DVDIALOG

May 29, 2007 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Filmmaker Hal Hartley became an indie cult figure because his deadpan humorous dialogue and quirky but touching take on romance was uniquely his own. He has remained distinctly “off-Hollywood” since his

first feature, The Unbelievable Truth (1989), and has acquired funding from numerous sources in order to retain “final cut”: indie production companies, foreign producers, PBS, foreign TV and now HDNet, a network targeted to high-def TV viewers.

Hartley’s latest film, Fay Grim, is a day-and-date title that opened theatrically in 25 ...Read More

May 25, 2007 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Our friends over at Philadelphia-based Movies Unlimited catalog company/online retailer, in celebration of what would have been John Wayne’s 100^th birthday on May 26 (the same date as my dad, the venerable

Bennett C. Lerman), conducted a poll among their movie-loving staff members to vote for their favorite film starring The Duke.

“As far as Movie Unlimited is concerned, John Wayne’s films have sold more than any other actor in our 29-year-history, and they continue to sell extremely well,” said Jerry Frebowitz, president of Movies Unlimited.

Here’s what they came up with (in or...Read More

May 22, 2007 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

May 16, 2007 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Checked out Warner’s new two-disc special edition of Prince of the City (street: May 22; $19.99 srp), the 1981 New York police drama by Sidney Lumet which is great when compared alongside the filmmaker’s own Q&A (1990) and Night Falls on Manhattan (1997) but not quite in the classic league of his Serpico (1972) and Dog Day Afternoon (1975). I was happy to discover that the DVD’s sole supplement was a real winner: a half-hour history and making-of by digital journeyman Laurent Bouzereau. Most notable about the featurette Prince of the City: The Real Story is the fact that Bouzereau and company managed to wrangle new interviews with many of those involved in the project, including director/co-screenwriter Lumet, ...Read More

May 9, 2007 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

If you think you can’t take your eyes off her eyes on the screen, just try looking into Vanessa Williams’

aqua peepers in person. We did just that, for as long as we could, on the red carpet for a screening of My Brother in Washington, D.C. The drama, available from Vivendi Visual, debuts on DVD on May 30. The occasion was presented by Special Olympics, a natural tie-in as one of L’Tisha Morton’s (Williams) sons in the urban drama has Down s...Read More