News

New York-based Rialto Pictures is gearing up for the release of Studiocanal’s 4K restoration of Jean-Luc Godard’s 1961 musical comedy “A Woman Is a Woman.”

The film, Rialto’s first release of 2025, stars Anna Karina, Jean-Claude Brialy and Jean-Paul Belmondo. The film will hit selected U.S. theaters on Feb. 7.

The new restoration, which premiered this year in Locarno, was made from the negative 35mm original copy, digitized by Paris-based post production company Hiventy and realized by Studiocanal with the collaboration of France’s National Center of Cinema (Cnc).

Rialto’s biggest success this year was the 75th anniversary of “The Third Man,” Rialto Co-President Adrienne Halpern told Variety at the Lumière Film Festival’s International Classic Film Market (Mifc) in Lyon, France.

‘The Third Man’

The 4K restoration of Carol Reed’s 1949 classic, starring Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles, was carried out by Deluxe Restoration on behalf of Studiocanal.

The Hollywood Blacklist ruined dozens of lives. United States-based artists who were sympathetic to, or even curious about, communism were demonized as traitors to their country and, due to hysterical pressure from The House Committee on Un-American Activities (aka Huac), banned from working in the industry. Disgraced and unemployed, blacklisted individuals were forced to leave the country if they wanted to continue working or, if they could not afford to relocate, find a line of work where being an alleged communist wasn't frowned upon. This latter option was, of course, dismally unlikely. The mental and financial burden of being completely shunned from one's industry was so unbearable that it led actor Philip Loeb to die by suicide.

This put Hollywood at war against itself. Anyone suspected of having communist ties was pressured to come clean and, if they wanted to continue working, name names (a cowardly practice savaged by films...

Martin Scorsese now has a Letterboxd profile, and he took the opportunity to list companion films for every movie he’s ever made on the social media platform for cinephiles.

“I love the idea of putting different films together into one program. I grew up seeing double features, programs in repertory houses, evenings of avant-garde films in storefront theatres,” he wrote on his Companion Films page. “You always learn something, see something in a new light, because every movie is in conversation with every other movie. The greater difference between the pictures, the better.”

For his latest film, “Killers of the Flower Moon” adapted from David Grann’s best-selling book, Scorses suggested it be paired with “The Heiress” (1949), “The Last of the Line” (1914), “The Lady of the Dugout” (1918), “Blood on the Moon” (1948), “Red River” (1948) and “Wild River” (1960).

For “Goodfellas” (1990), Scorsese listed “Ocean’s Eleven” (1960) and “Jules and Jim” (1962).

The full list contains almost 60 films.

“Candyman” star Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and “The Prince of Persia’s” Gemma Arterton find themselves battling a mysterious assassin in the first trailer for Disney+ U.K. original series “Culprits,” which drops in the U.K. and Ireland on Disney+ on Nov. 8 and in the U.S. on Dec. 8 on Hulu.

The series, from filmmaker J Blakeson (“I Care A Lot”) tells the story of a group of elite reformed criminals who have left their old, bad selves behind. Just when they thought they could start afresh, a ruthless mystery assassin turns up to pick them off one by one — and they begin to realize not everyone is willing to let the past go.

“Why are they being stalked, who is behind the mayhem and will they be able to find one another in time to protect themselves and the people they love?” reads the logline.

The eight-part series from Character...

Jules Dassin’s powerful picture was a hit in Europe but remained mostly obscure here, despite featuring the great Melina Mercouri and a score of Continental stars. Adapted by two blacklistees in exile it doesn’t try to hide its revolutionary aims — Nikos Kazantzakis’s uncompromised storyline places The Church as a main obstruction to social progress, justice, and life & liberty. It’s no wonder it wasn’t ‘movie of the week’ in 1957. It’s been beautifully remastered at its original CinemaScope width, uncut.

He Who Must Die

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1957 / B&w / 2:35 widescreen / 128 122 min. / Street Date September 6, 2022 / Celui qui doit mourir / Available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Jean Servais, Carl Möhner, Grégoire Aslan, Gert Fröbe, René Lefèvre, Lucien Raimbourg, Melina Mercouri, Roger Hanin, Pierre Vaneck, Nicole Berger, Maurice Ronet, Fernand Ledoux.

Cinematography: Gilbert Chain, Jacques Natteau

Production Designer: Max Douy

Film Editors: Roger Dwyre, Pierre Gillette

Original Music: Georges Auric

Written by Ben Barzman,...

Ghostbusters: Afterlife director Jason Reitman takes hosts Joe Dante and Josh Olson on a journey through some of his favorite cinematic tonal shifts.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)

Thank You For Smoking (2006)

Up In The Air (2009)

Juno (2007)

Young Adult (2011)

Citizen Kane (1941) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Seven Samurai (1954) Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Rififi (1955)

Titane (2021)

Cannibal Girls (1973)

Raw (2016)

Hellraiser (1987)

A Serbian Film (2010)

Cast Away (2000)

What Lies Beneath (2000)

Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Downhill Racer (1968) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Breaking Away (1979)

Boys Don’t Cry (1999)

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

The Great Waldo Pepper (1975)

Psycho (1960) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

Psycho (1998) – Ti West’s trailer commentary

Last Night In Soho (2021)

Funny Games (1997)

Funny Games (2008)

The Piano Teacher (2001) – Charlie Largent’s Criterion Blu-ray

I, The Jury (1982)

Mother! (2017)

Mulholland Drive (2001)

Tully (2018)

Gremlins (1984) – Glenn Erickson’s 4K Blu-ray review, Tfh’s 30th anniversary links...

Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Soderbergh is no stranger to heist movies. Remember 1998’s “Out of Sight,” 2001’s “Ocean’s Eleven” and 2017’s “Logan Lucky”? And he’s returned to the popular genre with this latest film “No Sudden Move,” which landed on HBO Max July 1 after having premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Set in Detroit in 1954, “No Sudden Move” around a group of small-time hoods who are hired to steal a document. Though they consider it to be a straightforward job, it turns out to be anything but when the gig goes wrong. While the crooks try to figure out who hired them and way, they are lead down a rabbit hole of twists and turns involving racial prejudice, corporate greed in the auto industry and even the mob. “No Sudden Move,” which stars Don Cheadle, Benicio del Toro, David Harbour, Jon Hamm, Brendan Fraser, and Ray Liotta, is currently at...

First, history: In December 1968, almost exactly a year before the murder of Black Panther chairman Fred Hampton by the FBI, Paramount Pictures released what remains one of the most curious artifacts in the history of Hollywood — hardly a hotbed for radical views of black politics. It is a film titled Uptight. Its subject: a black former steel-mill worker played by Julian Mayfield, now an unreliable alcoholic who, in his desperation, in the confused ideological haze that besets him upon the death of Martin Luther King Jr., does an extraordinary thing.

The star from Sid & Nancy, Terminator 2, Candyman, Gattaca, Leaving Las Vegas and the new chiller The Dark And The Wicked takes us on a journey through some of his favorite foreign films.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Candyman (1992)

Frankenstein (1931)

Sid and Nancy (1986)

The Dark And The Wicked (2020)

The Wall of Mexico (2019)

La Dolce Vita (1961)

Il Bidone (1955)

Day For Night (1973)

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1967)

8 ½ (1963)

Le Cercle Rouge (1970)

Daredevils of the Red Circle (1939)

Rififi (1955)

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Z (1969)

The Sleeping Car Murders (1965)

The Battle of Algiers (1966)

Burn! (1969)

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

The Italian Job (1969)

The Italian Job (2003)

The Magician (1958)

Wild Strawberries (1957)

Fanny and Alexander (1982)

Persona (1966)

The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

The Last House On The Left (1972)

The Virgin Spring (1960)

Paperhouse (1988)

The Strangers (2008)

The Monster (2016)

Andrei Rublev (1966)

Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)

Nostalghia (1983)

Son of Frankenstein (1939)

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Zorba The Greek (1964)

Pollyanna (1960)

Other Notable Items

Lon...

They don’t make heist movies like they used to. You used to be able to see films like The Killing, Rififi and The Italian Job and simply relish the fiendishly clever methods with which criminals executed their elaborate robberies. Seth Savoy’s debut feature attempts to update the venerable genre by adding sociological themes to the mix, making a social statement about how today’s millennials are forced to pursue a life of crime because of unjust economic opportunities. The result is that the slackly paced Echo Boomers has all the excitement of a feature-length essay in The Nation.

The film, apparently loosely based ...

They don’t make heist movies like they used to. You used to be able to see films like The Killing, Rififi and The Italian Job and simply relish the fiendishly clever methods with which criminals executed their elaborate robberies. Seth Savoy’s debut feature attempts to update the venerable genre by adding sociological themes to the mix, making a social statement about how today’s millennials are forced to pursue a life of crime because of unjust economic opportunities. The result is that the slackly paced Echo Boomers has all the excitement of a feature-length essay in The Nation.

The film, apparently loosely based ...

The Lumiere Film Festival paid homage to Greek actress, singer and politician Melina Mercouri this week with a mini-retrospective on what would have been the centenary of her birth.

The centerpiece event was a screening Thursday of “Never on Sunday,” the 1960 musical drama directed by and co-starring her regular collaborator, husband Jules Dassin, who was put on the Hollywood Blacklist for being a member of the Communist Party, and moved to Europe.

Mercouri and Dassin met at the Cannes Film Festival in 1955 when Dassin was starring in “Rififi,” and Mercouri in “Stella,” a retelling of “Carmen.” They would work together many times, most famously on “Pheadra” (1962), “Topkapi” (1964), and “10:30 P.M. Summer” (1966).

Their 1960 collaboration, “Never on Sunday,” remains their most famous partnership. They would reprise their roles of Ilya and Homer in a Broadway production, “Ilya Darling,” that opened in April 1967.

Set in the Greek port city of Piraeus, the...

