Shelley Duvall

CHICAGO – One of the most remarkable things about Robert Altman was his refusal to give in to the pressures of pleasing an audience. He made films for himself. There may be no better example of this than “3 Women,” a film that defies too much examination in part because it’s purposefully vague as it was based on a dream of Mr. Altman’s. He had a dream, woke up, and turned it into a treatment, from which they shot the movie. It’s surreal, bizarre, and totally mesmerizing, and is one of the newest Criterion Blu-rays.

CHICAGO – Robert Altman made very few films that didn’t have at least a few redeeming qualities and often much more than that faint praise. Even Altman’s relative failures were often fascinating in their own way. Such a film is 1970’s “Brewster McCloud,” a work nowhere near as beloved as some of his ’70s comedies but that definitely warrants a look on its newly remastered DVD, available exclusively through the WB Shop online.