Blogs
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One Thing Leads to Another
Getting people to buy movies and TV shows continues to be a hard sell. Physical disc sales continue to decline, a problem partially of our own making. If we’re not excited about new releases, how can we expect consumers to be? One studio executive recently stated, in public, that no one should be spending more … Continue reading “One Thing Leads to Another”
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Mike’s Picks: ‘King of Jazz’ and ‘Underworld U.S.A.’
King of Jazz Criterion, Musical, $29.95 DVD, $39.95 Blu-ray, NR. Stars Paul Whiteman, John Boles, Laura La Plante, The Rhythm Boys (with Bing Crosby). 1930. King of Jazz isn’t anywhere near perfect, but it is perfectly amazing, and so, again, is one of those discs that justify the invention of Blu-rays. Extras: Authors James Layton … Continue reading “Mike’s Picks: ‘King of Jazz’ and ‘Underworld U.S.A.’”
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Mike’s Picks: ‘While the City Sleeps’ and ‘Don’t Bother to Knock’
While the City Sleeps Available via Warner Archive Warner, Drama, $21.99 Blu-ray, NR. Stars Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming, Ida Lupino, George Sanders, Vincent Price, John Barrymore Jr. 1956. Even at a reasonable 99 minutes, Fritz Lang’s newspaper crime drama While the City Sleeps gets ground down by a clunky boilerplate romance between Pulitzer-winning print newshound/TV … Continue reading “Mike’s Picks: ‘While the City Sleeps’ and ‘Don’t Bother to Knock’”
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Hoop Players Confused by Packaged Media
SAN ANTONIO – Heading into the NCAA men’s college basketball Final Four weekend, players from competing schools were given a variety of swag items, including movie DVDs – without digital codes, of course. Sports-themed discs such as I, Tonya, Creed, Goal! and even pre-order vouchers for Black Panther elicited confusion among some players accustomed to … Continue reading “Hoop Players Confused by Packaged Media”
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Why Are Consumers Shocked About Data Exploitation?
“I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here,” is the famous quote from the policeman in Casablanca (who promptly collects his winnings in Rick’s “illegal” casino). It was an open secret that gambling was taking place at Rick’s, and it seems to me a likewise open secret that data collection is … Continue reading “Why Are Consumers Shocked About Data Exploitation?”
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Mike’s Picks: ‘Running Wild’ and ‘Great Balls of Fire!’
Running Wild Kino Lorber, Comedy, $19.95 DVD, $29.95 Blu-ray, NR. Stars W.C. Fields, Marie Shotwell, Mary Brian, Barnett Raskin. 1927. Director Gregory La Cava’s silent-era crowd-pleaser is funnier than expected given that W.C. Fields is without his vocal deliveries, but he was such a physical performer, and La Cava such a deft viual director, that … Continue reading “Mike’s Picks: ‘Running Wild’ and ‘Great Balls of Fire!’”
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Mike’s Picks: ‘Night of the Living Dead’ and ‘The L-Shaped Room’
Night of the Living Dead: Criterion Collection Criterion, Horror, $39.95 DVD, $39.95 Blu-ray, NR. Stars Duane Jones, Judith O’Dea, Karl Hardman, Marilyn Eastman. 1968. In any form, the opening shot seems exactly right: a moving car finessing all the twists and turns of a pastoral setting that turns out to be a graveyard entrance that … Continue reading “Mike’s Picks: ‘Night of the Living Dead’ and ‘The L-Shaped Room’”
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‘Bad Samaritan’ Turns to Twitter to Announce Date Change
With windows a hot issue on both the home entertainment side and the theatrical side, it’s interesting to note the frenzy that developed among theatrical distributors when Walt Disney Studios moved up the domestic release date of Avengers: Infinity War by one week, from May 4 to April 27, so it opens theatrically on the same … Continue reading “‘Bad Samaritan’ Turns to Twitter to Announce Date Change”
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‘Downsizing’ at UltraViolet?
As studio home entertainment divisions trumpet the Disney-spawned and re-jiggered Movies Anywhere, Paramount Pictures and Lionsgate remain on the sidelines. Paramount recently announced the digital (March 6) and 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray Disc (March 20) street dates for the comedy Downsizing, starring Oscar-winners Matt Damon and director Alexander Payne. Notable to the packaged-media release: cloud-based … Continue reading “‘Downsizing’ at UltraViolet?”
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Remembering Russ Solomon
I’ve been thinking a lot about Russ Solomon over the last few days, ever since I heard about the celebrated Tower Records and Video founder’s death Sunday night while watching the Academy Awards. At 92 years old, he was at his home in Sacramento, drinking whisky and complaining about someone’s outfit, his son told the … Continue reading “Remembering Russ Solomon”
