Blog

12 FILMS OF CHRISTMAS: #12 Black Christmas (1974, dir by Bob Clark, Canada) Over the next few days, we want to write about some of the classic yet, possibly, still underrated or under the radar holiday movies. One of the great things about Christmas movies is that Christmas can be. . .

THREE GREAT DIRECTOR & WRITER COLLABORATIONS #3: Network (1976, dir by Sidney Lumet, written by Paddy Chayevsky) One of the amazing things about THE SOCIAL NETWORK (our upcoming Netflix Watch Party 6/13/20) is how well it showcases the incredibly strong voices of director David Fincher and writer Aaron Sorkin while weaving together their strengths into a unity as a movie. That got us to thinking. What other great director & writer collaborations have there been? The first and possibly most obvious has to be

Everyone loves a Final Girl, myself included. I love when chicks survive whatever mindf*@king series of violent punishments befall them in film. Revenge is a fatal dish best served . . .

THREE MOVIES THAT COME AT CURRENT ISSUES IN A UNIQUE WAY #3: Bad Education (2004, dir by Pedro Almodovar). We wanted to highlight three 21st century movies that have come at a current topic in a uniquely engaging way. First up is Pedro Almodovar's fascinating movie on the sexual abuse countless Catholic children and adults suffered by clergy who were protected from accountability by higher ups. Rather than tell a straight ahead didactic story. . .

GREAT MOVIE SPEECHES ON SOCIAL JUSTICE: Charlie Chaplin's final speech at the end of THE GREAT DICTATOR (1940, dir by Charlie Chaplin). Today we wanted to highlight three instances of incredibly powerful, moving movie speeches on the importance of social justice. It's very hard in movies to get this tone right. So often, though their intentions may be noble, filmmakers can. . .

SPIKE LEE MOVIES #5: He Got Game (directed by Spike Lee) In this programmer's opinion, one of Spike Lee's absolute best movies, HE GOT GAME tells the story of an imprisoned father played with raw rage and vitality by Denzel Washington who gets a brief furlough to try to convince his estranged basketball star son (played by real basketball legend Ray Allen) to play for a certain college team. But like many of Lee's movies. . .

GREAT MOVIES OF 2015: In this blog post, we take a look at 12 great movies (in this programmer's opinion) of 2015. As a kind of science experiment, you might want to look at the pictures that won the awards in 2015 versus the ones we discuss here. You certainly may have a different take than we do. But 2015 proved that it's often the passage of time that's the real arbiter of the movies we come back to. First up. . .