The Criterion Collection

John Robert Hammerer: “Clear-eyed yet compassionate. Kline keeps it together, but Joan Allen and the kids steal the film and break your heart.”

John Robert Hammerer: “Not only can we forget, deny and deflect, we have it in ourselves to do it all over again. The most devastating half hour in cinema.”

John Robert Hammerer: “A day in the life, and through dreams, memories and reality, a life in one day. You can watch this movie and learn how to live.”

John Robert Hammerer: “"How can the jury forget something they've already heard?" "They can't." One of the best, most accurate, and most ambiguous trial movies.”

John Robert Hammerer: “Classical and modern in one fell swoop, pessimistic yet exhilarating. Epic, rich, and intensely emotional.”

John Robert Hammerer: “The sheer beauty will seduce you instantly, but tensions lurk beneath, and once they start rising they won't stop. Arresting, sensual and provocative”

John Robert Hammerer: “I now regret getting the Elia Kazan box set from Fox a few years ago... aside from that, all I can think is YES YES YES! This masterpiece deserves it.”

John Robert Hammerer: “The straightforward, unadulterated presentation is a work of great humility on Wenders' part, and the 3D turns his dancers into living sculptures. Wow”

John Robert Hammerer: “La Jetee is hauntingly mind-bending. I was less impressed by Sans Soleil (the free-form structure threw me off), but I do want to see it again.”

John Robert Hammerer: “The great-grandpappy of all of Hitch's "wrong man" pictures, and the movie where he really became Hitchcock.”

John Robert Hammerer: “The violence isn't as shocking as it was then, but it doesn't need to - the implications, psychological or aesthetic, are disturbing enough.”

John Robert Hammerer: “Cronenberg, what is it with you and screwing our minds (and stomachs)? Some of the things in this movie will scar me for life...”

John Robert Hammerer: “It's as messy and crazy as daily life.”

John Robert Hammerer: “It's wide innovation and influence has now left it a relic of the early 60s and an ancestor of a new style, but it's still a fun ride.”

John Robert Hammerer: “Kubrick's most economical work, but the command is there and it's a hell of a caper.”

John Robert Hammerer: “My first of the French New Wave. Funny and moving. The ending is so haunting.”

John Robert Hammerer: “I watched this with my Aunt Paula, and when it finished she gushed that it was "like Hitchcock... but French!" Couldn't have said it better myself.”

John Robert Hammerer: “Years ahead of its time. Fascinating, twisty sci-fi.”

John Robert Hammerer: “It has some of the more conventional filmmaking Malick's done, but the wonder and wondering is still there. Great entry level film for Malick newbies.”

John Robert Hammerer: “The Hitch mix was perfected here.”

John Robert Hammerer: “A completely different beast than the Disney version, it's a textbook example of live action fantasy. There's magic in it.”

John Robert Hammerer: “Chaplin at his most thought-provoking, and the Tramp at his funniest.”

John Robert Hammerer: “I actually don't much want to talk about... I'm scared that as soon as I speak about its fragile magic, I'll lose it forever. That's Fellini for you.”

John Robert Hammerer: “A dark, metaphorical study of suffering without escape. The only real way to get pleasure out of this movie is Bresson's command of filmmaking.”

John Robert Hammerer: “If you're a Catholic, you know personally what this film's about and you're deeply moved. If you're not one, you're deeply moved anyway. All is grace.”

John Robert Hammerer: “My first Bresson, and my favorite. Tight, efficient, sparse, and moving. And the pickpocketing scenes are pure cinema.”

John Robert Hammerer: “More than sixty years later, its romanticism and ache still make the heart break.”

John Robert Hammerer: “Ultraviolent, excessive, obvious, and one of the great sci-fi satires anyway. It's a grotesque mirror of the 80s, a decade whose effects linger today.”

John Robert Hammerer: “Wonderfully liberating surrealism”

John Robert Hammerer: “Like the rest of Bunuel, it's straightforward yet mysterious... and a lot of fun to watch.”

John Robert Hammerer: “Five wonderful films by an uncompromising filmmaker. I want this NOW.”

John Robert Hammerer: “The descent to nihilistic madness would be disturbing enough if it didn't cast Dustin frickin' Hoffman as the one in free fall towards oblivion. Scary”

John Robert Hammerer: “None more black.”

John Robert Hammerer: “It's always fun to watch dignified society types confronting the irrational and having the genteel facades fall away. Crazily entertaining.”

John Robert Hammerer: “A literal media circus erupts to unflinchingly nasty and provocative results. Douglas gives an acid turn as the reporter who sets the ball rolling.”

John Robert Hammerer: “It was this film that announced Spike as a major director not to be ignored. His 24 hour depiction of Bed-Stuy is vibrant, authentic and powerful.”