DVD Journal

When the editor of DVD Journal — "the most readable and enjoyable DVD site on the Web," as one reader put it, or "wonderful" according to Entertainment Weekly, or #34 on "Men's Journal 100 Best Websites For Guys" (mmm, okay) — invited me to join his crackshot team of columnists, naturally I said Oh hell yeah.

For six years and some half-million words, it was a pleasure to be in their company. Plus, of course, I couldn't complain about getting free DVDs straight from the studios before they hit the streets.

Although DVD Journal is no longer updated as a destination site, its nearly 4,000 reviews remain up online, archiving a decade's worth of enjoyable critique and commentary. I still get email from its readers and am frequently pullquoted on other sites that use the J as a resource. (The New York Film Forum quoting me alongside Roger Ebert was a real "thumbs up" example.) One of the first and finest, it is missed.

• The Abominable Dr. Phibes: Curses! (See also Dr. Phibes Rises Again)
• The Adventures of Robin Hood: In like Flynn. (See also The Adventures of Errol Flynn)
• The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother: Elementary
• Alfie: Caine, birds, what it's all about

• Alice in Wonderland (Jonathan Miller's 1966 version): Drink me
• And Now For Something Completely Different: It's...
• Angels With Dirty Faces: Whaddya hear, whaddya say?
• The Anniversary Party: Leigh, Cumming, no twinkie
• Backbeat: There are places I remember...
• Ballad of a Soldier: Russian, war, what if?
• Bamboozled: Spike, Savion, coon
• Batman: The Movie (1966): Going to camp
• Battlefield Earth: Sigh, fie.
• Beauty and the Beast (La belle et la bête) (1946): Cocteau, don't ya know
• Bedazzled (1967): Hellzaswingin'
• The Best Arbuckle/Keaton Collection: Fatty, meet Buster
• La bête humaine: Those human beasts
• Blood Simple: Coen, Coen, gone
• The Broadway Melody: Give my regards
• The Broadway Theatre Archive series:
  Alice in Wonderland: Carroll, Burton², beautiful soup
  Antigone: Anouilh, Sophocles, Bujold
  Fifth of July: Wilson, Talley, chill
  The Glass Menagerie: Hepburn, Waterson, Tennessee
  The Iceman Cometh: O'Neill, Robards, Lumet
  King Lear: James Earl Jones and Raul Julia, oh yeah!
  The Royal Family: Kaufman, bagatelle, Barrymores
  The Seagull: Chekhov, Langella, Danner
  The Time of Your Life: Saroyan, Nick's place, Pulitzer
  Working: Studs, Schwartz, subpar

• Mel Brooks:
  The Producers (1968): I want everything I've ever seen in the movies!
  Blazing Saddles: Never give a saga an even break
  Young Frankenstein: Elevate me!
  Silent Movie: All quiet on the Mel Brooks front
  Recording The Producers: A Musical Romp with Mel Brooks: Springtime for Broadway
• Brubaker: Redford, prison, corruption
• Bus Stop: Cowboys and Marilyns
• The Buster Keaton Collection: MGM lyin'
• Buster Keaton, etc.: The Cook and Other Treasures: Together again
• Captain Blood: Alright, my hearties!
• Captain Horatio Hornblower: Gregory Peck holds the Mayo
• Carmen Jones: Grand old opera
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: Mint julips and hot slips
• Cecil B. Demented: John Waters bites the hand

• The Celluloid Closet: Studio man dates
• The Chaplin Collection, Volumes 1 & 2:
  • The Kid
  • The Gold Rush
  • The Circus
  • City Lights
  • Modern Times
  • The Great Dictator
  • Monsieur Verdoux
  • Limelight
  • A King in New York / A Woman of Paris
  • The Chaplin Revue
  • Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin
• The Chaplin Mutual Comedies: 90th Anniversary Edition: The art of the funny
• Charley Bowers: The Rediscovery of an American Comic Genius: Gonzo before gonzo was cool
• The Chess Player: Mate!
• The Complete Monterey Pop Festival: Janis, Jimi, and other deities
• Copacabana: Groucho, ouch-o
• Count Yorga, Vampire: 1970, L.A., catfood
• Countess Dracula / The Vampire Lovers: Feeling Hammered
• The Cranes Are Flying: Russian, war, crucible
• The Crawling Eye: Brits, "B," killer balloons
• Crossing Delancey: Oy! meets girl
• Curse of the Demon / Night of the Demon: Dana Andrews said prunes / Gave him the runes / And passing them used lots of skills

