Testament of Orpheus (1960) In the final film installment of Jean Cocteau’s Orphic trilogy, he encounters characters from his previous films and appears before a tribunal to defend his life and art. Though not as well-known as later French filmmakers, Jean Luc Godard or Francois Truffaut, Cocteau’s films introduced avant-garde sensibilities and philosophical underpinnings into cinemas.… Continue reading Best of the 1960s
Best of the 2000s
The Gleaners and I (2000) Agnes Varda’s beautiful film follows gleaners at work, from people who depend on the practice for survival to hobbyists. She exposes how connected we are and shines a light on our coldness to the needs of others as she pointedly interviews jurists about the seemingly arbitrary French laws which prohibit some forms of… Continue reading Best of the 2000s
The player always dials for help in Phenix City
The Phenix City Story (1955) After his election as Attorney General of Alabama in 1954, Albert Patterson was assassinated by forces resisting his efforts to clean up organized crime in Phenix City. Fortunately, his death compelled state action in the corrupt town. The beginning of this film, featuring reporter Clete Roberts interviewing residents of the city, straddles the line between… Continue reading The player always dials for help in Phenix City
The piercing carols
A Christmas Carol (2009) The ghost of Jacob Marley (Gary Oldman) visits his former partner,the rich but miserable, Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carey) to warn him he needs to change his selfish ways. On Christmas Eve, three ghosts (all played by Carey) show Scrooge visions of Christmases Past, Present, and Future and by the end of… Continue reading The piercing carols
Don’t mind the tall, dark stranger
Megamind (2010) As their home planet died, Megamind (Will Ferrell) and Metro Man (Brad Pitt) were sent to Earth, where the two outsiders embarked on opposite paths. Metro Man became a beloved super hero, while Megamind chose a life of villainy. After discovering Metro Man’s weakness, Megamind sets a trap and destroys his nemesis, but… Continue reading Don’t mind the tall, dark stranger
500 mummies
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) As he nears death, Qin Shi Huang (Jet Li), the first emperor of China, sends his lackey, General Ming, to find a mysterious sorceress, Zi Yuan, who’s allegedly discovered the secret of immortality. After he discovers a budding romance between Ming and Yuan, a jealous Huang executes Ming, and,… Continue reading 500 mummies
I silently killed the last guardians of the last seductive galaxy
Kill Your Darlings (2013) Naive freshman Allen Ginsberg (Daniel Radcliffe) enrolls at Columbia University where he meets Lucien Carr (Dane DeHaan), Jack Kerouac (Jack Huston), William S. Burroughs (Ben Foster) and Edie Parker (Elizabeth Olsen). Carr bribes an older man, David Kammerer (Michael C. Hall) to write his papers by promising sexual favors, but when he grows bored with… Continue reading I silently killed the last guardians of the last seductive galaxy
Kinsey spied on the sexy lives of gremlins
Kinsey (2004) After unassuming biology professor Alfred Kinsey (Liam Neeson) falls in love and marries his student, Clara McCmillen (Laura Linney), he discovers an insatiable appetite for sex. When the surprising results of a classroom survey in his sex education class demonstrate how little research has been done in the field, Kinsey dedicates his life to the… Continue reading Kinsey spied on the sexy lives of gremlins
The shadow man fell to Earth
Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows (2007) Tasked with producing profitable low-budget films for RKO studios in the early 1940s, Val Lewton delivered such well-regarded films as Cat People (1942), I Walked with a Zombie (1943), The Seventh Victim (1943), and The Curse of the Cat People (1944). Relying on innuendo and intimation, his… Continue reading The shadow man fell to Earth
Starsky & Hercules
Hercules (1997) Jealous Hades (James Woods) plots to overthrow his brother Zeus (Rip Torn) and rule Mount Olympus by killing Hercules (Tate Donovan), Zeus’s infant son. He sends his minions, Pain and Panic, to give the child a formula designed to make him mortal, but they fail to give him all of it. Deprived of immortality, but maintaining… Continue reading Starsky & Hercules