Hanger: 2 Disc Collectors Edition (Blu-ray) by Kurt Dahlke Hanger:Ryan Nicholson movies are either an acquired taste, or you're a proud reprobate. No judgement here, I count myself a member of the latter group, and one affected by the former dynamic. My exposure to Nicholson's movies is somewhat limited, (gotta remedy that) but this is my second go-round at watching Hanger a movie in which the auteur seems hell-bent on pushing every button possible. To wit, if you have a zero-tolerance policy regarding offensive material, just stop reading now. Don't even bother with this movie. However, if you're looking for A Serbian Film-style offense, you also are barking up the wrong tree. Hanger means to offend, but means no offense. Combining 13-year-old-boy macho humor with a horrifying world-view and genital fascination, what the late director wanted to do, I think, was to tout for the values of being responsible parents. Maybe.Han...Read the entire review »

Bringing Up Baby (The Criterion Collection) (Blu-ray) by Ian Jane The Movieirected by Howard Haws and released in 1938, Bringing Up Baby is a charming screwball comedy that follows a zoology professor named Doctor David Huxley (screen icon Cary Grant) who cannot contain his enthusiasm for a newly discovered dinosaur bone that will allow him to complete a brontosaurus skeleton project he's been working on for a few years. Life is good for David, who is also excited to be soon tying the knot with his lovely assistant, Alice Swallow (Virginia Walker), an ambitious woman who is just as fascinated by his work as he is.Soon, David realizes his funding isn't quite where it needs to be and he come to hope that the wealthy Carleton Random will pony up the dough to help him finish. To make this happen, David needs to get on the good side of Alexander Peabody (George Irving), the woman's lawyer. Hoping time and time again to impress Peab...Read the entire review »

Thunderbolt (1929) (Blu-ray) by Justin Remer The Movie: The 1929 crime drama Thunderbolt is a strange little picture that bears some of the fingerprints of its idiosyncratic director but sadly not enough. It is the first talkie for Josef von Sternberg, best known for his run of Marlene Dietrich vehicles, which would start with The Blue Angel in 1930.Thunderbolt, on the other hand, is more akin to his silent crime pictures and it's headlined by George Bancroft, previously seen in von Sternberg's Underworld and The Docks of New York. Bancroft is the titular gangster, and he's sore that his lo...Read the entire review »