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If you enjoy watching out of the ordinary movies and haven’t watched the MUBI streaming service, I highly recommend checking it out. I really enjoyed watching Werner Herzog’s Family Romance, LLC and several other movies over the past couple of weeks. One film I wanted to highlight is The Portugese Woman, based on a Robert […]
On Amazon Prime I stumbled across a couple of films based on Bohumil Hrabal’s writings that are available for free to Prime members. First was The Snowdrop Festival, directed by Jiří Menzel. As I mentioned in the post, it’s a quirky, fun movie with a strong undertow of poignancy. Menzel doesn’t capture the full complexity […]
National Theatre Live has been making some of their broadcasts available on their YouTube channel. This week’s offering is Antony and Cleopatra, directed by Simon Godwin, starring Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo in the title roles. The recording can be played for free until 7pm UK time on Thursday 14 May 2020. This is one […]
Just when I think reality can’t get any weirder, I find out it already did. Thanks (I think) to DangerousMinds.net for their article The Oddly Inappropriate Spec TV Commercial for Never-Produced Caligula Action Figures. I’ve seen a lot of strange things, and I’m happy to say the 1980 movie Caligula directed by Penthouse owner/editor Bob […]
Last week, TCM aired the 1963 TV documentary Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment directed by Robert Drew. From the linked DrewAssociates link: When Governor George Wallace literally stands in the schoolhouse door to block the admittance of two African-American students to the all-white University of Alabama in June 1963, President Kennedy is forced to decide […]
The documentary film Rosenwald tells the inspiring story of Julius Rosenwald, an immigrant’s son who became CEO of Sears, Roebuck & Company and used his wealth to support equal rights for African Americans during the Jim Crow era. His support of education, the arts, and housing for middle-class African Americans left a legacy that influenced […]
In 1864 during the American Civil War, Union General William T. Sherman began his famous march to the sea. With an army of 60,000 men he swept into the South, destroying Atlanta, Georgia, Columbia, South Carolina, and dozens of smaller towns. His troops plundered homes, destroyed livestock, burned buildings, and left a path of destruction […]
If you have wanted to see the National Theatre Live’s 2015 version of Hamlet and haven’t had a chance yet, check the Fathom Events site [note: link has been removed] to see if there will be a screening near you on July 8th. The time I saw it, the audience had a nice mix of ages […]
Several years ago I posted on Women of the Gulag: Portraits of Five Remarkable Lives by Paul R. Gregory. A moving and powerful book, Gregory detailed some of the problems that five Soviet women faced when victimized by the gulag system. I believe I first found out about the book from Cynthia Haven at The […]
My oldest expressed interest in seeing The Cold Blue tonight instead of waiting for it on HBO, and who was I to say no? So we’re excited about going tonight for the movie and the extra “making of” short. Plus I’m happy to see the score is provided by Richard Thompson. A good article on […]
It’s been a while since I’ve fallen out of love with baseball, but I still enjoy a good baseball movie. Here are a couple of films I’ve watched recently that I can highly recommend. Picture sourceThe first is The Catcher Was a Spy, based on the 1994 biography The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious […]
I just noticed that Legend of the Holy Drinker, based on Joseph Roth’s novella, is available to view for free on Amazon Prime. I loved Roth’s story and found this movie version with Rutger Hauer very well done. In one of his letters, Joseph Roth wrote, “There are miracles in my life, poor little miracles, […]
On the centenary of the end of First World War, Academy Award-winner Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) presents the World Premiere of an extraordinary new work showing the Great War as you have never seen it. This unique film brings into high definition the human face of the First World War as […]
Later this month (at least in some locations) you can choose the form of madness you wish to see: On Thursday, September 27, 2018 in select theaters is King Lear with Ian McKellen. The blurb at National Theatre Live: Broadcast live from London’s West End, see Ian McKellen’s ‘extraordinarily moving portrayal’ (Independent) of King Lear […]
I finally got to see this version of Hamlet, the 2015 filming of National Theatre Live‘s production starring Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role. I had intended to see it twice before, but I had been unable to attend either time (even after buying tickets to one of them). I had a strong sense of […]
Picture source: Big Star Third Live Facebook page I have wanted to post something…anything…but haven’t felt up to it for a while. I’ve posted about this tour elsewhere, but I’m pleasantly surprised how much I liked the documentary release covering one of its performances. There are some interviews with a few of the performers, but […]
Another week, another trip to the hospital for an infection. Fortunately this was caught early enough that medication may be enough to handle it. On to brighter things… The video appears to be the 1991 movie 30 Door Key based on Witold Gombrowicz’s book Ferdydurke. I’ll be checking it out this weekend. I had […]
I’m updating this post because of Grant Hart’s recent death. My range of focus online has narrowed quite a bit, but I was surprised how little I saw about this as it was happening. What he contributed to me is difficult to quantify, but I have to say the influence was substantial. I guess I […]
Earlier this year Amateur Reader posted on Harold Frederic’s The Damnation of Theron Ware, which reminded me of my reading of that novel as well as Frederic’s novella The Copperhead. At that time, the movie adaptation was available on Amazon Prime for only a few dollars, so I splurged and watched it. A few notes […]
Passing along the info, for those that might be interested… I really enjoyed PBS’ airing of The Hollow Crown series last year (Richard II, Henry IV Part I and Part II and Henry V), and I’m looking forward to their The Hollow Crown: The War of the Roses series airing now. This season’s lineup includes […]