The Criterion Collection, the last vestige of truly collectible DVD and Blu-Ray movies in existence. These are well produced, fancy pants editions of important and interesting films for the discerning film lover. We continue our journey through Jim's collection of movies with... Love Streams Spine Number: 721 Director: John Cassavetes Genre: Drama   During our time looking at The Criterion Collection there has only been one thing stranger than seeing "A Michael Bay Film" at the beginning of two of our movies. That is seeing the logo for Cannon films come up. That in and of itself is strange, but that it is at the beginning of a John Cassavetes movie... we are entering a new arena of surreal here. For those unfamiliar with Cannon, back in the 80's, 2 Israeli businessmen, Menahem Golan and Yoran Globus, made a bunch of really low budget action and exploitation movies. There were cheap, dirty, and decidedly low brow. So, how the hell did John Cassavetes, the father of independent movies, end up working with them? We have no idea, but the results are... interesting. The story follows Robert Harmon, played by Cassavetes, a writer trying to find something like love, mostly by paying for it, and his sister Sarah Lawson, played by Gina Rowlands (hands down the most bad ass lady on the planet), who is having a bit of a crisis after her marriage falls apart. The narrative is loose, and is more of a character study than anything else. It's a fascinating look at broken people who have no idea how to fix themsleves, much less help each other. This is classic Cassavetes. Lots of smoking, drinking with the kids, and brutal emotional exposure. Not for the faint of heart.   Next time... Spine number 753: The Thin Blue Line  Also, check this out. The Life Masters is now it's own show with its own site and own dedicated feed. That's right, we have two completely different shows!  Right now check it out at www.thelifemasters.podbean.com. You can also drink in our brilliance on Youtube for both The Film Thugs and The Life Masters. http://fantasymovieleague.com/ Looks like Summer Movie League has officially become Fantasy Movie League. It looks quite fun. Here's how it works. You have an 8 screen theater. Every week you pick movies and have a budget/salary cap you have to stay under. Then you compete against other theaters in your league. It's fantasy football for movie people. Our league is Film Thugs 2015 and the password is Porterhouse. And remember, you can be a part of the show any time you wild like. How's that? All you have to do is call or e-mail us. If you live in the US, or any place that makes calling the US easy, just dial 512-666-RANT and leave us a voicemail. We will read the Google Voice transcript and play your message. It's both funny AND informative. If you live outside the US you can call us on Skype at The_Film_Thugs. You can leave a message, or someone might actually answer. E-mail us at [email protected] and we will read/play whatever you se