More Articles By Cyril Pearl

• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Blu-ray
  Paramount Street: Oct. 21 Prebook: now > Fine-looking Blu-ray edition of gothic musical adds a lush audio option. The Broadway musical tale of a 19th century London barber who makes mince meat of his clients (literally!) received a fine cinematic adaptation by director Tim Burton. It pleased critics but didn’t make a substantial a splash at the box office. More
  
• The Ultimate Matrix Collection Blu-ray
  WARNER Street: Oct. 14 Prebook: now > Like its HD DVD predecessor, this Blu-ray edition of the sci-fi trilogy is simply outstanding. One of the late HD DVD format’s most popular catalog titles, The Ultimate Matrix Collection makes its Blu-ray debut with the same gorgeous clarity, color and sound. More
  
• Room 205
  GHOST HOUSE UNDERGROUND/LIONSGATE Street: Oct. 14 Prebook: now > Danish fright flick about a haunted dorm has atmosphere but lacks originality. This 2007 Danish shocker concerns a sweet co-ed (Neel Rønholt) in a Copenhagen dormitory who comes up against a murderous ghost knocking off fellow students. More
  
• Zombie Strippers
  SONY Street: Oct. 28 Prebook: now > Above-average cult entry starring former porn queen Jenna Jameson. Retired porn queen Jenna Jameson (retired until her inevitable comeback film, that is) leads the catfight-filled show in this midnight movie-ish tale. More
  
• Hell Ride
  DIMENSION EXTREME/GENIUS Street: Oct. 28 Prebook: now > Tougher and more tawdry update of grindhouse biker flicks. Hell Ride is described in its press materials as a “blood-and-sex-soaked motorcycle vengeance flick” … and ain’t that the truth. Concerning bad-ass bikers with names such as Pistolero (Larry Bishop), The Gent (Michael Madsen), Comanche (Eric Balfour) and... More
  
• Legends: Live at Montreux 1997 Blu-ray
  EAGLE VISION Street: Sept. 30 Prebook: now > One-night-only quartet led by Eric Clapton delivers a crisp set of jazz, blues and rock. This 1997 concert features a one-night-only live collaboration between guitarist Eric Clapton, drummer Steve Gadd, bassist Marcus Miller, keyboardist Joe Sample and tenor saxman David Sanborn. More
  
• National Lampoon Presents: Robodoc
  ARTS ALLIANCE AMERICA Street: Oct. 21 Prebook: Sept. 16 > Weak hospital comedy sports the National Lampoon brand … and not much else. Robodoc is not quite Robocop meets Young Doctors in Love , but the title is cute. More
  
• Scenic National Parks Blu-ray
  QUESTAR Street: Sept. 16 Prebook: now > Collection of gorgeous, high-def tableaus and vistas from our nation’s grandest parks. Originally issued in June on standard DVD as part of Treasure of America’s National Parks, this three-disc Blu-ray release surveys national parks and makes for some sweet geographic eye candy. More
  
• Aki Kaurismäki's Proletariat Trilogy
  CRITERION/IMAGE Street: Sept. 23 Prebook: now > Trio of inimitably dark comedies from icy Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismäki. The coolest of recent cinema's deadpan humorists, Finland's Aki Kaurismäki is known for his disarming—and hard-drinking—tragi-comedies about working-class outcasts, such as sanitation men, assembly line jockeys and longshoremen. More
  
• The Earrings of Madame de…
  CRITERION/IMAGE Street: Sept. 16 Prebook: now > Max Ophuls’ classic of love, lies and despair. Max Ophuls’ 1953 masterwork follows an aristocratic French woman (Danielle Darrieux) who pawns a pair of earrings, triggering the chain-reaction downfall of her life. A gorgeously photographed and stylized movie, filled with silky-smooth tracking shots, Madame de… has never look... More
  
• The Fall
  SONY Street: Sept. 9 Prebook: now > Slow-moving period fantasy that more than delivers with its visual sumptuousness. Filled with colors, images and compositions that are reminiscent of the films of Alejandro Jodorowsky, Terry Gilliam, Michelangelo Antonioni, David Lean and Guillermo del Toro, The Fall is indeed a breathtakingly beautiful movie. More
  
• Television Under the Swastika
  FIRST RUN Available now > Fascinating compilation and analysis of rarely-seen Nazi TV broadcasts. Nazi leaders began the world’s first TV broadcast network, Greater German Television, in March 1935. More
  
• Shooting Henry Hill
  PASSION RIVER Street: Sept. 23 Prebook: now > Engaging look at former Goodfellas mobster and Witness Protection Program dropout Henry Hill. With its cute title and humble aspirations, Shooting Henry Hill catches up with the famed Mafia turncoat who was immortalized in Martin Scorsese’s 1990 saga Goodfellas . More
  
• Son of Sam
  LIONSGATE Street: Sept. 2 Prebook: now > Ulli Lommel serial killer flick examining the bloody legacy of David Berkowitz. Prolific moviemaker Ulli Lommel returns with his latest serial killer film on that most notorious of New York madmen, David Berkowitz a.k.a. the Son of Sam. More
  
• First Among Equals
  ACORN Street: Sept. 16 Prebook: now > Twenty-year-old British political miniseries starring a fine Tom Wilkinson still packs a punch. An adaptation of British politician-turned-novelist Jeffrey Archer’s 1984 bestseller, First Among Equals debuted on British TV in 1986 as a 10-part miniseries. More
  
• On the Ecstasy of Ski-Flying: Werner Herzog in Conversation With Karen Backman
  MICROCINEMA Street: Aug. 26 Prebook: now > Fans will eat up this hour-long conversation with the great German auteur. No, the great filmmaker Werner Herzog didn’t direct this public conversation that he engaged in with University of Pennsylvania film studies professor Karen Beckman More
  
• The Inglorious Bastards
  SEVERIN Street: July 29 Prebook: now > Well-supplemented edition of guns-a-blazin’ ’70s war flick. A throwback to the great World War II “deadly mission” movies of the ’60s, such as Kelly’s Heroes and particularly The Dirty Dozen, Italian genre journeyman Enzo G. More
  
• Shine a Light
  PARAMOUNT Street: July 29 Prebook: now > The Stones continue rolling toward immortality in this concert film by Martin Scorsese. Martin Scorsese leads a team of award-winning cinematographers to get behind a galaxy of cameras (some 18 of them) and capture The Rolling Stones’ “A Bigger Bang Tour” at New York’s majestic Beacon Theater in the fall of 2006. More
  
• The Mummy Blu-ray
  UNIVERSAL Street: July 22 Prebook: now > The Mummy rises again as Universal’s fine first Blu-ray release. The Mummy is one of Universal’s most valued properties—it has been released in countless configurations—and it’s a fine kick-off title for the formerly HD DVD-only studio’s entrance into Blu-ray. More
  
• American Zombie
  CINEMA LIBRE Street: July 8 Prebook: now > Clever mock-doc about zombies trying to assimilate into society. Though it sounds like a horror film, American Zombie is a satirical look at how outsiders attempt to fit into society. A fine addition to the ever-expanding oeuvre of the undead, the film focuses on two filmmakers (director Grace Lee, John Solomon) who are shooting a verité-styl... More