Category: Home Viewing with Peter

It seems like only yesterday that film buffs were complaining that the younger generation knew nothing about films made before the 1970s, now that generation is complaining that the younger generation knows nothing about films made before the 1990s. Today, I’m looking back at the films of 1969, a year that neither of those generations…

This past week, the Academy announced the recipients of this year’s honorary Oscars to be given in November. They are actress Glenn Close, director Ridley Scott, animator Floyd Norman, and producers Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler. Now is the time to familiarize yourself with their work if you haven’t already. Neither Glenn Close nor Ridley…

The Criterion Collection has released sparkling new 4K UHDs of 1970’s Five Easy Pieces and 2025’s Sentimental Value. At first glance, it may seem that a film shot on the west coast U.S. fifty-five years earlier and one shot in today’s Norway are an odd combination, but the two films have a lot in common.…

Universal has finally released three of its most requested titles from 1936-1961 on Blu-ray. First up is 1936’s Three Smart Girls, the first of the Deanna Durbin musicals that the studio released between 1936 and 1948, though not one of her best. Oddly enough, though, that the publicity generated by the studio was enough to…

The oddest duo of presenters at this year’s Oscars was, to me, that of Bill Pullman and his son, Lewis Pullman. Not only was the scripted repartee between the two off-putting but I kept thinking, why these two? Bill Pullman has always been a good actor but his last starring role of any note had…

Project Hail Mary, the year’s biggest hit film thus far, is currently streaming on video-on-demand. The film, which opened in theatres in March, is not expected to be released on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD until August 11, so if you want to see it before then, video-on-demand is the way to go. The critically…

With all the home viewing opportunities available today, it’s still difficult to find all the great films we want to see whether on cable TV, streaming services, or on DVD or Blu-ray. Part of the problem is ownership of classic films which keeps changing. Warner Bros. currently still has ownership of the bulk of classic…

Sony has finally released Nancy Meyers’ 2003 film, Something’s Gotta Give, on Blu-ray. The prolific writer of 1980s comedies like Private Benjamin and Baby Boom, made her directorial debut with the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap for which she also wrote the screenplay. The next film which she both wrote and directed was Something’s…

Conincidentally, from old movies on Blu-ray to current miniseries on Netflix, most of what I watched this past week has involved children. Newly released from Kino Lorber, 1969’s House of Cards, directed by John Guillermin (The Towering Inferno), is a fast-paced thriller about the kidnapping of an 8-year-old boy from a novel by Stanley Ellin…

Criterion has released a 4K UHD Blu-ray of Ernst Lubitsch’s 1932 film, Trouble in Paradise. The vintage film has never looked better than in this New 4K digital restoration with uncompressed monaural soundtrack restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and The Film Foundation with funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation. The disc…

Kino Lorber has just released a 4K UHD upgrade of Richard Attenborough’s 1977 film, A A Bridge Too Far. A Bridge Too Far received 8 BAFTA nominations including Best Film and won 4. It did not have anywhere that kind of success with U.S. awards bodies, and in fact received no Oscar nominations at all.…

Listed among the top ten independent films of 2025 by the National Board of Review, Max Walker-Silverman’s Rebuilding has been released on Blu-ray by Bleeker Street. The film is set in a FEMA camp set up in the wake of the San Luis Valley wildfires of 2018. The valley runs through Colorado and New Mexico.…

Nominated for 2 Oscars for Best International Feature and Best Original Screenplay, Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident is now streaming on HBO Max. The 2025 Cannes Film Festival winner starts out intriguingly with a well-dressed man and his pregnant wife driving home in the Iranian countryside at night with their young daughter when…

It’s always interesting to compare this year’s Oscar winners with those of previous years. In that spirit, let’s look at the 1965 Oscars and see how the 98th Academy Awards compares to the 38th. This Oscar winner for Best Film of 2025 was an anti-fascist comedy-drama. The winner for Best Picture of 1965 was an…

There is no article this week. We’ll be back next week.