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One of the oldies celebrated by lovers of ’80s fare, Martha Coolidge’s ode to pampered teens in La La Land has aged extremely well. It’s still fairly representative of reality, but the romantic fairy tale angle is what keeps it afloat. Nicolas Cage’s unguarded vulnerability and Deborah Foreman’s infectious smile win the day — we like these kids, even if they’re somewhat idealized.

Valley Girl

Blu-ray

Shout Select

1983 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 99 min. / Street Date October 30, 2018 / 34.93

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Deborah Foreman, Elizabeth Daily, Michael Bowen, Cameron Dye, Heidi Holicker, Michelle Meyrink, Tina Theberge, Lee Purcell, Richard Sanders, Colleen Camp, Frederic Forrest, David Ensor, The Plimsouls, Josie Cotton.

Cinematography: Frederick Elmes

Film Editor: Éva Gárdos

Original Music: Mark Levinthal, Scott Wilk

Produced and Written by Andrew Lane, Wayne Crawford

Directed by Martha Coolidge

Women directors of the 1980s didn’t have a smooth ride, as can be attested...

Some period films come across as homages to classics of the past, while others play perilously on the edge of imitation. “Budapest Noir” definitely falls in the latter category, channeling any number of noir films, including “Chinatown,” with the usual stock figures: hard-boiled investigative reporter, femme fatale, corrupt officials, sleazy underbelly, and an urban landscape used as if it’s one of the main characters. It’s a tried-and-true formula, but to make it work there needs to be more than an ounce of originality, which editor-turned-director Éva Gárdos (“An American Rhapsody”) has a hard time locating in either András Szekér’s script or her own direction. Instead, the movie feels like the pilot for a period detective series, which might not be far from the truth since Vilmos Kondor’s novel launched fictional newshound Zsigmond Gordon as a recurring character.

As a fairly anodyne mystery, the film can be...

By Alex DeleonRéka Tenki, a hot new presence on the Hungarian film scene in an authentic Hungarian film noir with a kosher twist.

At the 2017 Berlinale, Tenki was named one of Variety’s “10 Europeans to Watch” and was seen in Ildiko Enyedi’s acclaimed On Body and Soul (Golden Bear winner and Hungary’s entry as Best Foreign Language Film for the Oscars). See interview with Réka Tenki here.

Réka Tenki

Budapest Noir is a murder mystery set in the German influenced Budapest of 1936 with Antisemitism on the rise. Superbly directed, acted, and beautifully lensed by master cinematographer Elemér Ragály. This is by far the best Hungarian film of the year in what has been a very good year for Magyar cinema generally. In terms of genre the very first film of its kind from this country and an eye opener of the first order.

Zsigmond Gordon (Krisztián Kolovratnik) is...

Crime noir may not be the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of Hungarian cinema but director Eva Gardos is working to change that with the upcoming Budapest Noir and we've got the first two images - featuring actors Krisztian Kolovratnik and Reka Tenki - to show off the results. ‘Budapest Noir’ a period thriller is in production on location in the Hungarian capital and at Mafilm Studios, produced by Pioneer Pictures’ Ildiko Kemeny. Originally published in 2008, ‘Budapest Noir’, the novel proved popular with both public and critics, and became an instant bestseller, which sparked several sequels and has gone on to appear in numerous languages around the world. Set in the politically-troubled autumn of 1936, the story follows Zsigmond Gordon,...

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

Stars: Michael Madsen, Vinnie Jones, Jamelia, Tamer Hassan, Simon Szabó, Nikolett Barabas, Mark Phelan | Story by Csaba Pindroch & Zoltan Furedi | Screenplay by Ivo Marloh, Dénes Orosz, Róbert Koltai | Directed by Róbert Koltai, Éva Gárdos

I’m not sure which title is worse: Diamond Heist, the name of the film I was tasked with reviewing; or Magic Boys, the name given to the streamed movie I actually watched. One suggests a generic, bargain-basement action thriller involving tons of money and violence but no stakes whatsoever, while the other hints at a cheap Magic Mike knock-off. While it’s possible that both of those concepts could lead to entertaining movies, the final product is a wholly disappointing amalgamation of both.

A quick IMDb search reveals that the two titles belong to the same film, which rarely means anything good but makes sense as it’s obvious from the start that the makers...

Chicago – The Round-Up, HollywoodChicago.com’s famous recurring column about lesser Blu-Ray and DVD titles that may have slipped through your fingers at the store recently, is in clean-up mode this week. With a DVD collection for a famous young actress, an old cartoon, a straight-to-video horror movie, and three movies with the word “Mountain” in the title, the only word that comes to mind to tie these titles together is “random”.

You know those bins of “impulse buy” items you’ll see in stores near the cash register? Stuff that you may not have put on your shopping list and that you may not even know you want until you see them? That’s what this week’s Round-Up column is like. Peek in the bin and take a look at “Jonny Quest,” “The Scarlett Johansson Collection,” “Dead in 3 Days,” “Brokeback Mountain,” “Escape to Witch Mountain,” and “Return to...