DVD Savant, Glenn Erickson's Review Column at DVD Talk

Savant's new reviews today are

Short Films by Werner Herzog
The Dark Glow of the Mountains,
Ballad of the Little Soldier,
Precautions Against Fanatics
New Yorker

and
(Breaking) The Sound Barrier
Belated Release Review
Lionsgate

Greetings! A bit of a lull in post-holiday discs, but what we have in hand is nothing to sniff at: Criterion's Blu-rays of The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Last Emperor, El Norte and on DVD, The Taking of Power by Louis XIV. I'm also looking at a disc of Ernie Kovacs comedy material from his old TV show, and it's very promising. Coming soon will be reviews of The Truman Show (BD), Father of the Kamikaze and hopefully the new Michael Powell Stairway to Heaven (A Matter of Life and Death) / Age of Consent double bill from Sony.

Today's review of (Breaking) The Sound Barrier is from a 2008 disc that I didn't catch up with until months after it was released, but I hope you will find it worth your while.

I'm getting a steady stream of 2009 Savant Wish List suggestions, and annotating the list as they come in. Let's hope the days ahead bring us more exciting announcements about new releases!

Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson

Happy New Year!

DVD Savant's 2009 Wish List
What film do you want to see on DVD or Blu-ray?

Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
Original Director's Cut
New Yorker

Cimarron (1960)
Belated Release Review

and
Last Holiday
Blu-ray
Paramount

And so begins a new year. Over at Film.com, I have a new article up on the The Truman Show Blu-ray, entitled When Reality Bites, You Bite Back.

I've reshuffled the 2009 Savant Wish List , which is up and ready for perusal as well.

My review of the 1960 Cimarron is only four months late! Warners is extremely generous with screeners but their interesting Warner Home Video Western Classics Collection box didn't materialize, so a few weeks passed before I bought a copy of my own. I was going to review it right away but couldn't find the time. I have two other titles from last year that I'll be slipping into the mix if the schedule permits.

And my review of the 1951 Day the Earth Stood Still has been updated with an extra footnote, a discussion with Bill Warren on the film's religious motif -- did Robert Wise really not know his own movie was a Christ allegory?

Frequent correspondent Ted!!! Haycraft has given me a link to one of his 14WFIE.com televised movie break film and DVD reports --- it's very good!

I have to get serious about my Online Film Critics Society voting now ... here's how I felt about the new pictures I've seen so far:

Happy-Go-Lucky, Che, Doubt, Milk Terrific

Slumdog Millionaire Good

Defiance, Revolutionary Road So-So.

See you next Tuesday! Glenn Erickson

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