Heist films, from “Rififi” to “Ocean’s Eleven” to “Widows,” are all about the planning. They’re missions impossible, and the fun of almost every heist movie is: Can it make the intricacy of a robbery thrilling yet plausible? But in “Cut Throat City,” the third feature directed by the RZA, the posse of desperate amateur thugs who rip off a New Orleans casino scarcely have a plan, and does that ever show. It’s part of the film’s volatile but ramshackle design.

At first, they sit “innocently” at the slot machines, wearing hoodies. Then they pull down stocking masks that barely conceal their faces. One of them approaches the cashier, pointing a weapon in classic this-is-a-stickup mode, and the other two attack a guard and have to figure out, right there, how to jimmy open the rolling-cart vault with the chips in it. Somehow, they make it out with...

The Academy has chosen its film scholars this year and is not letting the coronavirus pandemic get in the way of one of AMPAS’ most important programs, at least in terms of serious studies relating to the film industry. Fittingly, considering Oscar’s drive toward greater diversity, both projects involve issues revolving around movies and their depictions of the Black community.

Racquel Gates and Rebecca Prime have been chosen as 2020 Academy Film Scholars by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Their respective book projects, Hollywood Style and the Invention of Blackness and Uptight!: Race, Revolution, and the Struggle to Make the Most Dangerous Film of 1968, explore in depth the topic of race in Hollywood. The Academy’s Educational Grants Committee will award Gates and Prime $25,000 each on the basis of their proposals.

Established in 1999, the Academy Film Scholars program is designed to support significant new works of film scholarship.

The producer of Narcos takes us on a walk through some of the movies that made him.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Contagion (2011)

Panic In The Streets (1950)

Rififi (1955)

Night And The City (1950)

Thieves’ Highway (1949)

Never on Sunday (1960)

The Karate Kid (1984)

The Game (1997)

The Dirty Dozen (1967)

The Great Escape (1963)

Children of Men (2006)

Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory (1971)

If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969)

Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (2005)

The Wild Bunch (1969)

The Godfather (1972)

Apocalypse Now (1979)

Animal House (1978)

An American Werewolf In London (1981)

Trading Places (1983)

Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004)

Fellini Satyricon (1969)

The Beastmaster (1982)

Sheena (1984)

High Risk (1981)

Ghostbusters (1984)

The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

Piranha (1978)

Gallipoli (1981)

Witness (1985)

The Killing Fields (1984)

Mad Max (1980)

Max Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)

Picnic At Hanging Rock (1975)

The Last Wave (1978)

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

The Lord of the Rings (1978)

The Hobbit (1977)

The Return of the King (1980)

Class (1983)

The Great Santini (1979)

Fast Times At Ridgemont High...

Here are many more movies to watch when you’re staying in for a while, featuring recommendations from Jim Gavin, Karyn Kusama, Matt Christman, and Jonah Ray.

Please support the Hollywood Food Coalition. Text “Give” to 323.402.5704 or visit https://hofoco.org/donate!

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Three Tough Guys (1974)

Two Gentlemen Sharing (1969)

Tower of Evil a.k.a. Horror on Snape Island (1972)

Blow-Up (1966)

Blow Out (1981)

Body Double (1984)

Rififi (1955)

The Big Clock (1948)

No Way Out (1987)

Funeral In Berlin (1966)

The Ipcress File (1965)

Billion Dollar Brain (1967)

The Innocents (1961)

Miracle Mile (1988)

Femme Fatale (2002)

Main Street Women (1980)

Sleepwalkers (1992)

A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)

Dracula’s Dog (1977)

Moneyball (2011)

Together (2000)

Contagion (2011)

Panic In The Streets (1950)

The Killer That Stalked New York (1950)

The Satan Bug (1965)

A Prophet (2009)

Point Break (1991)

The Thing (1982)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

Hit! (1973)

Outbreak (1995)

The Island (2005)

6 Underground (2019)

Pain And Gain (2013)

The Invitation (2015)

High-Rise (2015)

The ’Burbs (1989)

To My Great Chagrin: The Unbelievable...

Acclaimed stuntman and action director extraordinaire Jesse V. Johnson joins us to discuss the U.S. based action films and filmmakers that have influenced him the most.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

On The Waterfront (1954)

Fultah Fisher’s Boarding House (1922)

Undisputed (2002)

Undisputed II: Last Man Standing (2006)

Undisputed III: Redemption (2010)

Boyka: Undisputed (2016)

The Killer Elite (1975)

Convoy (1978)

The Osterman Weekend (1983)

Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia (1974)

Le Cercle Rouge (1970)

Straw Dogs (1971)

The Wild Bunch (1969)

Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995)

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

The Birdcage (1996)

Cross of Iron (1977)

Electra Glide in Blue (1973)

Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974)

Easy Rider (1969)

Fail Safe (1964)

The Cincinnati Kid (1965)

Ride The High Country (1962)

Major Dundee (1965)

Jinxed! (1982)

Beowulf (2007)

Kiss Me Deadly (1955)

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019)

The Girl Hunters (1963)

Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)

Point Blank (1967)

Falling Down (1993)

M (1951)

M (1931)

The Black Vampire (1953)

The Roaring Twenties (1939)

Scum (1979)

Elephant (1989)

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), possibly Joe’s favorite John Ford...

