DVDs, 12/25.

'Tis the season, so how about starting off this roundup with a list: "There were so many impressive DVDs that it was hard to whittle the releases of 2007 down to just the ten top discs. For that reason the review staff at DVDTalk decided to expand their list to the Top 20 DVDs of 2007." And topping that list is Ace in the Hole: "Billy Wilder's cynical, noirish tale of a big-city newspaper reporter (Kirk Douglas) manipulating the news for a small-town rag has been a sort of holy grail for film fans for decades now.... Snappy dialogue, excellent performances, and a compelling plot that was ahead of its time and still socially relevant today, the movie more than lives up to its mythical reputation."

Speaking of Wilder, Noir of the Week's running an excerpt from Ed Sikov's On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder.

On the surface, Eastern Promises... is one of [David] Cronenberg's most straightforward films: a gangster thriller about blood ties and Oedipal tensions, set in a damp, noirish London," writes Dennis Lim in the Los Angeles Times. "But in almost every aspect, from the sumptuous atmosphere to the nuanced characterization, the film is richer and stranger than its contours suggest."

"Last year at this time Walt Disney Studios announced that it would be discontinuing the limited-edition Walt Disney Treasures series, but thanks to a grass-roots write-in campaign, fans have been rewarded with a seventh group of three releases," writes Dave Kehr in the New York Times. And this one's "a good crop."

"The Wire is a show that builds up your heart, even as it's breaking it," writes Chris Barsanti at filmcritic.com.

DVD roundup: Peter Martin at Cinematical.

Posted by dwhudson at December 25, 2007 1:46 PM