The most surprising Oscar winner for Best Picture in decades, Crash (Lionsgate; Movie •••½, Picture/Sound •••½, Extras ••½) has a couple of secret weapons that quietly recommended it to members of the Academy. First, it captures the true look and feel of Los Angeles, where the majority of Oscar voters live.
Like John Ford, Sam Peckinpah was a rambunctious, self-destructive, cinematic poet who idolized the American West. His work is generally discussed in terms of graphic violence, sadism, and perversion, and these aberrant forms of human behavior do appear throughout his work.
Alfred HitchcockThe Masterpiece Collection (Universal, 15 DVDs, $120) Saboteur, Shadow of a Doubt, Rope, Rear Window, The Trouble with Harry, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Vertigo, Psycho, The Birds, Marnie, Torn Curtain, Topaz, Frenzy, Family P
So much fuss has been made about Brokeback Mountain (Lionsgate; Movie ••••½, Picture/Sound ••••, Extras •••), especially after it was nominated for eight Oscars (winning three), that it's not worth rehashing the details here.
From the late 1960s through the early '70s, Americans saw the crumbling of the old morality, which gave way to the new twin blights of urban decay and bad hair. If this golden age of anti-heroes and the stars who played them is your bag - if you take your detectives tough, your streets mean, and your realism gritty - then you'll want to add some of these movies to your collection.
Nicolas Roeg's 1976 film THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH (The Criterion Collection; Movie •••½, Picture/Sound •••, Extras ••) is a poetic, visually resplendent work that gains resonance with repeat viewings. David Bowie (below) is the alien on a mission to save his dying race.
When he first landed in the U.S. in 1961, British agent John Drake went mostly unnoticed. But when this Danger Man reappeared 4 years later - with a new name, a new theme song, and a visa extended from 30 minutes to an hour - he made quite a stir.
Are movies more important than life? Are women magic? These two questions, repeatedly posed in François Truffaut's Day for Night (1973), often seem to be at the heart of French cinema, especially in a big batch of recent DVD releases.
These days, it seems like all the bad guys in the world have it in for America. Thankfully, someone is always looking out for us, whether they're dynamic marionettes or top-secret teenagers. Both these films have lots of fun with the spy movie genre. D.E.B.S. (Sony; Movie •••, Picture/Sound •••½, Extras ••) is aimed squarely at family audiences.