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MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 2013…****THE LION IN WINTER…directed by Anthony Harvey****…with: Peter O’Toole, Katherine Hepburn, Anthony Hopkins, et al…

One of the joys which films provide too rarely is the opportunity to see a literate script handled intelligently. “The Lion in Winter” triumphs at that difficult task; not since “A Man for All Seasons” have we had such capable handling of a story about ideas. But “The Lion in Winter” also functions at an emotional level, and is the better film.   Roger Ebert

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Posted on August 25, 2013 in Anthoney Harvey

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MONDAY, 04/29/2013 — “SECRETARY” (2002), directed by STEVEN SHAINBERG

A young woman, recently released from a mental hospital, gets a job as a secretary to a demanding lawyer, where their employer-employee relationship turns into a sexual, sadomasochistic one.

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Posted on April 29, 2013 in Uncategorized

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MONDAY, 04/22/2013 — “HAROLD AND MAUDE” (1971), directed by Hal Ashby

Young, rich, and obsessed with death, Harold finds himself changed forever when he meets lively septuagenarian Maude at a funeral. Harold and Maude is a 1971 American black comedy romantic film directed by Hal Ashby.

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Posted on April 22, 2013 in Uncategorized

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NEW SERIES, “EXTRAORDINARY WOMEN” starting on MONDAY, 04/01/2013

extraordinary women

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Posted on March 30, 2013 in Uncategorized

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MONDAY, 03/25/2013 — “KING OF HEARTS” (1966), directed by Philipe de Broca —

The film is set in a small town in France near the end of World War I. As the Imperial German Army retreats they booby trap the whole town to explode. The locals flee and, left to their own devices, a gaggle of cheerful lunatics escape the asylum and take over the town — thoroughly confusing the lone Scottish soldier who has been dispatched to defuse the bomb.

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Posted on March 23, 2013 in Comedy, parody, war film, World Cinema

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MONDAY, 03/18/2013 — “WE HAVE A POPE” (2012) directed by Nanni Moretti —

final-pope-quad-smallNanni Moretti joins forces with the great French actor Michel Piccoli to tell the story of Melville, a cardinal who suddenly finds himself elected as the next Pope. Never the front runner and completely caught off guard, he panics as he’s presented to the faithful in St. Peter’s Square.

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Posted on March 17, 2013 in Comedy, Drama

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MONDAY, 03/11/2013 — “BEFORE THE RAIN” (1994), directed by Milcho Manchevski — EASTERN EUROPEAN SERIES

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.

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Posted on March 11, 2013 in Drama, Political Drama, war film, World Cinema

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MONDAY, 03/04/2013 — “WHEN FATHER WAS AWAY ON BUSINESS” (1985), directed by Emir Kusturica — EASTERN EUROPEAN SERIES

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.

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Posted on March 4, 2013 in Comedy, Drama, Family Drama, Political Drama, World Cinema

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MONDAY, 02/25/2013 — “BURNT BY THE SUN” (1994), directed by Nikita Mikhalkov — EASTERN EUROPEAN SERIES

“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.

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Posted on February 22, 2013 in Drama, Family Drama, History, Political Drama, World Cinema

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MONDAY, 02/18/2013 — “GOD’S COMEDY” (1995), directed by João César Monteiro —

João de Deus is the manager of an ice-cream shop owned by an ex-prostitute, Paraíso dos Gelados (Ice-Cream Paradise). Through a unmoved desire of perfection, he seeks, through cleansing and purity to attain heaven. The surrounding world, however, does not comply with his decaying vision of lust and decay as a way of achieving his purpose.
Dryly comic, disturbing and deservedly honored with the Venice Film Festival’s Silver Lion when it was released, God’s Comedy is one of the most flagrantly perverse films you’re likely to see.

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Posted on February 16, 2013 in Drama, Transgressive Comedy

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