Movieline Online

Just a year after releasing Shadows and Fog - a film ensconced in the fog of 1920's German Expressionism - Woody Allen went and made the most modern film of his career. Husband and Wives (1992) is populated with the director's familiar group of urban elitists second-guessing their suspiciously shallow lives, but told with a hip visual style full of jump cuts, handheld shots and documentary confessionals. It's a refreshing change of pace that has an angry edge lacking in the rest of Allen's work. After their surprise separation announcement, Jack and Sally (Sydney Pollack and Judy Davis) bounce between rebound relationships and shallow sexual fulfillment. But their situation has an unintended effect on Gabe and Judy (Allen and Mia Farrow), who find their own previously stable relationship now falling apart. Allen doesn't rely on comic relief to ease the pressure; Husbands and Wives is a brutal parade of petty arguments and passive-aggressive bickering. An...

Having established himself as the premiere purveyor of the rather grungy and depressing British Kitchen-Sink movement with A Taste of Honey and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner , director Tony Richardson spun about 180-degrees with 1963's joyful adaptation of Tom Jones , a giddy romp through 17th century England following the amorous adventures of a well-to-do bastard who was, by all accounts, "born to hang." While the rampant sexism may be as humorously out-of-date as the early Bond films, Albert Finney could charm the pants off 99% of the #MeToo movement with his star-making turn as the chivalrous but weak-willed hero desperately trying elevate his station and earn the love of his beloved Sophie Western (Susannah York). Raised as foundling by a wealthy landowner, Tom is blessed with dashing good looks and a heart of gold. Unfortunately, he's also a bit naive about the rules and regulations involved with aristocratic life. Framed for a pregnancy he d...

Now that streaming has become the de facto source of entertainment for most people under thirty, the doors have opened for courageous niche companies to take a chance on new material that hasn't been repurposed, repackaged and resold for the umpteenth time. Case in point, Arrow's limited edition box set Seijun Suzuki: The Early Years Volume 1 , which gathers five of the director's "youth" movies that have never seen the light of day outside Japan. Suzuki, probably best known for his stylish yakuza films like Branded to Kill that irked studio superiors, proves here he can work elegantly within the studio system, injecting some creative inspiration into otherwise cut-and-paste formulaic fare. Releasing films at a ridiculous pace to take advantage of passing fads, Nikkatsu Studios latched onto the burgeoning youth culture - most likely inspired by James Dean's iconic performance in Rebel Without A Cause - showcasing their own pantheon of juvenile delinqu...