Category: Home Viewing with Peter

Warner Archive’s latest batch of Blu-ray upgrades is finally here. Easily the best of the seven new releases is Roy Rowlands’ lighter than air 1950 musical, Two Weeks with Love starring Jane Powell, Ricardo Montalban, Debbie Reynolds, and Carlton Carpenter. A throwaway story line about summertime in Old New York set in 1913 provides the…

Columbia has made available a new Blu-ray release of Blake Edwards’ 1962 film, Experiment in Terror which was previously released in the U.S. by boutique label Twilight Time. That out-of-print release is currently available on Amazon for $97.95. The new release is going for $27.55 on Amazon The film is an extremely tense thriller filmed…

Wes Anderson is a filmmaker with a unique perspective whose films people seem to either love or hate. Although his films have more lovers than haters, some people love some of his films and hate some of his others. An 8-time Oscar nominee and winner for his 2023 short film, The Wonderful Story of Henry…

Now available on 4K UHD and standard Blu-ray from Kino Lorber, George Stevens’ 1953 classic, Shane, joins Roman Holiday, Stalag 17, Sabrina, and White Christmas as the fifth of seven of Paramount’s biggest hits of the early 1950s to be released on 4K UHD, with 1950’s Sunset Boulevard due to follow on August 5th. Can…

Now available on 4k UHD and standard Blu-ray from Warner Home Video, and streaming on HBO Max, Sinners is the year’s most critically acclaimed film to date as well as the biggest box-office success thus far. Directed by Ryan Coogler, the film is another showcase for Michael B. Jordan, who previously starred in Coogler’s Fruitvale…

The Criterion Collection has released a 4K UHD upgrade of Fritz Lang’s 1953 masterwork, The Big Heat. Previously released on Blu-ray by boutique label, Twilight Time in 2014, The Big Heat has leaped ahead of such Lang films as 1936’s Fury, 1944’s The Woman in the Window, and 1945’s Scarlet Street to take its place…

Warner Archive released Blu-ray upgrades of seven classic films in June, the most it has released in some time including a rare 4K Ultra HD release. Getting the 4K upgrade is High Society, Charles Walters’ musical remake of George Cukor’s 1940 classic, The Philadelphia Story with the action moved from Philadelphia to Newport, Rhode Island.…

The Criterion Collection has released Mitchell Leisen’s 1939 screwball comedy, Midnight, on Blu-ray. Midnight may not be one of the films you think of as one of the greatest of the so-called greatest year in film history, but it has its aficionados. Released in May of that year, the film starred Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche,…

The last film to receive major 2024 awards recognition that I hadn’t seen before, A24’s Heretic, is available from the studio on both 4K UHD and standard Blu-ray. It is also currently streaming on Max. The film is one of two 2024 releases starring Hugh Grant that is currently available on Blu-ray while also streaming…

Shout! Scream Factory has released a 4K UHD upgrade of George A. Romero’s 1988 film, Monkey Shines with an accompanying Blu-ray that includes vintage making-of documentaries of the film. Oddly, Amazon is selling the 4K package for $28.99, the old Blu-ray for $35.01, and the original DVD for $74.69, a bizarre reverse pricing strategy. Presented…

Warner Archive has upped its game with the release of no less than five major Blu-ray upgrades of films ranging from 1938’s Three Comrades to 2007’s La Vie en Rose. Three Comrades has one of the most fabled pedigrees in film history. Its source material was a 1936 novel by Erich Maria Remarque (All Quiet…

Two of the year’s most popular films are now both streaming and in release on home video First up is Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17, his first film since his Oscar-winning Parasite. Filmed in late 2022 and early 2023, Mickey 17 is the film version of Edward Ashton’s 2022 science fiction novel Mickey 7 in…

Many of us make a concerted effort to see as many of the films of our favorite directors as we can. While you may be familiar with most or all the films of Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, or Quentin Tarantino among those still making films, and Alfred Hitchcock and John Ford among classic film directors,…

May is Mental Health Month, a subject that the screen has explored many times. Here in chronological order are ten of the most unforgettable films that have explored mental health issues, offering insight into various conditions of human experience. One can find elements of mental health problems in characters in practically all the films made…

Criterion has released a 4K UHD/Blu-ray combination of Anora, the fastest release of a major film by the home video giant in its history. They usually take their time with their releases, typically providing upgrades of films first released by other companies. While the package is a nice one, it is also a rather dubious…