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Classic Film Review: Eisenstein’s “Alexander Nevsky” (1938)

Medieval combat, “The Battle on the Ice,” music by Prokofiev and the Soviet master of montage (editing) makes a spectacle out of mise en scene (production design, epic shot compositions) — that’s what cinephiles summon up when revering Serge Eisenstein’s 1938 classic “Alexander Nevsky.” A filmmaker famed for telling his stories and making his (often […]

Classic Film Review: Eisenstein’s “Alexander Nevsky” (1938)

Biography

The Big Mouth

I was curious about Errol Morris’ AMERICAN DHARMA, about Trump advisor and Breitbart exec Steve Bannon, but not apparently curious enough to see it when it was new. I finally checked it out. Essentially, it conforms to the conclusions I’ve already drawn about Morris’s filmmaking. When he was making documentaries about ordinary people, he had […]

The Big Mouth

Biography

Nashville Film Festival 2021: “Spencer”

Photo by Pablo Larraín ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 5 out of 5. Everyone wants to be wealthy, live in a palace and be part of a royal family. Indeed, there’s financial independence but it’s the freedom that is often lost. Because every move of the royal family members will be under scrutiny, highly publicized and photographed by […]

Nashville Film Festival 2021: “Spencer”

Biography

Benediction

Benediction is the story of English poet, writer and soldier Siegfried Sassoon. He was decorated for bravery on the Western Front, and went on to become one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry vividly described the horrors of the trenches while satirizing the patriotic pretensions that Sassoon believed were responsible for a fueling […]

Benediction

Amazon Prime Video

TIFF 2021: “The Electrical Life of Louis Wain”

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 4 out of 5. A true artist never connects with the real world. In fact, he/she creates one’s own where all others can join in to admire the brilliance of their craft. Louis Wain (Benedict Cumberbatch) is extremely talented. He is qualified to do all sorts of jobs, if he wishes to. His […]

TIFF 2021: “The Electrical Life of Louis Wain”

Biography

‘Impeachment: American Crime Story’

American Crime Story is back with its third season after three years off the air. While it previously had tackled murderous subject matter, it has now gone into politics. Impeachment: American Crime Story tells the story of how the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal came to be and what followed. Based on the subject matter and […]

‘Impeachment: American Crime Story’ Ep. 1 Review

Biography

Worth

How much is a human life worth? As a philosophical question, it’s emotionally fraught and almost unbearable to contemplate. Can you put a dollar amount on a life? You can, actually. Uncomfortably. And people have. They do it all the time. You may even know how much yours is worth in the event of your […]

Worth

Biography

Movie Review: Walken vs Monsanto, “Percy vs. Goliath”

Truth be told, Christopher Walken has always worn his pants grandpa-high, his hats a little out-of-date. And he’s always grown a mean goatee, even in his silvery “legend of the cinema” years. So it’s no stretch thinking of him as a grandfatherly Saskatchewan canola farmer getting his back up when pushed around by Big Ag […]

Movie Review: Walken vs Monsanto, “Percy vs. Goliath”

Biography

The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2021)

The struggle against the government. So as you can probably guess, this is about Billie Holiday (Andra Day). The feds don’t like her singing her song “Strange Fruit” since it’s about lynching. You can’t arrest someone for singing a song, so they try to bring her down for drug addiction. This is her story. Now, […]

Silencing a Song – The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2021)