold their predecessors in huge amounts.

Following up last week's tiny release week is a big line up of must-sees, including two previously unreleased Warner Fassbinder titles, a re-released 80's cult classic, and a few critically acclaimed foreign titles, and two from American auteurs the Coen Brothers and Mike Leigh. Talk about a slump buster!

This week brings us some arthouse delights, including the mostly silent, spellbinding romance In the City of Sylvia, a Sorcese-directed doc, and an english-language adaptation of Anton Chekhov's classic novel. 

A very fine day for new releases, indeed, especially after last week's quiet list. Criterion releases a cult film, there's dysfunctional romance, dark crazy stuff from Korea, lovely French animation and more. Plus more releases coming soon, and we'll be adding to that as we go.