With a knowledge of cinema history simply unparalleled even when it comes to the greatest film scholars, a new Martin Scorsese film also means a wealth of commentary as it pertains to the films that he thought of during development and production. As for his crime epic The Irishman, he’s been fairly tight-lipped about influences, but has now revealed a handful during an insightful conversation with Spike Lee. Check out the films (and a book mention) he discussed below, a few of which are now available in new brand-new restorations on Blu-ray.

Jean-Pierre Melville x 2



While Scorsese said he didn’t screen many cinematic influences with cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto regarding the look of the film, it was important to get the tone of the movie right. “The tone of the movie, it had to be contemplative and an epic, but it had to be an intimate epic,” he said.

A classic from the underrated filmography of Henri Decoin, 1955’s Razzia sur la chnouf (Raid on Drugs) is based on a novel by Auguste Le Breton, who wrote Rififi and Bob Le Flambeur, which would end up being seminal titles directed by Jules Dassin and Jean-Pierre Melville, respectively.

Decoin’s film has been eclipsed by those more famed titles, but is nevertheless one of Jean Gabin’s more notable later period roles, who stars as Henri Ferre (aka the Man from Nantes), who arrives back in Paris after a notable criminal career in the Us. Immediately tailed by law enforcement upon his return to France, he’s recruited by Paul Liski (Marcel Dalio), who wants Ferre to improve his hustle in narcotics.…...

“Finding Steve McQueen” is a ramshackle indie heist drama that has a little bit (but not much) to do with Steve McQueen. The film’s central figure, a green-behind-the-ears thief named Harry Barber (Travis Fimmel), idolizes the squinty star of “Bullitt,” for all the reasons one might have back in 1972, when most of the movie is set. McQueen was then at the height of his popularity, but his star cachet, going back to films like “The Great Escape” and “The Cincinnati Kid,” predated the counterculture, and that was the mark of his mystique. In a New Hollywood overrun with shaggy idols like Warren Beatty and Elliott Gould, McQueen, with his baby-faced scowl, was the last neo-’50s maverick romantic stud, a guy too square to be hip and, for that reason, too hip to be square.

“Bullitt,” the movie that launched a thousand car chases, was the rubber-meets-the-road apex of the McQueen swagger,...

A few years from now, there will no doubt be an official name for the explosion of talented Mexican directors breaking through on the international festival circuit — filmmakers a generation younger than such Nuevo Cine Mexicano pioneers as Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuaron, but every bit as promising in the originality of their vision.

When that time comes, Ruizpalacios could well be their poster boy: a helmer who’s making headway both as an arthouse auteur — his first two features, “Güeros” and “Museo,” premiered at the Berlinale — and a sought-after television director in the U.S., where he spearheaded the “Vida” pilot for Starz and two episodes of “Narcos: Mexico.”

Ruizpalacios’ film work reflects a bold vision, informed by his background in acting and avant-garde theater. “Unlike all my peers in drama school, I went into acting with directing in mind,” explains Ruizpalacios, who studied under Mexico City stage...

Vitagraph Films, the U.S. distributor of Alonso Ruizpalacios’ “Museo,” starring Gael García Bernal, which is arguably the best-received Latin American movie to date this year, has dropped the film’s first trailer, ahead of its North American premiere at the Toronto Festival and U.S theatrical roll-out.

Also screening at the Los Angeles Film Festival in September and the Mill Valley Film Festival in October, “Museo” will be released in NewYork from Sept. 14, in Washington D.C. and South Florida from Sept. 21 and in Los Angeles a week later. Other markets will follow. Variety has had exclusive access to the film’s trailer and poster.

A “gorgeous, giddy shaggy-dog movie,” Variety announced upon the film’s world premiere in competition at Berlin, “Museo,” which is sold by Luxbox, won a Silver Bear for best screenplay at this year’s Berlinale, garnering some of the festival’s best reviews.

Ruizpalacios...

Critics are shooting out reviews for “Ocean’s 8” like dollar bills out of a jackpotted Atm machine, and the all-female spinoff caper seems to have pulled off yet another successful Ocean heist, with the film currently sitting at a comfy 78% on Rotten Tomatoes.

“Ocean’s 8” is the first film in franchise not directed by Steven Soderbergh, and is instead helmed by “The Hunger Games'” Gary Ross. As per usual, it features a star-studded cast including Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Rihanna, Mindy Kaling, and even James Corden makes an appearance.

Variety’s own Owen Gleiberman praised the gender-flipping aspect of the film, pointing out that there’s nothing inherently sneaky about men that wouldn’t have warranted an all-female cast before “Ocean’s 8.” Of Bullock’s performance as the story’s lead character, Debbie Ocean, Gleiberman wrote, “Sandra Bullock strides through this movie with the...

With “Ocean’s 8,” women are finally getting a heist movie.

The all-female reboot of the “Ocean’s Eleven” franchise hits theaters this weekend, boasting a star-studded cast that includes Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Rihanna, Sarah Paulson, and more.

