I'm worried -- ever since Richard Roberts' rather harsh comments on what I felt were quite useful and unique reviews, Michael B. hasn't added any new reviews. It may also be that he's just encountered The Big One, and perhaps reviewing A Trip to the Moon is taking some time -- but I liked them, and...

it just struck me a little silly that one would write painstaking and lengthy analysis of films running a minute and a half. Yes, but I don't think the pieces are that "painstaking and lengthy". Remove the italicised description at the start and the technical info at the end (both of which are prim...

I know if I had the chance to do the commentary track over again for Nosferatu, I would have done it differently--not so dry, a little less academic sauce, and little more of the fun stuff, like Grau's connection to the OTO cult. But you just get one crack at this, unless you are Maltin or Ebert. A...

Actually, Richard, if you can rein in your bile for a second and step back to look at the bigger picture, I suspect you'd find we have much more in common than otherwise - and I also get the distinct impression that you're using my blog as a convenient scapegoat for a much more deep-seated loathing ...

I'm glad you found it useful, and I've had more than enough similar reactions ( this Bioscope post being one of the higher-profile public ones) to guarantee that it'll keep going until I run out of material. Talking of which, I unreservedly recommend Jacques Malthête and Laurent Mannoni's L'œuvre de...

Just a bad review, nothing personal. Reviewers should get a taste of their own medicine once in awhile. Oh, we do - which is why the letters page of Sight & Sound is generally the first thing I turn to whenever the new issue arrives. Admittedly, this is more out of force of habit than genuine paran...

What a remarkably unpleasant post.

And gratuitously unpleasant at that, since I don't know you from Adam, and no-one's forcing you to read my blog.

Normally I would consider a long description of the plot unnecessary, but in the case of Méliès, many of his films have no narrative and they are mostly one trick effect after another. You can always skip over the description if you want. ...and the descriptions are italicised for precisely that re...

Surprising? No, thats not the word I was thinking of, but considering that you describe everything that happens in those films, along with detailing every blemish and scratch on the source material (as if surprised that hundred-plus year old films should have any), well, not much point in cueing th...

Richard M Roberts wrote:You know, some of these reviews take longer to read than it does to actually watch the films.

I'd substitute "most" for "some" - but since many of the films run less than a minute, is that especially surprising?

Thank, Michael. That's what I thought. Deep Discount has if for$66.42 but they are out of stock. The films are complete. But how about the quality? Are they cropped appropriately? Any narration that can't be turned off? The quality is generally excellent - or rather, as good as it's likely to get w...

The definitive collection at present is Flicker Alley's Georges Méliès: First Wizard of Cinema (1896-1913) , though with five discs and 173 titles it's also comfortably the most expensive. Obviously, you won't avoid duplicating what you already have, but you'll also end up with the vast majority of ...

The titles listed may not excite silent and early talkie fans, but even so, Criterion has pushed back the title of "oldest movie on Blu-Ray" by several years. (Previously, the oldest title out was probably The Searchers; The Third Man will replace it.) Not any more - David Lean's Great Expectations...

It's not available online, but the current Sight & Sound (August 2008 coverdate) has a full-page feature on A Cottage on Dartmoor . It was commissioned as a review of the new BFI DVD, but just before the deadline I was shown a copy of Fången 53 , the alternative Swedish cut of the film (it's a UK-Sw...

I hope you won't mind me posting an update, because last night I simultaneously reached the end of the first disc and 1901.

New posts continue to appear daily, and A Trip to the Moon should be published early next week.