Tag Archives: iTunes Review

The whole crew on the bridge. Moscow Cassiopea (1974)

“Moscow: Cassiopea” (1974) and “Teens in the Universe” (1975)

Moscow: Cassiopea (Москва́ — Кассиопе́я) and Teens in the Universe (О́троки во Вселе́нной) are a duology of mid-1970s Soviet science-fiction comedy films, directed by Richard Viktorov (Ричард Викторов), and written by Isai Kuzentsov (Исай Кузнецов) and Avernir Zak (Авенир Григорьевич Зак). Originally intended to be a single film, a glut of footage enabled producers to split it into two eighty minute features.

The films are enduringly popular in the former Soviet Union, and were unavailable in any digital format until a 2007 DVD release, in 2016 both films were added to iTunes in high-definition, so I thought I’d take a look.

Continue reading

Dead Reckoning 1947 - title

Dead Reckoning (1947) iTunes HD Review

Bogart has a 007 moment at the Casino in Dead Reckoning

Bogart has a 007 moment at the Casino in Dead Reckoning

Dead Reckoning is a brutal, bitter, 1947, post-war film-noir thriller starring Humphrey Bogart. The story is very much in the Mickey Spillane mold, and was crafted by no less than five writers, which results in the narrative arc being ‘like Morse code’. Given the resumes of some of those involved the picture is somehow less than the sum of it’s parts, still, it’s unavailable on Blu-ray so I thought I’d have look at the iTunes HD version.

Continue reading

Rascal, Disney 1969 - Title

Rascal (1969) Disney iTunes 1080p Review

Disney’s 1969 comedy-drama film, Rascal is an adaptation of Sterling North’s autobiographical memoir of the same name. Directed by Disney regular Norman Tokar and adapted by prolific TV writer Harold Swanton, Bill Mumy stars in this boy meets-cute Racoon tale, set in 1918 Wisconsin. Since the DVD version is somewhat aspect ratio deficient, and Rascal is not on blu-ray yet, I thought I’d take a quick look at the iTunes 1080p HD version – to see if it’s worth your time.

Continue reading