a few words about

  1. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ A Quiet Place (redux)-- in 4k UHD Blu-ray - Special Mondo Steelbook Edition

    Even for those who don't particularly care for film, like me, Mondo Steelbooks add another dimension, that takes things out of the ordinary, and into the spectacular. This is investment quality art for the steelbook collector. Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, DTS:X? Who cares. A 4k Blu-ray...
  2. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark -- in 4k UHD Blu-ray

    Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, directed by Andre Ovredal, and with Guillermo del Toro credited partially with producing and writing, is a quality, thoughtful, little horror film, based upon the series of books by Alvin Schwartz. With a cast of "teens in jeopardy," one might easily equate it...
  3. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Doctor Sleep -- in 4k UHD Blu-ray

    Warner Bros. seems to be leaving the door to room 237 ajar, as the legend below the title, Doctor Sleep on packaging reads "The next chapter in The Shining story." I'd been getting negative feedback on this film, but as a fan of the original, I had to try it on for size, that size being long...
  4. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Ford v Ferrari -- in 4k UHD Blu-ray

    Aeons ago, I was given the thrill of driving one of the original 1960s Shelby Cobras. While there's not a thing wrong with modern vehicles, with all their electronics, it was a unique visceral experience. Beyond cars that I've owned over the years, probably the second and third would be a...
  5. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Tex Avery Screwball Classics - Volume 1 - in Blu-ray

    Between 1937 and 1955, Fred Quimby produced over 240 animated shorts, ie Cartoons. You'll see his name as producer on this set. The Tex Avery shorts included - 19 of them - are some of his finest work at the studio. But let's get numbers out of the way. He started his career working for...
  6. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Jungle Fever - in Blu-ray

    I've always considered Spike Lee's work akin to a force of nature. There may be a bit of prejudice there, as we share the same alma mater. But seldom has his older work received proper respect on any home video platform. Kino is now offering some of his films (I've only had a chance to take a...
  7. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Munchhausen - in Blu-ray

    In an attempt to match or outdo Hollywood and the UK, UFA produced an elaborate fantasy, as part of the Nazi film output in 1943. It was the third in the process. Munchhausen, directed by Josef von Baky, was a gorgeously mounted color production - Agfa as opposed to Technicolor - which makes...
  8. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Blood and Sand (1922)- in Blu-ray

    Kino's new Blu-ray of Fred Niblo's 1922 Blood and Sand, with Rudolf Valentino is a quality affair. Based upon 35mm elements, it's a wonderful example of the film, and we're apt not to see better. The film was re-made in 1941 by Fox, based upon the same novel by Vicente Blasco Ibanez, with...
  9. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Shutter Island -- in 4k UHD Blu-ray

    For those who have not yet experience Mr. Scorsese's Shutter Island, my advice would be to not read reviews. There are a myriad of differing points of view, and narrators running through the film, which I found of great interest. Some reviewers found discomfort in that fact. For one of it's...
  10. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Two Evil eyes - in Blu-ray

    Always a fan of Blue Underground's releases, I'm thinking that something may have gone amiss in the final mastering of this otherwise impressive set of discs, as it was struck from the OCN in 4k. Overall image stability, grain structure, both fine. Color is problematic, most disturbingly in...
  11. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Legal Eagles - in Blu-ray

    Legal Eagles isn't a great film. Never was. But I was pleased to finally see it arrive on Blu. Color and densities seem fine for an older telecine, probably c. 1951, but better than okay. Problem is with the older telecine, which could have been attended to with stabilization, and even then...
  12. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Zombieland: Double Tap -- in 4k UHD Blu-ray

    If you liked the original Zombieland, which came out a decade ago, you may also find Double Tap fun, although there's much here that's repetitive and overall, of lesser quality. Is it an unnecessary sequel? I'm not certain, but it's still a way to spend 100 minutes toward mindless fun. The...
  13. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Underwater! - in Blu-ray

    Underwater probably has more interest historically than as a film. It wasn't very good in 1955, and hasn't exactly turned Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White over the ensuing decades. It's a very minor work for director John Sturges, who had the ability (The Great Escape) to create films that...
  14. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) - in Blu-ray

    Murders in the Rue Morgue, as directed by Robert Florey, was a February 1932 release, which places its production in 1931. Let's put things in historical perspective at Universal at the time. Dracula was shot in 1930, and released in February of 1931. Frankenstein would have been produced...
  15. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Terminator Dark Fate -- in 4k UHD Blu-ray

    While the latest in the Terminator series will presumably be popular with fans, I wasn't quite certain what to make of it. I understood the storyline. It's simple. People or machines (or a combination of them) from the past, and or, present have travelled back (or forward) in time to stop...
  16. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Joker -- in 4k UHD Blu-ray

