Editorial Product Review: :Elaine May wrote, directed, and starred in this acidic comedy about a wealthy playboy (Walter Matthau) who discovers that he has nearly spent all of his fortune. Casting about for a solution to his money problems that won't actually involve work, he finds a desperate solution: He'll marry an heiress (May) for her fortune. The hitch: She's a social maladept ('The woman is feral,' Matthau growls). Indeed, Matthau finds marriage so intolerable that he decides there's only one course ...
Editorial Product Review: essential video:Like the Greenwich Village courtyard view from its titular portal, Alfred Hitchcock's classic Rear Window is both confined and multileveled: both its story and visual perspective are dictated by its protagonist's imprisonment in his apartment, convalescing in a wheelchair, from which both he and the audience observe the lives of his neighbors. Cheerful voyeurism, as well as the behavior glimpsed among the various tenants, affords a droll comic atmosphere that gradually darkens when he sees clues to ...
Editorial Product Review: essential video:Although it wasn't a box-office success when originally released in 1958, Vertigo has since taken its deserved place as Alfred Hitchcock's greatest, most spellbinding, most deeply personal achievement. In fact, it consistently ranks among the top 10 movies ever made in the once-a-decade Sight & Sound international critics poll, placing at number 4 in the most recent survey. (Universal Pictures' spectacularly gorgeous 1996 restoration and rerelease of this 1958 Paramount production was a tremendous success with the ...
Editorial Product Review: essential video:Otto Preminger turned this 1959 courtroom drama, based on the popular novel, into terrific adult drama. James Stewart stars as a small-town lawyer who defends an army officer (Ben Gazzara) accused of murdering a bartender who assaulted his wife (Lee Remick). The taut script, large performance by Stewart, and then-daring elements of the story (words like 'panties' are spoken in the context of discussing a sex crime) give the action a certain immediacy--which you don't find very ...
Editorial Product Review: :A little-known gem, No Highway in the Sky is an interesting hybrid of U.S. and British film production. Most of the cast is British, as are the look and feel of the film, but the lead actor and the budget are both American. James Stewart plays aeronautical engineer Theodore Honey, the quintessential absent-minded professor: eccentric, forgetful, but brilliant. His studies show that the aircraft being manufactured by his employer has a subtle but deadly design flaw that manifests itself ...
Editorial Product Review: :The first feature film to be photographed and projected in the panoramic three-camera Cinerama process, this epic Western is almost as expansive as the West itself, chronicling a pioneering family's triumphs and tragedies in numerous episodes spanning three generations and a half century of westward movement. Divided into five segments directed by veteran Hollywood filmmakers Henry Hathaway, George Marshall, and the legendary John Ford (and including uncredited sequences directed by Richard Thorpe), the film was one of the most ...
Editorial Product Review: :The first feature film to be photographed and projected in the panoramic three-camera Cinerama process, this epic Western is almost as expansive as the West itself, chronicling a pioneering family's triumphs and tragedies in numerous episodes spanning three generations and a half century of westward movement. Divided into five segments directed by veteran Hollywood filmmakers Henry Hathaway, George Marshall, and the legendary John Ford (and including uncredited sequences directed by Richard Thorpe), the film was one of the most ...
Editorial Product Review: :Demonstrations of classic military tactical procedures and excellent footage of vintage aircraft (like the rare B-36), combine here to give viewers a cold war primer on the Air Force's defense capabilities, circa 1955. Former World War II pilot James Stewart is called out of retirement to assist in the strengthening of the Strategic Air Command, the new bomber forces that are America's first line of defense against the Russian nuclear threat. Wife June Allyson sits at home and frets ...
Editorial Product Review: :Demonstrations of classic military tactical procedures and excellent footage of vintage aircraft (like the rare B-36), combine here to give viewers a cold war primer on the Air Force's defense capabilities, circa 1955. Former World War II pilot James Stewart is called out of retirement to assist in the strengthening of the Strategic Air Command, the new bomber forces that are America's first line of defense against the Russian nuclear threat. Wife June Allyson sits at home and frets ...
On paper, the Mio DigiWalker P550 looks to be an attractive gadget for the mobile professional, combining the capabilities of a PDA and GPS into one device. However, its poor battery life and subpar navigation skills tell a different story.
Though it won't appeal to the masses quite yet, the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet is a nice, portable device for on-the-go Web browsing, and it has some worthy upgrades.
Though it's expensive, the Sony VAIO VGN-TX670P delivers a great combination of business and entertainment features, long battery life, and unparalleled connectivity in an incredibly ultraportable package.