DVDs, 2/17.

By David Hudson on 02/17/2009

"While a more contemporary viewing of 'How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman' might be inclined to consider it alongside a more recent wave of Western films addressing the perspectives of Amerindian/native populations, much of [director Nelson Pereira] dos Santos's most-discussed film is referential within the context of its culture and time," writes Philip Cartelli. Also in Film International, Robert Murphy: "The films of Carl Theodor Dreyer are ideal for the DVD medium."

Plus, Kevyn Knox on "Glitterbox": "It is through this quartet of out-of-the-ordinary films, as well as a slew of historical interviews with not just Jarman himself but with all those who made up his cinematic family, that we can find what made up the most essential - and the most existential - of the filmmaker's peculiar and intimate oeuvre. It is where we can find what longtime muse Tilda Swinton calls (in one of her special feature interviews) the 'infectiously delightful' Derek Jarman."

Chris MaGee is looking forward to "Pigs, Pimps & Prostitutes: 3 Films by Shohei Imamura," a box set coming from Criterion on May 19.

"Film journalist Godfrey Cheshire's 'Moving Midway' (2007) has a deep ditch of historical soil to dig," writes Michael Atkinson here at IFC, "but it's not a personal-regional family doc that focuses on dysfunction or tragedy; rather, its position is ironic and aciduously nostalgic. Originally from North Carolina, Cheshire may well be the most universally liked personage in contemporary New York movie critic culture (notoriously a small pond with mean fish; disclosure-wise, he is a friend), and his film comes both bearing an enormous amount of good will and receiving the same. I can't untie the extra-cinematic humanity from the film's threads, and there's something about both Cheshire's peripatetic friendliness and the film's unforced congeniality that encourages me not to try." Also reviewed: Ryuhei Kitamura's "The Midnight Meat Train."

The subject of Glenn Kenny's "Tuesday Morning Foreign Region DVD Report" for the Auteurs' Notebook is week is "The Sorcerers," directed in 1967 by Michael Reeves, who would die two years later from an accidental overdose of medication: "The one-two punch of this film and ['The Witchfinder General'] make a strong case that his loss is still worth mourning."

Josef Braun on Douglas Trumbull's "Brainstorm": "It probably seemed too hokey in its time, but reading it with the benefit of hindsight, one of the ways in which it's aged surprisingly well is in its relationship with numerous movies spawned in its wake."

"David Lean may not be known primarily for his comedies, but the two he made - 1945's 'Blithe Spirit,' based on the Noël Coward play, and then 'Hobson's Choice' in 1954 - were exceptional, combining expertly timed broad humor with his always refined sense of Englishness," writes Armond White for Criterion's Current.

"With clarity and elegance, 'The Black List: Volume One' presents portraitures of nearly two dozen notable African Americans who share their own personal views on how they transcended racism and other hardships to become major successes in their chosen professions," writes Michael Tully at Hammer to Nail. "Taken together, these voices reflect the breadth and scope of the modern African American experience at its richest and most inspiring."

DVD roundups: Sean Axmaker, Guru, Ambrose Heron, Lou Lumenick (New York Post), Drew McWeeny (Hitfix), Noel Murray (Los Angeles Times), PopMatters and Slant.

Tags: Derek Jarman, Douglas Trumbull, DVDs, Godfrey Cheshire, How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman