In 1995: O.J. Simpson was acquitted for the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman; Mississippi ratified the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution; Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols bombed bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City; The first DVD was made available; eBay went online; Calvin and Hobbes ended its ten-year run in… Continue reading Everything that follows is older than Tom Holland: A look back at 1995
Tag: Documentary
Gleaning miracles from the edges of the future
The Gleaners and I: Two Years Later (2002) Varda’s follow-up to her seminal film is too self-aggrandizing. Instead of revisiting the people or places she met in the first movie, she reads congratulatory postcards from viewers. This pretentious film almost cheapens the power of the original. Edge of Tomorrow (2014) When he questions the orders… Continue reading Gleaning miracles from the edges of the future
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
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 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
That bitter bastard Elaine makes an interesting gambit
The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933) Megan Davis (Barbara Stanwyck) comes to Shanghai at the height of the Chinese Civil War to marry her childhood sweetheart, missionary Dr. Robert Strike. A powerful Chinese warlord, General Yen, assure them safe passage to perform humanitarian work. At a checkpoint, they discover General Yen lied and, in the… Continue reading That bitter bastard Elaine makes an interesting gambit
The King was born in a manger sans the alluring cross
Allures (1961) This trippy combination of sounds and images by Jordan Belson was preserved in the National Film Registry in 2011. Most people will never see it, and their lives will be no less fulfilling. Sans Soleil (1983) This avante garde documentary by Chris Marker explores the creation and maintenance of cultural memory with an essay… Continue reading The King was born in a manger sans the alluring cross
Senna was fearless
Fearless (1993) Surviving a plane crash changes Max Klein (Jeff Bridges) emotionally and psychologically; he grows apart from his wife and son and closer to the other survivors. One of whom, Carla Rodrigo (Rosie Perez), develops feelings for Max while she struggles with the death of her son. The crash provides Max with a detached… Continue reading Senna was fearless
Tiny Calvin meet tiny Hobbes
Dear Mr. Watterson (2013) Following the adventures of a six-year-old boy and his possibly imaginary stuffed tiger, Calvin and Hobbes was one of the last great comic strips. Exploring big picture ideas through the eyes of a child, it offered an innocent look at a vast and frightening world. This strip elevated the medium to levels of… Continue reading Tiny Calvin meet tiny Hobbes