The recently released Big Country Bluray is a wow, all right. It looks like real film, and offers delightful razor-sharp detail and colors that pop vividly but not inorganically, etc. I’m told that the restoration cost somewhere in the low six figures, and it certainly looks like big money was spent. I saw a very clean print of this 1958 William Wyler film projected at the Academy theatre with ample light three or four years ago, and yet somehow the Bluray is more of a thrill.

The reason for the extraordinary detail and image quality, as noted three days ago, is that Wyler and dp Franz F. Planer shot with the 8-perf Technirama process, which used a larger frame area than 35mm (but was slightly smaller than 65mm).

The large-format source makes this a major Bluray to have and to hold, and yet serious Bluray-covering sites like High-Def Digest, DVD Talk and DVD Beaver still haven’t posted reviews because (a) copies aren’t being handed out free by publicists, (b) they have to be purchased from Walmart online, and (c) reviewers are cheap. (Bluray.com has posted a review.)

YouTube has warned me that posting the above clip, which I took right off my 50″ Vizio, might be outside their legal parameters. And yet they allow whole sections of the film to be posted and seen. (The same clip can be viewed by clicking on this link and going to the six-minute mark.)

The above scene is basically about the scrappy old-school authority demanded by ranch owner Henry Terrill (Charles Bickford) and a kind of moral rebellion staged by his top hand, Steve Leach (Charlton Heston). The look of disgust and resignation that Heston gives Bickford when he realizes that his moral mutiny has failed is one of Heston’s best-ever acting moments.

I felt suitably adrenalized while watching Fred Cavaye‘s Point Blank (Magnolia, 7.29), and moderately pleased while thinking about it later. Set in Paris, it’s a violent chase film about a hospital worker and his pregnant wife hurled into a high-pressure, do-or-die, move-it-or-lose-it situation. Cops, thieves, criminals, corruption, fists, guns, etc.

You’ve seen aspects of this before but the pacing feels just right. It’s fast and furious but not overly pushed or accelerated to the point of audience fatigue or numbness. And the dynamic — an innocent man pools forces with a lone-wolf criminal as they try to escape the wrath of numerous high-level baddies — feels relatively fresh or at least unhackneyed.

The French-langugage title is A Bout Portant.

It’s a little nutty here and there, but the action is more realistic — guys actually escape from their pursuers every so often, or at least manage to catch a breath from time to time. And the cutting is more ’70s-style (similar to the action beats in William Friedkin‘s The French Connection) than standard-issue U.S. crime thrillers, which have become way too fast and hyper for the most part, and have been all but ruined by the influence of the hyper-manic pacing and the oppressive Paul Greengrass shakycam aesthetic.

I’m especially angry at the idiotic and stifling notion in American crime thrillers that bad-guy pursuers must always be somewhere between a quarter-step and a half-step behind the pursued, and that get-aways can only happen at the very last millisecond and never before. It’s insane. Cavaye pulls back from this a bit.

Point Blank could use a little more breathing space and a bit more interplay between the regular-guy protagonist (Gilles Lellouche, playing a hospital orderly with a kidnapped pregnant wife) and the freelance desperado (Roschdy Zem) whom he teams up with out of necessity and desperation. But other than that this is an above-average thriller. There’s not a lot of residue when it’s over but these kind of films rarely linger. They’re just wham-bammers.

I remember a National Lampoon article summarizing the first term of Robert F. Kennedy‘s presidency. The point was that Kennedy would have become a moderately cautious liberal and boilerplate cold warrior, and a far cry from the “change” candidate that RFK ran as. Like someone else I could mention. Promise and potential are eternally attractive, but nobody’s a miracle worker. Reality will always compromise the dream.

There’s obviously very little new material in this Cowboys & Aliens trailer. It’s the same old iconic-western-characters-and-situations-in-quotes crap with alien craft zooming overhead….so what? Is this movie (out 7.29) holding any face cards, or is at all genre-goof razmatzzz? How many times are we going to be shown the same shot of Olivia Wilde standing naked in front of a bonfire?

