Charade

MIDDLETON, IDAHO – On the day of the 88th Academy Awards, Hollywood lost a venerable character actor and Oscar winner, George Kennedy. Kennedy won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar at the 40th Academy Awards for his role in “Cool Hand Luke.” He passed away at a care facility in Idaho, age 91.

CHICAGO – Did Universal know that Meryl Streep was going to win her third Oscar for “The Iron Lady”? Someone should investigate because two of her most acclaimed performances hit Blu-ray this week as a part of Universal’s 100th Anniversary Collector’s Series — “Out of Africa” and “The Deer Hunter.” With a combined twelve Oscars among the two, these are two of the most powerful films in the Universal library and great choices for the Collector’s Series upgrade. Meanwhile, Universal continues to supply this catalog, released “Charade,” “My Man Godfrey,” and “Sullivan’s Travels” under the same banner on DVD-only.

CHICAGO – When “The Tourist,” recently released on Blu-ray and DVD, was released theatrically, it was dealt a pretty brutal blow by critics and most assumed it would be relatively forgotten before long, but the Hollywood Foreign Press Association gave the film its true place in history when they nominated it for three awards, including Best Picture, Actor, and Actress after a particularly suspicious amount of lobbying by Sony.

CHICAGO – Stanley Donen’s 1963 caper “Charade” is one of the films I think of first when it comes to classic Hollywood. It features two of the most iconic stars of all time in Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn and perfectly captures what made them household names around the world. The movie has truly held up over the nearly five decades since its release and is now the latest inductee into the Blu-ray catalog of The Criterion Collection.