Multi-hyphenate Armando Iannucci might be the best working satirist today (all seven seasons of Veep are streaming on HBO Max and DirecTV). His take on the transfer of power in the USSR circa 1953 is so loaded with jokes you have to … Continue reading THE DEATH OF STALIN
The cave of forgotten films has returned! Like a lot of things, 2020 was not kind to the website of curios, but 2021 seems to be loaded with reversals and the return of rarefilmm.com is certainly a pleasant one. There’s … Continue reading THE STRANGER
Young Mr. Lincoln might be John Ford’s greatest film. And that’s saying something. Especially considering Young Mr. Lincoln was one of three films Ford made in 1939 alone. The other two: Stagecoach is cited by many to be the best western an American studio ever … Continue reading YOUNG MR. LINCOLN
One of the cinematic highlights of 2020 was the TCM broadcast premier of Mark Cousins’ 14-hour docuseries, Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema. Now the series comes to Kanopy for those who do not have the cable … Continue reading WOMEN MAKE FILM: A NEW ROAD MOVIE THROUGH CINEMA
They called them “B-Movies:” genre films (westerns, noir, horror, sci-fi, etc.) made on shoestring budgets with leads played by actors, not stars; directors who were journeymen, not auteurs. The 1950s were their heyday, and they played great on a rainy … Continue reading THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN
Set in the West Indian neighborhoods of London, from the late 1960s to mid-1980s, the five films that comprise writer/director Steve McQueen’s Small Axe are cultural celebrations. Of food, music, and art. Of people just trying to make a buck, and of … Continue reading SMALL AXE
Set on an island off the Irish Coast, Song of the Sea follows Saoirse (voiced by Lucy O’Connell), a young girl whose mother disappeared under mysterious circumstances when she was born. The loss has caused Saoirse’s older brother, Ben (David Rawle), to … Continue reading SONG OF THE SEA
You cannot capture a man’s entire life in two hours,” Herman J. Mankiewicz says. “All you can hope is to leave the impression of one.” The movie Mankiewicz refers to is Citizen Kane—arguably one of the most well-known movies ever made—but … Continue reading MANK
To hold a meteorite is to place an object older than the history of humanity in your hand. It’s also to touch a truly foreign object. Where it came from and how long it took to get here, we cannot … Continue reading FIREBALL: VISITORS FROM DARKER WORLDS