• The Day the Earth Stood Still: Klaatu barada nikto, baby
• Diary of a Chambermaid: Buñuel's bourgeois bosoms
• The Doctor and the Devils: If I had a Hammer...
• Dogma: Kevin Smith's kumbaya
• Donnie Darko: Dark, darker, Darko
• Donnie Darko: Director's Cut: Sometimes more is less
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932/1941): Hyde and chic
• Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler: From 1922, Fritz Lang's life and crimes of Dr. Mabuse
• Dr. Strangelove: Kubrick's klassic Kold War komedy
• Dracula: The Dark Prince: History bites
• Drive-In Discs: The Giant Gila Monster / The Wasp Woman: Cheese, honk, Boop
• Drôle de drame: What Gaul!
• Ed Wood: Pie plates over Hollywood

• An Evening with Kevin Smith: Silent Bob speaks
• Eyes Without a Face (Les Yeux sans visage): Lift and separate
• Fantastic Voyage: Navel maneuvers
• Fiend Without a Face: The great brain robbery
• Forbidden Planet: Yow! Anne Francis and Robby the Robot
• Freaks: One of us, one of us...
• Frenzy: A Hitch knot
• The Front: Pointing fingers
• Funeral in Berlin: Caine, Cold War, counterespionage
• The General / Steamboat Bill Jr.: WWBD?
• Gormenghast: Mervyn's peak
• The Great Escape: Dig it
• The Great Race: Lemmon, Curtis, 2,357 pies
• Ray Harryhausen — "This is Dynamation!"
  The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms ('53): Stompin' at the Savoy
  It Came From Beneath the Sea ('55): When calamari attacks
  Earth vs. the Flying Saucers ('56): Aliens like Ike!
  20 Million Miles to Earth: 50th Anniversary Edition ('57): Ymir, screamer
  The Black Scorpion ('57): Of tangential interest
  
  The 3 Worlds of Gulliver ('60): Tall, small
  Mysterious Island ('61): Nemo, neato
  First Men In The Moon ('64): Cavorite, moon cows
  The Valley of Gwangi ('69): Cowboys & allosaurs
• The Haunting ('63): In the night, in the dark....
• Häxan / Witchcraft Through the Ages: 1922 Danish diabolism
• Here Comes Mr. Jordan: Heaven can chill a while
• Holmes, Sherlock, movies of:
  The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 1939)
  The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)
  Terror by Night (1946)
  Prelude to Murder (a.k.a. Dressed to Kill) (1946)
  The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)
  Murder by Decree (1979)
• Hollywood Shuffle: Townsend, MasterCard, Winky Dinky

• House of Wax: Waxing nostalgic
• House on Haunted Hill (1959) : Price inflation
• In Like Flint: Sequel, unequal
• The Innocents: The screw turns
• Invaders from Mars: Green footy pajamas
• It! The Terror from Beyond Space: Rocketmen, Ripleyless, zipperback "Crash"
• I Vampiri: Euro, Bava, bloodwork
• Ivanhoe: Knights in shining amour
• The Jerk: Martinized
• Jersey Girl: Director dad
• Journey to the Center of the Earth: Mason jarred
• Junebug: Family happens
• Kind Hearts and Coronets: All in the family
• King Kong (1933): Long live the Kong
• Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi: Pleasant under Glass
• The Ladykillers (1955): Guinness, no Kenobi
• Lenny: Bruce, Fosse, Hoffman
• Let's Make Love: Marilyn, Yves, argh
• Lost Continent: Not lost enough
• The Lost World: Dinosaurs on the loose in 1925!
• Louisiana Story: Robert Flaherty's black (and white) gold

