In 1939, Lou Gehrig’s streak of 2130 consecutive games played ended; The University of Oregon won the first NCAA college basketball tournament; Francisco Franco came to power in Spain; Billie Holliday recorded “Strange Fruit;” Batman debuted in Detective Comics #27; Teddy Roosevelt’s head on Mount Rushmore was dedicated; Germany invaded Poland; President Franklin Roosevelt laid… Continue reading Seven years before the first NBA game: A look back at 1939
Tag: Judy Garland
Best of the 1930s
The Blood of a Poet (1930) The first part of Jean Cocteau’s Orphic trilogy is a surrealist fever dream. An artist paints a mouth which starts talking, then transfers to his hand, then to a nearby statue. This statue convinces the artist to pass through a mirror to a bizarre world inhabited by opium smokers… Continue reading Best of the 1930s
Best of the 1960s
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
This summer: The next Karate Kid in the battle of the year!
The Next Karate Kid (1994) If the Karate Kid, Part III was an unnecessary coda, this film is an even more egregious sin: a reboot no one asked for. Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) travels to Boston and finds himself once again mentoring a troubled youth: the granddaughter of one of his old war buddies, Julie… Continue reading This summer: The next Karate Kid in the battle of the year!