Rest in Peace
DREAMSVILLE’S WEEK IN DVD “In Cold Blood,” Truman Capote’s best seller, a breakthrough narrative account of real-life crime and punishment, became an equally chilling film in the hands of writer-director Richard Brooks in 1967. Cast for their unsettling resemblances to the killers they played, Robert Blake and Scott Wilson gave authentic, unshowy performances as Perry […]
Communication Breakdown
DREAMSVILLE’S WEEK IN DVD Award–winning Austrian director Michael Haneke (“The Piano Teacher,” “Cache,” “Funny Games,” “The White Ribbon,” “Amour”) is an enfant terrible who explores social issues, isolation, miscommunication and estrangement in the modern world. “My films are intended as polemical statements against the American ‘barrel down’ cinema and its dis-empowerment of the spectator. They […]
Past and Future Illusions
DREAMSVILLE’S WEEK IN DVD “Best of Enemies”: In 1968 liberal pundit and novelist Gore Vidal and conservative commentator/publisher William F. Buckley Jr. were at the peak of their powers. Both were outspoken, egotistical and strongly opinionated — and the likelihood that the two would meet on the same stage was next to impossible. Until last-place […]
From ‘Darkness’ to Lynch
DREAMSVILLE’S WEEK IN DVD This is quite a week for new Blu-ray releases and Blu-ray re-issues. First up is “Edgar Allan Poe’s Black Cats: Two Adaptations by Sergio Martino & Lucio Fulci.” Edgar Allan Poe’s celebrated story “The Black Cat” has been the inspiration for numerous films over the years. But few adaptations are as […]
D for Dinosaurs, Z for Zachariah
DREAMSVILLE’S WEEK IN DVD Good filmmaking, like all good storytelling, revolves around a set of themes as old as time: Among them the loss of innocence, revenge, triumph over adversity, love conquers all, good wins out over evil and humans vs. nature. If you add to the latter entry “dinosaurs eating humans,” you’ve got the […]
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