• The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit: Buttoned down
• The Man in the White Suit: Guinness, extra dry
• Man of Aran: Flaherty's Irish eyes
• The Marx Brothers: Silver Screen Collection: Hooray hooray hooray! (See also Hail Freedonia! Marx Bros. Classic 'Duck Soup' Gets a 75th Anniversary Celebration and Ah, Springtime, When the Grouchos Bloom [Film.com])
• The Marx Brothers' MGM years:
  A Night at the Opera: Verdi funny
  A Day at the Races: Horse pucky
  A Night in Casablanca: It's no Paris
• M*A*S*H: Altman, blood-n-yuks
• Me & Isaac Newton and Inspirations: Science, art, Apted
• Monsters and Madmen: Four B's in a box
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail: It is a silly place
• Murder by Death: Simon's, silly, sleuths
• Murder, My Sweet: Big gumshoes to fill
• My Life: Keaton, Kidman, kitsch
• Nosferatu: Murnau's German horror classic. What was it about 1922?
  (See also Nosferatu: The Gothic Industrial Mix)
• À nous la liberté: A Clair eclair, n'est pas?
• The Oblong Box / Scream and Scream Again: Midnite madness
• October Sky: Upwardly mobile
• Oedipus Rex (1957): A boy and his mother

• Oleanna: Minor Mamet
• The Origins of Film: 1900-1926: From the Library of Congress Video Collection
• Our Man Flint: Double-naught spoof
• Pandora's Box: Our Miss Brooks
• Patton: Good soldiers
• Petulia: Uncommon
• The Phantom of the Opera (1925/29): Won't you come home, Lon Chaney
• Play It Again, Sam: Woody, Diane, Bogey
• The Poe films of Roger Corman:
  The Fall of the House of Usher
  The Pit and the Pendulum
  Comedy of Terrors / The Raven
  The Masque of the Red Death / The Premature Burial
  The Tomb of Ligeia / An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe
• The President's Analyst: Spy vs. Spy (repeat as necessary)
• The Public Enemy: Bang bang
• Requiem for a Heavyweight: Sterling Serling
• The Revenge of Frankenstein: There's a light over at the Frankenstein place
• The River: Renoir relaxes
• The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone: Fluids and vapors
• Rope: Hitchcock's theatrical experiment
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead: Alas, poor Stoppard
• Round Midnight: Smoke, connections, jazz
• The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming: It's a Vlad, Vlad, Vlad world
• Saboteur: Hitch, snitch, switch
• Samurai Jack — The Premiere Movie: Hie-ya!
• Space Ghost Coast to Coast — Volume 1

• The Sea Hawk: Avast ye
• More Peter Sellers:
  I'm All Right, Jack: For the benefit of Mr. Kite
  The Party: Pity about that Luger
  I Love You, Alice B. Toklas: And so does Gertrude Stein
  The Magic Christian: Lost in a lava lamp
  Hoffman: Smarm, charm
  The Return of the Pink Panther: Beat it with a shtick
• Shadow of the Vampire: Lights! Camera! Jugular!
• Shaolin: Wheel of Life: Cirque du Kung Fu
• She Creature: Fish food
• The Sheik / The Son of the Sheik: Valentino Valentino

• Singin' in the Rain: It's a guy thing
• Slapstick Encyclopedia (1909-1929): So many movies, so little disc space
• Slapstick Masters: See, what'd I tell you?
• Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour: Waist-deep in TV's big muddy
• The Song of Bernadette: And then along comes Mary
• Some Like It Hot: The sweet end of the lollipop
• The Spirit of the Beehive: Spanish class
• Spirits of the Dead: Three Tales of the Macabre by Edgar Allan Poe: Felinni, Malle, Vadim (and that Poe again)
• Stage and Spectacle: Three Films by Jean Renoir (The Golden Coach, French Cancan, Elena and Her Men): All the world's a stage, oui?
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture: "It sucks less now"
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: Now that's more like it
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock: What I'd really like to do is direct
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home: Trek jumps the whale shark
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier: Share the pain
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country: Guess who's coming to dinner
• Star Trek: First Contact: Assimilated
• The Stunt Man: If God could do the tricks that we can do
• Sunrise (1927): Silent is golden
• Superman III and Superman IV: Asparagus, black licorice, bad sushi

