The following article was written by my friend and colleague Alonso Duralde. You can learn more about him HERE. WHAT’S NEW ON DVD/BLU/4K IN MARCH: BABYGIRL, WOMEN WHO RUN HOLLYWOOD, FILIPINO HORROR, AND MORE! NEW RELEASE WALL Babygirl (A24): Overlooked by the Oscars, but nonetheless one of 2024’s most memorable and provocative films, this sophomore feature from writer-director Halina Reijn (Bodies Bodies Bodies) stars Nicole Kidman as a forceful CEO and seemingly happy wife and mother who discovers she has a yearning for sexual submissiveness when she crosses paths with a new intern played by Harris Dickinson. Kidman is fearless and frank as she plunges into the character’s contradictions, and the film never judges her for intimate journey of discovery. Also available: Antiviral (Severin): A 4K…

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The following article was written by my friend and colleague Alonso Duralde. You can learn more about him HERE. WHAT’S NEW ON DVD/BLU-RAY/4K IN FEBRUARY: WICKED, IN THE SUMMERS, YOU’RE NEXT, OSCAR MICHEAUX, AND MORE! NEW RELEASE WALL Wicked (Universal): So we’re about a year away from a lavish box set featuring both halves of this bifurcated musical, but if you’re a superfan, you might as well dig into this first release, which offers a “sing-along” version of Wicked Witch of the West’s origin story, along with deleted and extended scenes as well as two separate commentary tracks – one from director Jon M. Chu, the other from co-stars (and Oscar nominees) Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. If you were a fan of this stage-to-film adaptation,…

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I just watched CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD for the second time, as producer Kevin Feige and director Julius Onah came to my class at USC for a q&a following the screening… and you know what? I enjoyed it much more this go around.  Somehow, knowing how all the pieces fit and who was responsible for what drew me in rather than putting me off. The first time around I felt as if I had started watching a serial with Chapter 2, robbing me of important exposition. The not-so-secret weapon this CAPTAIN AMERICA has going for it is Harrison Ford as President of the United States. We’re told that as a military commander he was cold and ruthless. That’s what caused a rift between him…

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With a change in format and a new platform, The Movie Guide is back: it’s a podcast that I co-host with a savvy Australian “journo” named Guy Davis. Every week Guy and I compare notes on a favorite film of the 1970s, 80s, or 90s for a half-hour of lively chatter. I first got in to podcasting in 2015 with our show Maltin On Movies. My daughter Jessie joined me several years in and we love having a platform that allows us to do interviews and chat about films we want to share. Late last year Brendan Dando, an Aussie podcast producer with a solid show-business background, reached out and his energetic pitch got me on board. Once Guy and I started talking about The Godfather there was just…

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I am taking a deep breath as I write this, and apologize for the tardiness of this report. Award shows and ceremonies took a backseat to the terrifying wildfires that raged all over Southern California, which meant that many of these fetes had to be  postponed and rescheduled. Finding new dates that were amenable to all concerned was no easy task. It also meant that the new calendar was jam-packed.  The best part of having these events a safe distance from the dangerous days we all lived through was being able to thank our brave firefighters and first responders in person. Almost every event invited members of these organizations so all of us could express our appreciation, while showing them a good time, Hollywood-style. Seeing…

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The following article was written by my friend and colleague Alonso Duralde. You can learn more about him HERE. WHAT’S NEW ON DVD/BLU/4K IN JANUARY: THE SUBSTANCE, HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS, NO HOME MOVIE, INCUBUS, AND MORE! NEW RELEASE WALL The Substance (Mubi): One of the most talked-about films of 2024, Coralie Fargeat’s sophomore feature (following the blistering feminist action saga Revenge) brilliantly mixes together show-biz satire, body horror, and female-gaze drama before blowing the whole thing up in a gloriously Grand Guignol finale. Demi Moore stars as a TV fitness star who’s being aged out of the biz; when she turns to a mysterious drug known as The Substance, it unleashes her younger self (played by Margaret Qualley), but when the Substance rules aren’t followed, all…

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GIANT LOVE by Julie Gilbert (Pantheon) One doesn’t read most film books to savor the prose. This one stands out from the crowd because Gilbert is an exceptionally good writer. She is the great-niece of Edna Ferber, the subject of the book, and knew her well. I fell in love with Giant Love and devoured it over several days’ time. The first portion of the text is a summary of Ferber’s long and productive life as an author and playwright. After experiencing anti-Semitism as a girl growing up in the Midwest she incorporated elements of intolerance into almost everything she wrote—think of the drop of Negro blood at the climax of Show Boat, and the treatment of Mexicans in Giant. The second part of the book details Ferber’s immersion in…

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