    I greatly respect Todd Phillips' Joker, and feel that Joaquin Phoenix's performance is both extraordinary, as well as award-quality, but while I love dark films, Joker was a bit on the nihilistic side for my taste. Beautifully shot by Lawrence Sher, with blacks that are occasionally darker than...
  17. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Beverly Hills Cop - 3 Movie Collection - in Blu-ray

    There have been so many home video variants of the Beverly Hills Cop series, that I'd not even guess as to the numbers. Singles, collections with other films, with all three of the BHC titles on DVD, and via an earlier Blu-ray master. But now all three films are available in quite beautiful...
  18. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ The Cotton Club - in Blu-ray

    It's a rarity these days of "director's cuts," "extended cuts," and all sorts of miscellaneous re-cuttings of motion pictures, that one arrives that's beautifully reconsidered, re-cut, and longer.... and it's far better than the theatrical original. No need to go into the battles that occurred...
  19. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ The Curse of Oak Island - in DVD

    The Curse of Oak Island is an interesting series, from the History Channel, the first six seasons of which have been released as a boxed set by Lionsgate. Philosophically, it's my kind of series, joining two brothers who have invested with a group to take financial control of an island off Nova...
  20. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Game of Thrones - Season 8 -- in 4k UHD Blu-ray

    Game of Thrones is an HBO series that ran from April of 2011 through May of 2019. Ten episodes per season, with the exception of S 7 (7 episodes) and S8 (6 episodes). Shot around the world, it gained a reasonable popularity over the years, and has been released on various video formats, -...
  21. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Holiday - in Blu-ray

    There was a time, as a late teen, before I learned to speak fillum, that I might confuse, or conjoin George Cukor's wonderful 1938 romantic comedy Holiday, with Leo McCarey's wonderful The Awful Truth, produced the year previous. Both star Cary Grant, while Awful feature him with Irene Dunn...
  22. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Ready or Not - in Blu-ray

    I really had no idea what I was getting into with this new Fox release. Once it got going it seemed to be heading toward Most Dangerous Game territory, but with a decidedly dark humor bent. War between the classes? Not so much. More, at least my take, a plot point. In that regard, I'd still...
  23. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Brick - in Blu-ray

    Brick is a modern noir - color - daylight- which in some ways reminds me of Tim Hunter's River's Edge. Possibly because of the age of the characters - high school. It's the first film by a new kid on the block, Rian Johnson. Billed as a "detective movie," it has speech patterns and an aura of...
  24. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Doctor Cyclops & Cobra Woman - in Blu-ray

    Among some other very interesting titles, Kino Lorber is releasing two early three-strip Technicolor productions, Doctor Cyclops (1940) and Cobra Woman (1943, released in '44.) We've not had great luck with the quality of Universal / Paramount Technicolor of late, and I was very pleasantly...
  25. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Once Upon a Time in Hollywood -- in 4k UHD Blu-ray

    For those who may be unaware of Quentin Tarantino as a filmmaker, be advised that you'll not be witnessing something that will be receiving the proprietary Dove label. And while there is a place for Hallmark films, it's not one of those, either. You should also be aware, going in, that any...
  26. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Universal Horror Collection: Volume 3 - in Blu-ray

    Robert Harris submitted a new blog post A few words about...™ Universal Horror Collection: Volume 3 - in Blu-ray Continue reading the Original Blog Post.
  27. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Glorifying the American Girl - in Blu-ray

    Filmed at Paramount's Astoria studio in 1929, and directed by Millard Webb, Glorifying the American Girl tries to mimic a Ziegfeld Production, by gathering talent for some early Talkie musical numbers and comedy bits, and generally succeeds. Paramount was able to add a couple of two-color...
  28. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Hitchcock BIP Collection & Murder - in Blu-ray

    Robert Harris submitted a new blog post A few words about...™ Hitchcock BIP Collection & Murder - in Blu-ray Continue reading the Original Blog Post.
  29. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Tunes of Glory - in Blu-ray

    Take a look at the credits for Ronald Neame's Tunes of Glory, an extraordinary character study of officers in a Scottish Battalion, released in 1960. In the leads, Alec Guinness and John Mills, two of England's finest. A young Susannah York in her first role. Malcolm Arnold created the score...
  30. Robert Harris

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ The Bells of St. Mary's - in Blu-ray

    God bless Olive for bringing Leo McCarey's 1944 The Bells of St. Mary's to Blu-ray. It's a bit of an odd bird. As explained by Prof. Emily Corman in one of the supplements, it's a bona fide sequel - but produced via another studio. Going My Way was a Paramount production, released in 1944, a...
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