• Sweet Bird of Youth: Tennesseedy
• The Testament of Dr. Mabuse: Puttin' on the Fritz
• The Thing from Another World: When carrots attack
• Things to Come: H.G. Wells explains it all for you
• The Third Man: A slice of Lime
• Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould: Variations on a theme
• This Island Earth: Pulped
• The Three Musketeers (1948): Gene Kelly's royal rascal
• The Time Machine (1960): George Pal's sci-fi adventure favorite
• The Time Machine (2002): Dishwater: 10, common sense: 0
• To Be or Not to Be: Der Führer's face
• To Kill a Mockingbird: The times they are...
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: What submarines are supposed to look like
• 2001: A Space Odyssey: Kubrick's cosmic koan
• Under the Roofs of Paris (Sous les toits de Paris): More René Clair savoir-faire
• The Universal Classic Monster Collection, Series Three:
  (The Golden Age is Ten: an overview)
  Son of Frankenstein / Ghost of Frankenstein
  
  Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man / House of Frankenstein
  The Mummy's Hand / The Mummy's Tomb
  The Mummy's Ghost / The Mummy's Curse
  Dracula's Daughter /Son of Dracula
  Werewolf of London / She-Wolf of London
• The Virgin Spring: Bergman's jiggery-pokery
• The War of the Worlds (1953): Because "skeleton rays" are always cool
• W.C. Fields Comedy Collection: Peregrinations and pettifoggery
• When Worlds Collide: Pal, zoom, doom
• White Heat: Top o' the world
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit: Singing a happy toon
• The Wicker Man (1973): Murder, pagans, C. Lee
• Wonder Boys: Good choices
• The World's Greatest Lover: Wilder, please
• X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes: Corman, Visine, God (or not)
• Yankee Doodle Dandy: It's a grand old film
• Ziegfeld Follies: Bejeweled, bespangled, bewildering

Criterion editions

By request, here are the titles that represent stellar releases from the Criterion Collection.

• Ballad of a Soldier
• Beauty and the Beast (La belle et la bête) (1946)
• La bête humaine
• The Complete Monterey Pop Festival
• The Cranes Are Flying
• 'Danton' and 'Il Generale Della Rovere' (Film.com)
• Diary of a Chambermaid
• Dodes'ka-den (Film.com)
• Eyes Without a Face (Les Yeux sans visage)
• Fiend Without a Face
• Häxan / Witchcraft Through the Ages
• Kind Hearts and Coronets
• Monsters and Madmen
• Mr. Thank You and Other Travels With
  Hiroshi Shimizu (Film.com)
• À nous la liberté
• Pandora's Box
• The River
• The Spirit of the Beehive
• Stage and Spectacle: Three Films by Jean Renoir
• The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
• The Third Man (2007 reissue)
• Trafic (Film.com)
• Under the Roofs of Paris (Sous les toits de Paris)
• The Virgin Spring

TV on DVD

• Babylon 5: The Gathering / In the Beginning, then seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
• Battlestar Galactica — Season One, 2.0, and 2.5
• Lost in Space — Season 1
• M*A*S*H: Goodbye, Farewell and Amen
• The Outer Limits: The Original Series — Seasons 1 and 2
• Star Trek: The Original Series — Seasons 1, 2, 3
• Star Trek: The Next Generation — Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
• Tales of Tomorrow
• The Twilight Zone: Season 1 (The Definitive Edition)
• WKRP in Cincinnati: The Complete First Season

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Film.com

For a while I was a producer and writer for Film.com, which takes a pop-oriented, Entertainment Weekly approach to "movie reviews, TV shows, television listings, DVD releases, independent movies, and celebrity news and gossip." A representative sample:

• Married With Movies: 'Sex and the City'
• Hail Freedonia! Marx Bros. Classic 'Duck Soup' Gets a 75th Anniversary Celebration
• Coming Soon: Please DO Talk During the Movie
• In Space No One Can Hear You Squee: Buzz Aldrin Disses Sci-Fi on Screen
• George Carlin: Rebel Without a Pause
• Ah, Springtime, When the Grouchos Bloom
• Bette Davis Sighs
• The Believer's Film Issue Adds "Pervert's Guide" DVD
• Arthur C. Clarke on DVD: Odysseys and More
• The Good News About 'The Golden Compass'
• Mark's Disc Picks of the Year

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• Blimey, The Best of British Comedy DVDs
• Honoring the League of Not-Quite-So-Super Heroes
• Happy 444th Birthday, William Shakespeare, Screenwriter

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• Striving Under the Influence: A Good Chat with Elvis Mitchell
• David X. Cohen on 'Futurama: Bender's Big Score'
• The Source of 'Outsourced' is Experience, Says Director

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• Digital Valentine's Day Favorites:
• Part 1: Charlie Chaplin's City Lights
• Part 2: The Philadelphia Story
• Part 3: Singin' in the Rain
• Part 4: Shortbus

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• Julie Christie and 'Petulia'
• Amy Adams and 'Junebug'
• Robert Downey, Jr. and 'Chaplin'
• 'Stephen Tobolowsky's Birthday Party': 'Heroes' Company Man, Bob, at Home

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• The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
• 'Danton' and 'Il Generale Della Rovere' (The Criterion Collection)
• 'Trafic' (The Criterion Collection)
• 'Dodes'ka-den' (The Criterion Collection)
• Mr. Thank You and Other Travels With Hiroshi Shimizu (Criterion Eclipse Series)
• Something New, Something Blu at The Criterion Collection
• 'The Fall' on Blu-ray
• 'Frozen River' on Blu-ray
• 'Pinocchio' 70th Anniversary Platinum Edition
• 'Amadeus' on Blu-ray
• 'Being There' on Blu-ray
• 'Kill Bill' on Blu-ray: If Hattori Hanzo Made Little Shiny Discs
• 'Casablanca': Ultimate Collector's Edition -- Here's Looking at Blu, Kid
• Sondheim's 'Company' Sings on Blu-ray
• Yo ho! Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy on Blu-ray
• 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' and 'Funny Face' - The Paramount Centennial Collection
• 'The Odd Couple' - The Paramount Centennial Collection
• Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window - The Master Remastered
• 'Stardust': On a Claire Danes You Can See Forever
• Amy Poehler in 'ASSSSCAT!', John Lennon with Tom Snyder
• 'Once' Worth Seeing Twice, Three Times, or Four
• In 'Best in Show' Dog is My Co-Pilot
• Sweeney Todd on Stage
• The Meridian Collection Launches with 'The Red Violin' and 'Diva'
• Under the Radar: Kabluey, Snow Angels, Rest Stop 2
• Ford at Fox: Brilliance in a Box
• TV on DVD: A New Doctor Who Fan's Guide to Old Doctor Who

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• 2 Days in Paris, Slings & Arrows, Jesse James, Godard, and More
• Warner Bros. Gets Sweet and Lowdown With The Eastwood Jazz Collection
• Bonnie and Clyde, Wristcutters, Midsomer Murders, and More
• Night of the Living Dead (40th Anniversary), Diary of the Dead, and More
• Christmas in a Box, Dirty Apes from Fox, and Where the Hell Are My Socks?
• Hulk is Green, Bond is Blu, U.N.C.L.E. is Sweet, and Criterion Too
• New Releases and Fur Pieces
• Dark City Gets a Director's Cut, Spaced Gets Press Love, and More
• Fool's Gold, Popeye, and We Crown Matthew McConaughey King of the Summer BDMs!
• Good Luck Chuck, The Ten, Family Guy - Blue Harvest, Saving Sarah Cain
• Waitress, Skinwalkers, Drunken Angel

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