Its predecessor had a similarly A-list cast. Starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Don Cheadle, “Ocean’s Eleven” proved a box office hit and spawned two sequels. It’s just one example of the affinity audiences have for heist movies.

The ’90s saw heist classics like “Heat,” “Reservoir Dogs,” “Point Break,” and “The Usual Suspects” hit theaters, with many garnering commercial success and cult followings.

Then there are the more recent favorites, like Spike Lee’s “Inside Man,” starring Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster, and Clive Owen, and of course “The Italian Job,” directed by F. Gary Gray and starring Mark Wahlberg and Charlize Theron. And for the arthouse lovers,...

You'd call this heist film un-fucking-believable, except that American Animals really is rooted in fact – that is, whenever the British documentarian Bart Layton, in a mightily impressive narrative feature debut, doesn't mess around too much. "This is not based on a true story," reads a title card at the start ... before the words "not based on" slowly vanish from the screen.

It's 2004 in Lexington, Kentucky, when homeboys Spencer Reinhard (Barry Keoghan) and Warren Lipka (Evan Peters), students at local Transylvania University, decide to pull off a robbery. They don't need the money,...

So much comes down to The Americans Season 6 Episode 9, and when reactions don't meet expectations, it's enough to drive someone insane.

Sure enough, that someone is me, the Soviet sympathizer.

I'll blame it on my heritage, but after six seasons, The Americans swayed me toward the other side.

It would have been difficult to explain that Communism isn't my cup of tea to people who didn't understand the nuances of what was happening behind the Soviet curtain, though. That much is clear by watching the penultimate episode of The Americans.

Before getting further into that, let's take a minute to realize there is only one more time to hear the theme music with new content to follow. There is only one more time you can sit eagerly on the edge of your couch waiting for the end note of what is the Jennings' lives to play out on television.

Related:...

If only Elizabeth had a little more patience with her husband, maybe Marilyn would still be alive.

Philip was sick of playing games of any kind by the time The Americans Season 6 Episode 8 rolled around, and whatever he did got Elizabeth's attention.

After multiple attempts to share something with Elizabeth and getting shot down, Philip told her the truth about his recent activities. It didn't go over well, but a switch was flipped in Elizabeth's mind. Finally.

It's conversations like the ones between Philip and Elizabeth during this episode that will really be missed once The Americans leaves the air.

Not only are they written with a lot of depth, we're treated to emotions at an exceptional level from Matthew Rhys and his wife Keri Russel. They have a symbiotic understanding on screen that is is very rare.

Related: The Americans Season 6 Episode 7 Review: Harvest

We saw how many times...

Need to catch up? Check out our previous The Americans recap here.

The Americans celebrated an unseasonably chilly Thanksgiving this week… but did we witness a thaw in Philip and Elizabeth’s cold war?

Things start out very ugly when Philip confronts Elizabeth about killing Gennadi and Sofia in front of Ilya — she insists she didn’t see the kid at first — and tells her he’s not taking Kimmy to Bulgaria. She doesn’t pull any punches, cruelly accusing him of just wanting to have sex with Kimmy: “You weren’t getting enough action here.” But he gets the...

Inspired by a real life robbery, this yarn about a pair of gormless students stealing priceless ancient artefacts is an entertaining and highly watchable thriller

A deeply preposterous event from modern Mexican history has been turned into a watchable and good-natured dramedy-thriller from director Alonzo Ruizpalacios, who made a terrific new wave-style feature debut in 2014 with his freewheeling movie Güeros. Museum stars Gael Garcia Bernal as a feckless but mercurial student of veterinary medicine; Alfredo Castro is his disapproving father and Simon Russell Beale plays a cynical dealer in ancient artefacts.

In 1985, all of Mexico was horrified when thieves were reported to have broken into the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City and stolen 140 priceless Mayan and Aztec objects; the news media solemnly reported that the heist was surely the work of a sophisticated international gang. Their patriotic outrage turned to embarrassment when the crime was found to be the work of two students,...

“You’ve seen too many movies.” It’s a line that’s almost as old as the movies themselves. And yet, in reality, very few people have actually seen too many movies (and most of those people are film critics). More often, the trouble is that someone hasn’t seen enough movies. Case in point: Bart Layton’s “American Animals.”

Had the film-loving twentysomethings at the heart of this real-life heist story bothered to watch the “Rififi” DVD they rent from their local Blockbuster, perhaps they would have known how these stories usually end (though a deep knowledge of “Reservoir Dogs” doesn’t seem to faze them). Had any of them taken the time to revisit “Fight Club” (because there’s no way these kids haven’t seen “Fight Club”), perhaps they wouldn’t have needed to throw their lives away in order to make peace with the notion that...

