Author: Peter J Patrick
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Oscar Profile #635: Peter Weir
Born August 21, 1944 in Sydney, Australia, the son of Peggy and Lindsey Weir, a real estate agent, Peter Weir studied arts and law at the University of Sydney where his interest in film was sparked by his involvement with fellow students including Philip Noyce and other future filmmakers. Weir first worked in Australian TV…
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Home Viewing with Peter #814
Paramount has released long overdue Blu-ray upgrades of four of its best, if not necessarily best-known, films of the last forty-two years. Here at last are great looking Blu-rays of 1981’s Gallipoli, 1985’s Young Sherlock Holmes, 1996’s Big Night, and 2007’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Peter Weir’s Gallipoli was the celebrated Australian director’s…
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Oscar Profile #634: Michelle Williams
Born September 9, 1980 in Kalispell, Montana to Carla, a homemaker, and Larry Williams, an author and commodities trader, Michelle Williams grew up in a family with three half-siblings from her father’s earlier marriage and a younger sister. The family moved to San Diego, California when she was 9. Interested in acting from an early…
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Home Viewing with Peter #813
Warner Archive has stepped up production of its Blu-ray upgrades, releasing three more in late January. Production delays have cancelled plans for February releases, but six more are on tap for March. Releasing at the end of January were Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Wife vs. Secretary, and The Long, Long Trailer, all of which, of course,…
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Oscar Profile #633: Glynis Johns Revisited
Born October 5, 1923 in Pretoria, South Africa while her Welsh parents were on tour, Glynis Johns was the daughter of actor Mervyn Johns (1899-1992) and pianist Alice Maude Steele (1901-1970). A trained dancer, pianist, and singer as well as actress, Johns made her first stage appearance as a child ballerina in London’s Garrick Theatre…
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Home Viewing with Peter #812
Time to discuss a few films I recently caught up with on streaming. Based on Don DeLilio’s 1984 novel, Noah Baumbach’s White Noise, now streaming on Netflix, is a dark comedy set in 1983 dealing with many situations of the day. There were no cell phones, widescreen TVs, home computers, or other commonplace objects of…
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Oscar Profile #632: Owen Roizman
Born September 22, 1936 in Brooklyn, New York, Owen Roizman was born into a family of filmmakers. His father, Sol Roizman, was a cinematographer for Fox Movietone News. His uncle, Morrie Roizman, was an editor of documentary films. Morrie received an Oscar nomination for producing the 1954 short subject, Rembrandt: A Self-Portrait. As a child,…
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Home Viewing with Peter #811
Although I had some problems with the ending of James Gray’s Armageddon Time, now out on Blu-ray and DVD, I found this to be one of the best films of 2022. Set in 1980s New York, Gray’s semi-autobiographical film is about a sheltered young Jewish boy (Banks Repeta) who forms a quick friendship with a…
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Oscar Profile #631: Guillermo del Toro
Born October 9, 1964 in Guadalajara, Mexico, the son of an automotive entrepreneur and his wife, Guillermo del Toro is a world renown filmmaker who throughout his career has alternated between Spanish and English language films. Del Toro first began to experiment with his father’s Super 8 camera when he was about 8. He worked…
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Home Viewing with Peter #810
Tár, now available on Blu-ray and 4K, is one of the three best films of 2022 in my estimation. The only question for me is whether it is better than either The Fabelmans or The Banshees of Inisherin, both of which I have previously reviewed. It well may be in the long run, but for…
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Home Viewing with Peter #809
I am at a loss to understand the affection certain critics and large swaths of the population seem to have for Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion, now streaming on Netflix after a brief theatrical run. The second film in the Knives Out franchise leaves me just as cold as the first one, which was released in…
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Oscar Profile #630: Julia Roberts Revisited
Born October 28, 1967 in Smyrna, Georgia to Betty Lou and Walter Grady Roberts, one-time actors and playwrights who ran an acting school in Decatur, Georgia when she was born, Julia Roberts’ mother’s maternity bill was paid for by Coretta Scott King in gratitude to Julia’s father, her daughter Yolanda’s acting coach. Following in the…
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Home Viewing with Peter #808
Forget any negativity you may have heard, The Fabelmans, currently available for home viewing via pay-for-view, is one of Steven Spielberg’s very best films, a real movie-movie. My only issue with the film is a technical one. In 1952, the standard TV was a console with a 17″ screen, not those tiny early TVs as…
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Oscar Profile #629: Steven Spielberg Revisited
Born December 18, 1946 in Cincinnati, Ohio to a concert pianist/restaurateur mother and electrical engineer father, Steven Spielberg grew up in Haddon Township, New Jersey; Phoenix, Arizona; and Saratoga, California. His early fascination with movies led to his career as one the most successful and influential filmmakers in the history of the movies. His career…
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Home Viewing with Peter #807
Several new 4K Ultra HD releases have been made available in time for Christmas gift giving including Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Adaptation., The Usual Suspects, The Company of Wolves, WALL-E, and Sony Pictures Classics 30th Anniversary Collection. Quentin Tarantino made his film debut with 1987’s My Best Friend’s Birthday, a long-forgotten comedy that went nowhere.…
