While the California fires burn, the lady in number 6 saves our lives

  Let the Fire Burn (2013 film) Did you know city leaders in Philadelphia once bombed a residential apartment? How did we collectively forget one of the largest cities in the United States once decided to murder its own people? MOVE was a bizarre radical origination led by John Africa. Its members destroyed sidewalks in order to plant… Continue reading While the California fires burn, the lady in number 6 saves our lives

Dead women tell tales

  Volver (2006) Three years after Soledad’s parents died in a fire, she discovers the ghost of her mother Irene while visiting her aunt Paula. When Soledad returns home, Irene’s ghost moves in with her. Meanwhile, Soledad’s sister Raimunda (Penelope Cruz) comes home to find her daughter Paula has killed her father during an attempted rape.… Continue reading Dead women tell tales

How the Austrian tried to get her groove back

  Paradise: Love (2012) Teresa, a bored fifty year old Austrian housewife goes on a vacation to Kenya where she pays numerous young African men to have sex with her. Sex tourism is, unbelievably, a billion dollar a year industry; many in the poorest countries of the world depend on this business to survive, and while it is… Continue reading How the Austrian tried to get her groove back

Mexican gangstas

  Narco Cultura (2013) In 2009, Forbes magazine listed notorious drug dealer Joaquin Guzman Loera as one of the richest people in the world.   Mexican officials, including president Felipe Calderon, were outraged, claiming this hampered their ability to combat the drug trade engulfing large sections of Mexico by giving credibility to drug traffickers. This documentary places Forbes’… Continue reading Mexican gangstas

The grandmaster tells us stories

  Stories We Tell (2012) Sarah Polley’s directorial work focuses on fractured relationships. Away from Her (2006) shows the effects of Alzheimer’s on a long-term commitment,  Take This Waltz (2011) is about a young couple who experience a crisis, and her third feature film explores the brokenness in her own family. Twenty years after her mother died,… Continue reading The grandmaster tells us stories

Steve Jobs went through the celluloid looking glass to find his mom

  Alice (1988) Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is the quintessential story about the uncertainty of childhood.  To a child, the world is a mystery and its myriad rules often seem nonsensical; we have to learn to be rational. This odd blend of live action and stop-motion animation embraces the twisted, scary parts of Carroll’s work. … Continue reading Steve Jobs went through the celluloid looking glass to find his mom

The greatest chariot race

  Ali (2001) Michael Mann’s films are focused on individuals struggling with identity issues.  In Manhunter (1986), Will Graham is torn between his safe, normal life and the world of the psychotic serial killers he chases.  In Last of the Mohicans (1992), Hawkeye must choose between the society he grew up in and the Native American culture he comes… Continue reading The greatest chariot race