The Criterion Collection
May 19, 2011 — About selecting his favorites from the collection, world-class cinematographer John Bailey (Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters) says, “One of the greatest challenges in trying to compile a list like this is to separate the objectively ‘great’ films from the...
Short Takes
Apr 18, 2011 — In this photograph of the Brattle Theatre circa 1953, you can see a sign that says “Opening Soon! Foreign Films.” The brilliant idea behind the sign belonged to Harvard classmates Cy Harvey and Bryant Haliday, without whom the Brattle Theatre...
Mar 17, 2011 — Bill Hader is a Saturday Night Live cast member and has appeared in the films Superbad, Pineapple Express, Adventureland, and Paul, among others. In compiling his top ten Criterion editions, Hader says, “I couldn’t pick ten . . . sorry....
Mar 17, 2011 — Greg Mottola has directed the feature films The Daytrippers, Superbad, Adventureland, and Paul, as well as episodes of the Judd Apatow TV series Undeclared, Arrested Development, and HBO’s The Comeback. Photo credit: Jaimie Trueblood/Universal Pictures
Feb 17, 2011 — Georgia Hubley is one of the founding members of the Hoboken, New Jersey, band Yo La Tengo, as well as the daughter of renowned animators John and Faith Elliott Hubley. Yo La Tengo’s most recent album is 2009’s Popular Songs....
The creator of perhaps cinema’s most purely spiritual works, this Danish master made films that explored the eternal battle between the spirit and the flesh.
Nov 4, 2010 — Angus MacLachlan is a playwright and screenwriter from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. His screen credits include Junebug (2005), directed by Phil Morrison and starring Amy Adams, Embeth Davidtz, and Alessandro Nivola, and Stone (2010), starring Robert De Niro. In selecting his...
Essays
Oct 19, 2010 — The themes, symbolism, and aesthetic forms of Akira Kurosawa’s films owe their origins to the ideas and sensibilities that captured his imagination as a young man.
The images in these films are inextricable from the flawlessly selected tunes accompanying them.
In a national cinema dominated by behemoth Hollywood studios, independently produced films have always made for refreshing alternatives.