Stars: Jean Reno, Qi Shu, Andy Lau, Tony Yang, Jingchu Zhang, Eric Tsang, Karel Dobry, Gen Seto, David Bowles, Yi Sha, Tianyi You | Written by Chi Kwong Cheung, Stephen Fung, Steve Ha, Andy Lo | Directed by Stephen Fung

Infamous and charismatic thief Cheung Tan (Andy Lau) has recently been released from prison. Cheung immediately plots a heist with his former partner in crime, Po (Tony Yang), and beautiful chameleon Red (Qi Shu), in order to pull off the heist of a lifetime – and steal precious jewels in Europe. Meanwhile, French detective Pierre (Jean Reno) has been hot on Cheung’s trails for many years. This time, he decides to capture Cheung and his gang of thieves for good… which means Cheung and co. will have to take their game to the next level.

Who doesn’t love a good heist movie? When the genre is done right you get fantastic and intriguing films like Flypaper,...

Lovers of hot-blooded French noir will love this 1958 B&W drama, which swaps violence for a dangerous sexual relationship between a cop and drug addict suspected of a murder. If this is a ‘lazy’ star vehicle for French superstar Jean Gabin, please bring us more — in his paunchy ‘fifties Monsieur Gabin takes on a beauty half his age, and convinces us that he can keep her.

Le désordre et la nuit

All-Region Blu-ray

Pathé (Fr)

1958 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 93 min. / Street Date April 1 2017, 2017 /

available through Amazon.fr / Eur 14,99

Starring: Jean Gabin, Danielle Darrieux, Nadja Tiller, Paul Frankeur,

Hazel Scott, Robert Berri, François Chaumette, Louis Ducreux, Jacky Bamboo and his combo,

Harald Wolff, Roger Hanin.

Cinematography: Louis Page

Film Editor: Jacqueline Sadoul

Original Music: Jean Yatove

Written by Michel Audiard, Gilles Grangier, Jacques Robert from his novel

Produced by Lucien Viard

Directed by Gilles Grangier

Sometime in the 1990s Sherman Torgan...

The Sicilian Clan

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1969 / Color B&W / 2:35 widescreen / 122 min. (French, without exit music); 118 min (American) / Le clan des Siciliens / Street Date February 7, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring Jean Gabin, Alain Delon, Lino Ventura, Irina Demick, Amedeo Nazzari, Danielle Volle, Philippe Baronnet, Karen Blanguernon, Elisa Cegani, Yves Lefebvre, Leopoldo Trieste, Sydney Chaplin.

Cinematography: Henri Decaë

Production design: Jacques Saulnier

Original Music: Ennio Morricone

Written by: Henri Verneuil, José Giovanni, Pierre Pelegri from a novel by Auguste Le Breton

Produced by: Jacques-e. Strauss

Directed by Henri Verneuil

American crime fanatics wary of European imports now have access to a fully Region-a disc of a big-star, big budget French-Italian-American gangster film from 1969, Henri Verneuil’s exciting The Sicilian Clan. It was filmed in two separate versions, a multi-lingual European original and a less exciting, English language cut for America. A huge hit overseas, The Sicilian Clan didn’t...

The Eighth Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — co-produced by Cinema St. Louis and the Webster University Film Series — celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. The featured films span the decades from the 1920s through the early 1990s, offering a comprehensive overview of French cinema.

The fest is annually highlighted by significant restorations, and we’re especially pleased to present Jacques Rivette’s long-unavailable epic Out 1: Spectre Additional restoration highlights include Jean-Luc Godard’s A Married Woman and Max Ophüls’ too-little-seen From Mayerling To Sarajevo. Both Ophüls’ film and Louis Malle’s Elevator To The Gallows – with a jazz score by St. Louis-area native Miles Davis — screen from 35mm prints. All films will screen at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (47- E. Lockwood)

Music fans will further delight in the Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra’s accompaniment and original score for Carl Th. Dreyer’s...

Close-Up is a column that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. The Law is playing on Mubi in the Us through January 21, 2016.For those who like nice touches, keep your eye on the bird. In Jules Dassin's The Law (1959), it's the first character we meet, where, in a town square under the hot Mediterranean sun, a group of men are watching a pigeon. The men are out of work and squarely at the bottom of the socioeconomic totem pole. The pigeon is an idiot, one man says—why would anything that could fly choose to stay here? Because sometimes people throw it crumbs, a man answers. And if you had any doubts what this all symbolizes, another of the men hastily adds: just like us. This is a film very much about hierarchy, and the forces or illusions that keep everyone in their place. The air is soon...

'Trumbo' movie: Bryan Cranston as screenwriter Dalton Trumbo and Helen Mirren as gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. 'Trumbo' movie review: Highly entertaining 'history lesson' Full disclosure: on the wall in my study hangs a poster – the iconic photograph of blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, with black-horned rim glasses, handlebar mustache, a smoke dangling from the end of a dramatic cigarette holder. He's sitting – stark naked – in a tub surrounded by his particular writing apparatus. He's looking directly into the camera of the photographer, his daughter Mitzi. Dalton Trumbo's son, Christopher Trumbo, gave me the poster after my interview with him for the release of Peter Askin's 2007 documentary also titled Trumbo. That film combines archival footage, including family movies and photographs, with performances of the senior Trumbo's letters to his family during their many years of turmoil before and through the blacklist, including his time in prison. The letters are read by,...

