It’s time again for my sharing some noteworthy films from last year. Best? Some are; others just need to be brought to your attention. Some will win awards; some will never be nominated. Some you’ll thank me for; some will make you think I’m an idiot. These are films...
Okay, class. Open your history books to the chapter on the Cold War. We’ll be focusing on the role new African nations played in that era. While we discuss it, I’m going to put on this jazz record for context. Welcome to today’s class, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat,...
“The one thing Nickel taught me was how not to die.” Nickel Boys, directed by RaMell Ross, is based on the Pulitzer Prize winning book The Nickel Boys, by Colson Whitehead. The story centers on a young man sent unjustly to a reformatory in the Jim Crow South. The...
We have gotten used to the idea of a post-apocalyptic world filled with violence and greed. The animated film Flow, from director Gints Zilbalodis, is a different (and delightful) kind of post-apocalyptic vision. It is a new way of understanding the lifeboat ethics...
“I’m very grateful for this moment with you.” Oh, the advice we could give to our younger selves! The opportunities they wouldn’t miss! The mistakes they wouldn’t make! But would they (or I guess it’s really “we”) listen? Megan Park’s My Old Ass is built around the...
“I have practically held death in my hand. I never imagined it would be so light.” Pedro Almodóvar’s first English language feature, The Room Next Door, is a film about dying. It is also about so much more—especially about what it means to be with someone—to walk with...
“Will I be making a completely new friend?” Will & Harper, a documentary directed by Josh Greenbaum, is an interesting odyssey. Two friends take a cross-country road trip. Along the way they rediscover each other with new perspectives. They also encounter America...
“For guys like me, there are worse ways to go out than trying to save Santa Claus.” While not a fan of Christmas movies per se, I’m not opposed to the genre when it doesn’t take itself too seriously. That fits for Red One, directed by Jake Kasdan. It has all the usual...
“Being a woman is beautiful. But there is also an ugly side of it…” Okay, first off, I’m male, so the stories in Antonella Sudasassi Furniss’s Memories of a Burning Body are not my stories. That doesn’t mean I cannot appreciate them, but I will not resonate with the...