In 1989: The Nissan Infiniti and Toyota Lexus debuted; George H.W. Bush was sworn in as the 41st President of the United States; Ayotollah Khomeini issued a fatwah against author Salman Rushdie; The Exxon Valdez ran aground and spilled 240,000 barrels of oil; Chinese students began massive protests in Tiananmen Square; Nintendo released the Gameboy;… Continue reading The wall came tumbling down: A look back at 1989
Tag: Morgan Freeman
Best of the 1990s
Dreams (1990) Nearing the end of his life, legendary director Akira Kurosawa reflects on his childhood and finds inspiration for several beautiful vignettes. After a child stumbles upon a fox wedding during a sunshower, his furious mother demands he apologize. Their surviving commander orders the ghosts of Japanese soldiers returning from the second World War… Continue reading Best of the 1990s
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
Lucky Mary took a machine with her to the sun
Mary Poppins (1964) Julie Andrews won an Oscar, and she’s been nominated two other times, but since the mid 1980s, her films have been almost exclusively children’s fare like the Shrek series and The Princess Diaries (2001). I wish she hadn’t been typecast in wholesome, family films because in Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), S.O.B. (1981), and Victor / Victoria… Continue reading Lucky Mary took a machine with her to the sun
Lean and deliver
Stand and Deliver (1988) This biographical film about Jaime Escalante and his efforts to teach calculus to students in an impoverished school in Los Angeles, garnered Edward James Olmos an Academy Award nomination. Olmos played Lt. Martin Castillo on Miami Vice for five seasons, but it’s hard for me to see him and not think about William… Continue reading Lean and deliver