Category: Home Viewing with Peter

Paramount has released a 25th Anniversary Edition of The Truman Show on 4K Ultra HD. The title of the release is misleading as the only thing different about it is the inclusion of the 4K disc. The accompanying Blu-ray is a reissue of the 2005 release. Time has been kind to this 1998 film. Initially,…

Seven major new Blu-ray releases from three separate companies are further proof that home video releases are still a potent choice for home viewing. From Warner Archive come three 1950s films noir, Caged, The Damned Don’t Cry, and Angel Face, as well as the same decade’s open sea adventure The Old Man and the Sea.…

Four new 4K Blu-ray releases from four different companies and a Blu-ray compilation of a mystery series from a poverty row studio show that home video releases are far from drying up. The Criterion Collection has released a restored version of Jean Renoir’s once dismissed 1939 classic The Rules of the Game. MVD has released…

Sometimes the best things you can find on the various streaming services are not the latest film or miniseries but a good old movie or two. This past week I found two on Max, previously known as HBO Max. Max has the best of HBO, TCM, and various other suppliers. Included among those new to…

Next Sunday is Father’s Day which makes this the perfect time to reminisce about great film fathers – both good ones and bad, all of which can be found on home video. Unlike great screen mothers, of which there are many, great screen fathers are more difficult to find, so I’ll limit this to ten…

The Criterion Collection has released a 4K Blu-ray edition of Ridley Scott’s Thelma & Louise. This is the first time since the film had a home video release since the MGM 20th anniversary edition of the 1991 film was released on standard Blu-ray in January 2014. This is the best the film has ever looked…

Kino Lorber has released two films on Blu-ray that are as diametrically opposed as any two films of the 1950s could be. The 1957 version of My Man Godfrey is an inferior remake of the classic 1936 screwball comedy while 1954’s action-packed Secret of the Incas, the inspiration for 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark,…

With the mostly glowing reviews for Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, screened out of competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, putting a spotlight on the Hollywood legend, now is the perfect time as any for revisiting the films that have made him one of the most respected directors of the last fifty…

Air, now streaming on Amazon Prime, is the first film of the year that seems to me to be Oscar worthy, and that’s only if ten or more yet-to-be-seen films don’t knock it out of contention. Although sports films are occasionally on Oscar’s radar, basketball films rarely are. In the 96-year history of the Academy…

With Mother’s Day approaching, now is the perfect time to reflect on films centered around mothers and maybe plan on watching one or two of them in honor of the holiday. Mothers have, of course, been a movie staple from the very beginning. Good mothers, bad mothers, and everything in-between have been seen on screen.…

A week after decrying the state of TV streaming services, I found some things that I heartily recommend on Netflix, HBO Max, and Hulu. Transatlantic is a new miniseries from writers Anna Winger and Daniel Hendler, the Emmy-nominated writers of 2000’s Unorthodox. New on Netflix, Transatlantic is a seven-episode miniseries based on the heroic exploits…

The problem with streaming services is that there are so many of them now competing for content that the quality of what they are showing has reached an all-time low. Not only is their original content suffering, so are the theatrically released films they are premiering. Take for example, the most watched film of last…

With the Blu-ray release of Oliver Hermanus’ Living, all but two of the 2022 Oscar nominees in the top 8 categories representing Best Picture, acting, Directing, and Writing have been released for home viewing via either physical media or streaming. The two exceptions are Triangle of Sadness, which is being released on 4K and regular…

Warner Home Video has released 4K Blu-ray upgrades of two of the most popular films from its vast library, 1941’s The Maltese Falcon and 1967’s Cool Hand Luke. John Huston’s film version of Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon was his first as director. Already an Oscar nominee for his screenplay of 1940’s Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic…

Edward Berger’s 2022 German remake of Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front is remarkable in many ways, not the least of which is its 4K Blu-ray release, a rare Netflix film to be released on home video and the first to be released so quickly after its Netflix release, a mere five…