Two series highlighting too-often overlooked actors, Robert Ryan and Gloria Grahame, open tomorrow in New York. More goings on: "The best of all heist movies" (the Voice's Alan Scherstuhl), Jules Dassin's Rififi (1955) returns to Film Forum. An exhibition devoted to the friendship between Walt Disney and Salvador Dalí is on view in San Francisco. Tsai Ming-liang's feature debut, Rebels of the Neon God, arrives in Nashville, along with Xavier Dolan's Tom at the Farm. And then there's the two-month-long retrospective in London: The Complete Films of John Waters (Every Goddam One of Them…). » - David Hudson...

Two series highlighting too-often overlooked actors, Robert Ryan and Gloria Grahame, open tomorrow in New York. More goings on: "The best of all heist movies" (the Voice's Alan Scherstuhl), Jules Dassin's Rififi (1955) returns to Film Forum. An exhibition devoted to the friendship between Walt Disney and Salvador Dalí is on view in San Francisco. Tsai Ming-liang's feature debut, Rebels of the Neon God, arrives in Nashville, along with Xavier Dolan's Tom at the Farm. And then there's the two-month-long retrospective in London: The Complete Films of John Waters (Every Goddam One of Them…). » - David Hudson...

Rialto Pictures will beloved French heist film Rififi by director Jules Dassin, for the first time on Dcp, at Los Angeles' Laemmle Royal, for one week beginning Friday, September 4.

Jules Dassin (1911 - 2008) began his filmmaking career in the early 1940s and is known for his hits Brute Force (1947), The Naked City (1948), and Thieves' Highway (1949). His career later took a hit when he was blacklisted for Communist activities during the McCarthy Era. Dassin's move to France helped revive his career and was the setting for the hit film Rififi that set his career in motion once again. After the film's successful French release, Dassin was awarded the directing prize at Cannes which allowed Rififi to be released in the U.S. where it enjoyed a successful art house run. Rififi is renowned for being one of the early 'heist' films and served as an inspiration for later films in the genre.

Right out of the gate I should say that Cemetery Without Crosses is notable for a number of reasons. First off, it's one of the only, if only, French westerns from the 60s and it was directed by Rififi actor Robert Hossein who also starred in the film. Hossein, a huge fan of Italian westerns (who can blame him?), dedicated the film to his friend, Sergio Leone who also makes an appearance in the film and directed one of its better scenes. The film's opening theme is sung by legendary British crooner Scott Walker, so there's that, but I struggle to recommend this Euro western to anyone other than the most die [Continued ...]...

Filmed during the height of the Euro Western craze of the late 60’s, Robert Hossein’s Cemetery Without Crosses is an obscure gem rejuvenated by Arrow Video. A French production, the title was actor/director Hossein’s first Western, obviously influenced by Sergio Leone, whom the film is dedicated to (Leone was in the midst of production on Once Upon a Time in the West when Hossein was underway with his feature). A simplistic and familiar narrative is enhanced by its inspired set designs and notable production value, featuring a winning score. Existing on the bleak end of the Spaghetti Western spectrum (or perhaps more aptly the ‘Baguette Western,” an Alex Cox coined term Ginette Vincendeau discusses in an included insert essay), it’s an entertaining bit of style over substance, and is an uncommon French entry in otherwise familiar climate. However, as much as Hossein pays homage to Leone,...

One of the most diverting new flourishes introduced to the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival for its 50th incarnation this week, is a brand new sidebar in which six international directors were invited to present their favorite films not from their own oeuvres. Dubbed "Six Close Encounters" it gave us Mark Cousins presenting underseen Iranian jewel "A Moment of Innocence"; Michael Roskam ("Bullhead," "The Drop") presenting Jules Dassin's anointed classic "Rififi"; Kim Ki-Duk presenting Lee Chang-dong's immaculate "Poetry"; Sergei Loznitsa ("Maidan") presenting raw Russian epic "The Asthenic Syndrome"; and, in an oddly apropos choice, Sion Sono ("Tokyo Tribe") presenting "Babe." The first one, not the weird dark second one. Rounding out the line-up, however, was George Romero, who introduced Powell & Pressburger's "The Tales of Hoffmann" in its pristine new 4K...

One of Our 25 All-Time Favorite Heist Movies and ranked on our 10 Best Cannes Film Festival Openers Ever, Jules Dassin's "Rififi" should not be regarded as a dusty classic only to be admired from afar. Sixty years from its original release in 1955, it's a film to be experienced, particularly on the big screen, and the good news is that opportunity is coming soon to a theater near you. Read More: 30 Films You Forgot Were Oscar Winners Today, we're excited to announce that Rialto Pictures will be bringing the first ever digital restoration of "Rififi" to theaters this fall, and we have the exclusive trailer below. While the film's setup may be standard —a crew of thieves plot one last job— the execution is anything but. The film's centerpiece heist sequence, running a half-hour long and presented in nearly complete silence, is still one for the ages and has arguably never been topped.

Six selected directors include Michaël R. Roskam [pictured], Kim Ki-duk and Sion Sono.

Six international directors who share a history with the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (July 3-11) are to present one of their favourite films at the 50th edition of the festival in the Czech spa town.

