RARE SILENT FILMS STREAMING ONLINE—FOR FREE
Imagine having a world-class film archive at your fingertips, free of charge. Back in 2000, The National Film Preservation Foundation marked a milestone by releasing a DVD set called Treasures from American Film Archives. It was honored by the…
Soundtrack Review: The Ten Commandments
By Greg Ehrbar As a movie, The Ten Commandments is as big as DeMille could have commanded it to be in 1957. What isn’t as well known is how big a break it was for Oscar-winning composer Elmer Bernstein.…
ALMODÓVAR’S ‘JULIETA’: A HAUNTING TALE
It’s not Pedro Almodóvar’s fault that he’s set his own bar so high. He first gained attention as the bad boy of Spanish cinema, then matured with superb, deeply-felt films like All About My Mother and Volver. Julieta may…
‘HIDDEN FIGURES’: HEROINES IN PLAIN SIGHT
There is nothing subtle about the racism and sexism that pervaded our society, especially in the South, during the 1950s and 1960s–so criticizing a movie about that period for being blatant in its treatment of the subject may be…
A MONSTER CALLS: A MUDDLED FABLE
Inspired by a dying mother whose story idea blossomed into an award-winning book, A Monster Calls is a serious fable about a young hero who, as the movie tells us, is “too old to be a child, too young…
THE BEST FILMS AND PERFORMANCES YOU MISSED IN 2016 Pt. 2
How do good movies manage to slip through the cracks? Sometimes a distributor hasn’t spent enough money on advertising and promotion. It may be that the reviews aren’t strong enough. And sometimes people just aren’t attracted to a particular…
THE BEST FILMS AND PERFORMANCES YOU MISSED IN 2016 Pt. 1
Most avid movie fans I know spend January seeing the year-end releases that are being talked up for awards. I propose an alternative: why not seek out good films and great performances that the award-givers have overlooked? Almost all…
