From the DVD Shelf: Josh Reviews OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2006)
OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies is a French film that lovingly parodies the 1960’s Sean Connery era James Bond films. It got very little play here in the U.S., but if you’re a fan of the Connery Bond films then this movie is not to be missed. OSS 117 actually began as a se
From the DVD Shelf: Josh reviews Let the Right One In (2008)
I’m behind the eight-ball on this one, I know. Movie-related web-sites across the web have been showering praise on this small-budget Swedish vampire film for the past two years, but I only recently got around to seeing it. It’s just as terrific as I’d heard. Osk
From the DVD Shelf: Josh Reviews Lost in America (1985)
After re-watching Albert Brooks’ film Modern Romance a few weeks ago (read my review here), I decided the time had come to revisit some of his other films. I started by tracking down Lost in America, his 1985 film that, somehow, I had never seen. Mr. Brooks (who also directed
From the DVD Shelf: Josh reviews The Cat’s Meow (2001)
It’s funny — although I acknowledge that Peter Bogdanovich is a significant, influential director, I must admit with some embarrassment that I’ve seen very few of his films. Many of his ground-breaking films from the ’70s remain, as-yet-unseen, on my lengthy
From the DVD Shelf: Josh Reviews The TV Set (2006)
As with Death at a Funeral (which I reviewed last month), The TV Set is a film that I’ve been wanting to see ever since it was released. It was one of those films that sounded really interesting to me, and was very well-reviewed, but I just never got around to catching it. I
“She’s always right” — Josh Reviews Modern Romance (1981)
Drew McWeeny (who has a terrific blog over at Hitfix.com) has a series called “The Basics,” in which he writes about a film that he considers one of the “essentials” — a film that anyone who takes film seriously should see — and then another, yo
From the DVD Shelf: Josh Reviews Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story
The new documentary Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story tells two interwoven stories: one is an overview of British comedian Eddie Izzard’s life-story, while the other is a more detailed look at the process by which, in 2003, he crafted an entirely new stand-up routine (that would e
From the DVD Shelf: Josh reviews the original Death at a Funeral (2007)
I’ve been wanting to see Death at a Funeral ever since it was first released (back in 2007), so it’s a funny coincidence that it arrived in my home (via Netflix) the same week that the American remake (featuring a predominantly African-American cast) opened in theatres. Th
From the DVD Shelf: Josh Reviews Homicide (1991)
One of my earliest posts on this blog was a look back through the films of David Mamet. One of the films I wasn’t able to review at the time was Homicide, because it was shockingly unavailable on DVD. Late last year, though, the fine folks at the Criterion Collection thankfu
From the DVD Shelf: Josh Reviews 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
I well remember my reaction upon watching Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time, many years ago. The star-child appeared, and the end credits rolled, and I turned to my brother and started laughing. “What the heck was THAT???” I had no idea