The Other French New Wave, Vol. 1 (Blu-ray) by Justin Remer The Collection: The new Blu-ray company Canadian International Pictures (CIP) has the mission to shine a light on the neglected homegrown cinema of the Great White North. Their debut disc was the '60s production The Ernie Game, and the follow-up release is dubbed The Other French New Wave, Vol. 1, collecting three '60s flicks from acclaimed Montréal-based filmmakers. As the set's title suggests, there is a kinship with the work of Godard, Truffaut, Rohmer, et. al., but the directors represented here also have a strong foundation in documentary filmmaking. Their fiction films have a flavor of fly-on-the-wall actualities.The set kicks off with Gilles Groulx's The Cat in the Bag

Miracle in Milan: Criterion Collection (Blu-ray) by Justin Remer The Movie: The comic fantasy Miracle in Milan (Miracolo a Milano) debuted in 1951, between director Vittorio De Sica and writer Cesare Zavattini's best-known films, Bicycle Thieves and Umberto D.. Miracle's subject matter and characters fit in with those acclaimed examples of Italian neorealism, but its tone is several dozen shades lighter. Miracle in Milan is not the kind of film you'd expect when you hear it is set in a shantytown and peopled with many non-professional poor actors. It's part fairy tale-style fantasy and part Preston St...Read the entire review »