Reviewing films slightly off the beaten path
Steven Soderbergh’s 2009 film “The Informant!” tells the true story of F.B.I. informant Mark Whitacre, and the crimes he simultaneously hid from the F.B.I., with an eye towards the darkly comedic aspects of the story. Matt Damon and Scott Bakula shine. Warner’s 4K is a solid upgrade.
Shane Black’s “The Nice Guys” is one of my favorite movies of the last decade. Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe have great chemistry as mismatched partners working a case. Warner has released a 4K UHD.
Despite a solid premise, “Amos & Andrew” doesn’t quite develop into the clever satire it could have been. MGM has given the film a Blu-ray re-release.
“A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy“ is a whimsical comedy by Woody Allen that benefits from Gordon Willis’s beautiful cinematography. MGM has given it a re-release on Bly-ray.
Christopher Guest’s last collaboration with Eugene Levy “For Your Consideration” has been given a Blu-ray release by Warner Archive. Time has been kind to the film and it deserves reappraisal by fans of their earlier works.
Synapse Films has given Mike Mendez’s wild and crude 2000 horror-comedy “The Convent” a 4K UHD release. It’s a fun and irreverent movie that will appeal to those of us who grew up in that era.
Richard Pryor’s seminal stand-up special “Live on the Sunset Strip” has unexpectedly received a 4K release by Sony. The last twenty minutes feature the famous freebasing fire story.
“Bad Company” is another solid discovery by Fun City Editions – an acid Western starring Jeff Bridges and Barry Brown. The cinematography by Gordon Willis brings a lot to Robert Benton’s first film.