The special section, titled Six Close Encounters, will include contributions from directors Mark Cousins, Kim Ki-duk, Sergei Loznitsa, Luis Miñarro, Michael R. Roskam and Sion Sono.

Each will select and personally present a favourite film that played a fundamental role in defining their own styles on filmmaking.

“It is extremely important to us that we maintain long-term relationships with filmmakers whose work we follow continuously, often from the beginning of their careers, which in many cases were launched at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival,” says Kviff artistic director Karel Och.

Mark Cousins: A Moment of Innocence (Nun va Goldoon, 1996), Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Kim Ki-duk:...

Sound on Sight undertook a massive project, compiling ranked lists of the most influential, unforgettable, and exciting action scenes in all of cinema. There were hundreds of nominees spread across ten different categories and a multi-week voting process from 11 of our writers. The results: 100 essential set pieces, sequences, and scenes from blockbusters to cult classics to arthouse obscurities.

Hollywood has had a long love affair with the heist sub-genre. Dating as far back as the silent film era with 1928’s Alias Jimmy Valentine, and transcending various genres like westerns (The War Wagon), war (Kelly’s Heroes) and even animation (Toy Story 3), the heist has tantalized our fantasies and outsmarted our wits for decades. Whether it’s for the very last time before retirement, gathering the gang back together for a big payday or for the thrill of pulling off the perfect robbery, all heist films share one key element: commitment to a plan.

Two of director Philippe de Broca’s earliest renowned titles get new restorations and are available for the first time on Blu-ray, That Man From Rio (1964) and Up to His Ears (1965), the first two titles from a loose James Bond spoof trilogy featuring Jean-Paul Belmondo. Certainly ahead of his time, de Broca’s amusing adventure films are much more than the kind of lowbrow entertainment that would come to typify the genre known as spoof, and this became a notable inspiration for Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones films, particularly 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Inspired by the adventures of Belgian cartoonist Herge’s Tintin adventures (which also provided the basis for a 2011 Steven Spielberg adaptation), a prized Amazonian statue is stolen from a Parisian museum. Three such statues left South American on an expedition that involved the late father of Agnes (Francoise Dorleac) and and two colleagues. Professor Catalan...

Qui aime les films français ?

If you do and you live in St. Louis, you’re in luck! The Seventh Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — co-presented by Cinema St. Louis and the Webster University Film Series begins March 13th. The Classic French Film Festival celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. The featured films span the decades from the 1930s through the early 1990s, offering a comprehensive overview of French cinema. The fest is annually highlighted by significant restorations.

This year features recent restorations of eight works, including an extended director’s cut of Patrice Chéreau’s historical epic Queen Margot a New York-set film noir (Two Men In Manhattan) by crime-film maestro Jean-Pierre Melville, who also co-stars; a short feature (“A Day in the Country”) by Jean Renoir, on a double bill with the 2006 restoration of his masterpiece, The Rules Of The Game, and the...

It's a Criterion Christmas! I'll be using Meeting The Criterion as a convenient way of reminding you of many of the Criterion Collection's great releases from the past year. Whether your Criterion Collection is organized by spine number, title or director, there's a good chance you'll see some releases that are bound to end up on your must remember to get list. Rififi (1955) got a Blu-ray upgrade and a stunning transfer here. Widely regarded as one of the greatest heist films ever made, it secured director Jules Dassin, also known for films like Night and The City (1950) and Thieves Highway (1949), a prominent place in film history. The story concerns a jewel thief recently released from prison and ready to go straight who instead...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

To mark the release of Brute Force on 15th September, we’ve been given 3 copies to give away on Blu-ray.

Before making the French crime classic Rififi, Jules Dassin was arguably the greatest of film noir directors, responsible for a string of gems including The Naked City, Thieves’ Highway and Night and the City. Brute Force kickstarted that run of pictures and never did a film live up to its name more. Burt Lancaster is Joe Collins, one of a number of convicts squeezed into cell R17 intent on staging a prison break. Not only does he need to return to the side of his cancer-ridden wife (Ann Blyth), he also wants to escape the clutches of sadistic warden Captain Munsey (an unforgettable performance from Hume Cronyn) who enjoys a reign of terror over the inmates.

Beautifully shot by the great William H. Daniels, tautly written by Richard Brooks (Blackboard Jungle,...

Night and the City

Written by Joe Eisinger

Directed by Jules Dassin

United Kingdom, 1950

In the heart of the London night Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark) runs wild in the streets and alleyways of this most famous of English cities. Harry, a con artist, owes someone a hefty sum and his only recourse is to plead his lover Mary Bristol (Gene Tierney) to lend him some pounds to call off the hounds. Such is the life the protagonist has led for some years now, much to Mary’s consternation and chagrin. What once was a happy companionship has turned more more strenuous. A get rich scheme here, another there but always the same result: Harry gets nowhere fast. His latest attempt to make it big arrives in form of an aging wrestler, Gregorius the Great (Stanislaus Zbyszko) whom he encounters by happenstance at a wrestling event a few nights later. The...