The Song of Songs (Blu-ray) by Justin Remer The Movie: Released in 1933, The Song of Songs arrived right in the middle of Marlene Dietrich's breakthrough period in Hollywood. If it's not as well remembered as Blonde Venus or The Scarlet Empress, the two films that bookend it in Dietrich's career, that is most likely because it was made during a brief break in the actor's creative partnership with Josef von Sternberg. At the helm of Song of Songs is Rouben Mamoulian (<a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/8935/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-1932-1941/" targ...Read the entire review »

Mystify: Michael Hutchence (Blu-ray) by Jesse Skeen Michael Hutchence, the late front man for 1980s and 90s band INXS (whose 1983 single "The One Thing" was introduced to me via Casey Kasem's American Top 40 radio show, as it debuted right at #40) is profiled here 22 years after his death which was ruled as a suicide. It's directed by Richard Lowenstein who also directed many of the band's music videos, but Hutchence himself is the main subject here rather than the band or its music. Although it doesn't present his entire life story, we learn a bit about his early life- born in Australia his family moved to Hong Kong for a bit during his childhood and later his mother took off with him for the United States. Those who knew him as a kid say he was shy then, but surprised everyone by opening up and discovering that he loved to perform. He was already close friends with the three Farriss Brothers (Andrew, Jon and Tim) who had started a band and became t...Read the entire review »