The story of Dick Cheney, an unassuming bureaucratic Washington insider, who quietly wielded immense power as Vice President to George W. Bush, reshaping the country and the globe in ways that we still feel today. What makes this film even more interesting is the fact that it was directed by Adam McKay and interpreted by Christian(not just a pretty face) Bale as Dick Cheney and Sam Rockwell as George W…
Posted in BASED ON A REAL STORY, HISTORICAL DRAMA, History, Political Drama
Tagged adam mckay, christian bale, Sam rockwell
Who would have thought that a dysfunctional, deranged, down-and-out homeless person in pre-First World War Vienna become, 20 years later, Chancellor of Germany? This peculiar and intriguing film simply named “Max” argues that he succeeded because he had such a burning need to be recognized (sounds familiar ?)–and also, of course, because of luck= good for him, bad for us.
If Hitler had won fame as an artist, the century’s history might have been different.
“Max” imagines a fictional scenario in which the young Adolf Hitler (Noah Taylor) is befriended by a one-armed Jewish art dealer named Max Rothman (John Cusack) in Munich in the years following World War I.
During the Cold War, an American lawyer is recruited to defend an arrested Soviet spy in court, and then help the CIA facilitate an exchange of the spy for the Soviet captured American U2 spy plane pilot, Francis Gary Powers.
Posted in BASED ON A REAL STORY, Drama, History, Joel and Ethan Coen, Political Drama
Tagged MARK RYLANCE, STEVEN SPIELBERG, TOM HANKS
The circularity of violence seen in a story that circles on itself. The first film made in the newly independent Republic of Macedonia, Milcho Manchevski’s Before the Rain crosscuts the stories of an orthodox Christian monk, a British photo agent, and a native Macedonian war photographer to paint a portrait of simmering ethnic and religious hatred about to reach its boiling point. Made during the strife of the war-torn Balkan states in the nineties, this gripping triptych of love and violence is also a timeless evocation of the loss of pastoral innocence, and remains one of recent cinema’s most powerful laments on the futility of war. Awarded Golden Lion for Best Film at 1994 Venice Film Festival.
The Yugoslavian When Father Was Away on Business (Otac na Sluzbenoh Putu) takes place in the early 1950s. The title is a euphemism: because of the strained relationship between Yugoslavia and the USSR, various private citizens have disappeared in the middle of the night, accompanied by the police. A delightfully warm comedy, seen through the eyes of a six year old boy who thinks his father is away on business, when in actuality he’s been sent to the mines for having an affair. Nominated for the 1985 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
“Burnt by the Sun” depicts the story of a senior Red Army officer and his family during the Great Purge of the late 1930s in the Stalinist Soviet Union. Mikhalkov’s powerful portrait of viciousness during the Stalin era won the 1994 Oscar for Best Foreign Film. The film also received the Grand Prize at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival among many other honors.
Cinematiki Maui 