Tag Archives: Home Video

Year End 2012

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Kenneth George Godwin

A few days ago I spent the evening with four friends at our annual get-together to discuss what we had seen during the past year. Back when I was first invited to join the group years ago, there would often … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged BFI, Comedy, Criterion, Fantasy, Home Video, Ken Russell | Leave a comment

The rise of boutique DVDs: The Flipside

Posted on July 18, 2012 by Kenneth George Godwin

Even with the tens of thousands of movies released on DVD since the format debuted in the late ’90s, vast amounts of film history remain untouched. Of course, home video has always been a commercial enterprise, the preservation and dissemination … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged BFI, Blu-Ray, DVD, Exploitation, Flipside, Home Video | 1 Comment

Quality control

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Kenneth George Godwin

Rapidly developing video technologies are altering not just our expectations but also our responses to the experience of watching movies. Blu-ray, hi-def TVs, the digital technologies which are used more and more in production – all have helped to create … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Actors, British Film, British Television, Directors, Donald Pleasance, DVD, Home Video, John Baxter, Nigel Kneale, Peter Cushing, Review, Rudolph Cartier, Technology | 1 Comment

DVD diary: another eclectic week – part two

Posted on June 18, 2011 by Kenneth George Godwin

Christopher Smith is an English director whose first feature, Creep (2004), was an attempt to emulate Gary Sherman’s Raw Meat (aka Deathline, 1973) and Douglas Cheek’s C.H.U.D. (1984); it had a woman trapped overnight in the London Underground, pursued by … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged BFI, British Film, British Television, Christopher Smith, Donald Sutherland, DVD, French Film, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Home Video, James Hill, Michael Sarne, Review | Leave a comment

DVD diary: another eclectic week – part one

Posted on June 15, 2011 by Kenneth George Godwin

If anything, my viewing seems to be becoming more random these days. I mean to apply some order to what I watch – to view the new Silent Naruse set from Criterion Eclipse, or the Columbia Sam Fuller Collection from … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged British Television, Dario Argento, DVD, Exploitation, Federico Fellini, Fritz Lang, German film, Home Video, Italian Film, Japanese Horror, Jess Franco, Molly Dineen, Review | Leave a comment

The real pleasure of fake commentaries

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Kenneth George Godwin

Back in the dark days before DVD, when elitists spent large sums on laserdisks because the quality was so superior to the ubiquitous VHS tapes of home video, the commentary track was born. This was a terrific innovation, enhancing the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Comedy, DVD, Home Video, Peter Jackson, Werner Herzog | Leave a comment

Restoration and Revisionism

Posted on December 13, 2010 by Kenneth George Godwin

In their joint commentary track on the Masters of Cinema DVD/Blu-Ray release of the newly restored Metropolis, David Kalat and Jonathan Rosenbaum express some concern that this new version will cause the disappearance of all previous versions. Why should this … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Alex Proyas, Directors Cut, DVD, F.W. Murnau, Fritz Lang, George Lucas, Harry Kuemel, Home Video, James Cameron, Mario Bava, Remakes, Restored Films, Richard Kelly, Ridley Scott, Silent Film, Tim Lucas | Leave a comment

Video Nasties, Part 3

Posted on December 11, 2010 by Kenneth George Godwin

There is a long, if not necessarily venerable, tradition in the arts of creating confrontational, deliberately offensive work to challenge received ideas and to make people conscious of their own conventional assumptions. When work like this is created, it doesn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Banned Movies, Censorship, DVD, Film Criticism, Home Video, Meir Zarchi, Review, Roger Ebert, Ruggero Deodato, Slasher Movies, Violence | Leave a comment

DVD of the Week: Video Nasties, The Definitive Guide (2010)

Posted on December 6, 2010 by Kenneth George Godwin

Issues of censorship and freedom of speech are always more complicated than we’d like. It’s never just simply a clear cut question of “this” or “that”. The complete denial that certain elements of pop culture, for instance, can’t possibly do … Continue reading →

Posted in Review | Tagged Banned Movies, Censorship, Documentary, DVD, Film Criticism, Film History, Home Video, Violence | Leave a comment

DVD Addiction

Posted on November 12, 2010 by Kenneth George Godwin

I’m addicted to DVDs, and like many addicts I’m somewhat ambivalent about my substance of choice. Back in the day (and I am old enough to use that expression) I got a pleasure out of watching movies that I don’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Anthony Asquith, Buster Keaton, DVD, Fritz Lang, George Romero, Home Video, Marcel L'Herbier, Mario Bava, Silent Film, Thorold Dickinson | Leave a comment