There can’t be too many who haven’t seen through Sarah Palin by now. She’s a conniving, under-educated opportunist, living in a walled-off realm and out for whatever money and power she can grab by playing the part of a right-wing Annie Oakley bigmouth (and sex symbol). It’s good to hear nonetheless that Nick Broomfield has been working on a presumably anti-Palin documentary, and that the negligible political effect of The Undefeated (which will open exclusively at several hinterland AMC theatres on 7.15) will be counterbalanced to some extent. The Broomfield doc was written about last night by L.A. Times Stephen Zeitchik.

Now that Super 8 is semi-officially “overperforming” with a reported $12 million earned Friday and a projected $35 million by Sunday night (i.e., $4 million more than what Boxoffice.com’s Phil Contrino predicted two days ago) and averaging roughly $10,358,000 at 3,379 locations, what are the reactions from those who saw it today?

Last Tuesday night HE Manhattan correspondent Dylan Wells caught Cindy Meehl‘s Buck (Sundance Selects, 6.17). “What stands out,” he reports, “is not the indisputable charm of Buck Brannaman or the harrowing story of his childhood. Nor the beautiful photography or even the numerous laughter and heart moments.

Buck Brannaman, Cindy Meehl and IFC Films’ Jonathan Sehring at last Tuesday night’s (6.7) screening.

“Rather it is the many universal truths that Buck discovered throughout his growth as a prodigal cowboy and horse trainer. Truths that he bestows generously and often in first-time-director Cindy Meehl’s impressive documentary. Truths that deserve a moment’s consideration whether or not you would stand on one foot for a horse.

“‘It never occurred to me to have disdain for a horse,’ Buck explains about an especially troubled stud who’s been brought to one of his clinics. During the film he also passes along some fundamental lessons.

“The behavior of a horse reflects more so upon the owner than the creature itself. Which is why if an owner expects any cooperation from a horse, he/she must first learn what the horse needs in return. You need to see yourself through the eyes of a creature that is first and foremost concerned with its own well-being. If you want the privilege of feeling secure around a conventionally wild animal, then you must do all that is in your power to make sure that animal is spared of any insecurity.

“Watching this feature was a zen-like experience for myself. Perhaps that’s just what I wanted to take from it, or needed to take from it. But based on the very warm reception that the film received from the audience, I don’t think I’m alone.

“Whether it is training a horse, raising a child, or even honing a discipline of your own such as writing, visual arts or engineering, the philosophy of Buck can and should be applied. Know your objective and respect the dangers of resentment, frustration, and impulsive behavior. Treat your goals with the same respect and caution that you would a wild horse, and you are far less likely to get kicked in the mouth.”

Here’s my South by Southwest review, posted on 3.16.11.

When a black-and-white film looks as tonally rich and laser-sharp as the Some Like It Hot Bluray, it becomes something more than just a transfer. It’s something else, a kind of realism-plus…in a sense more pronounced than color. It’s now at the top of my list of the finest black-and-white Blurays ever — even with (and perhaps even a notch better than) Psycho, Casablanca, Sweet Smell of Success and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

I realize that David Mamet‘s script for that Phil Spector HBO flick that Barry Levinson and Al Pacino have reportedly agreed to do is in a “very early” stage of development (or at least that N.Y. Times Brooks Barnes reported this eight months ago). But shouldn’t Deadline‘s Michael Fleming have at least mentioned the Spector project in passing while reporting about two other Levinson-Pacino collaborations, Gotti: Three Generations and an adaptation of Phillip Roth‘s The Humbling?

Our Idiot Brother sounds wrong because a family of any size never agrees on any particular view or opinion, especially negative ones. Derogatory putdowns are almost always expressed by individuals. One or two members of a family might think Paul Rudd‘s character is an idiot, but three or four others are sure to use another term. The Weinstein Co. should have stuck with My Idiot Brother, which is what it was called at Sundance 2011.

Our Idiot Brother sounds like the whole clan has dismissed Rudd as a tool, and that no one is on his side. That doesn’t sound as interesting as one or two family members having a problem with him and others trying to mitigate or standing by and observing, etc.

Alain Resnais‘ 1980 comedy wasn’t called Notre oncle en Amerique but Mon Oncle d’Amerique.