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Russia’s Post-Stalinist Master of Film Comedy: Eldar Ryazanov

May 6, 2012 By Walter G. Moss Leave a Comment

eldar

Walter Moss: A great admirer of the Charlie Chaplin’s films, Eldar Ryazanov is primarily known for his comedies, which are often referred to as “sad comedies” or tragicomedies.

Filed Under: Film Tagged With: Admirer, Carnival Night, charlie chaplin, Chekhov, Communist Leaders, Communist Party, David Macfadyen, Dozen Films, Ethical Core, Film Comedy, Film Director, Human Foibles, Musical Comedy, Nikita Khrushchev, Party Congress, Politburo, Russian Films, Stalin, Target, Youtube

The Big Trail: How the West Was Lost

May 4, 2012 By Ed Rampell Leave a Comment

big trail

Ed Rampell: The Big Trail was supposed to set the stage for Duke’s Great Leap Forward from bit part player to matinee idol, and was ballyhooed as “the most important motion picture ever produced.”

Filed Under: Film Tagged With: B Pictures, Beach Film Festival, Buckskins, Circle The Wagons, Clash Of Civilizations, Conestogas, Duke Fans, Eyepatch, Great Depression, Great Leap, Injuns, Movie Buffs, Newport Beach Film Festival, Pictorial Sensibility, Raoul Walsh, Roaring River, Screen Epic, Southern California City, Vintage Film, Visual Sense

Stony Island: Before There Was Rap, There Was R&B

April 25, 2012 By admin Leave a Comment

stoney robinson

Filmed on the gritty streets of Chicago’s south side, Stony Island tells the story of Richie Bloom, the only white kid on the block, as he forms an R&B band with his best friend, Kevin.

Filed Under: Film Tagged With: B Band, Chicago Neighborhood, David Sanborn, Dennis Franz, Director Andrew Davis, First Feature Film, Friend Kevin, Gene Barge, Gritty Streets, Island Music, Meshach Taylor, Minute Documentary, Music Culture, Music Legends, Rae Dawn Chong, Sax Legend, Sleight Of Hand, Stony Island, Streets Of Chicago, Susanna Hoffs, Tony Curtiss, Young Musicians

“Heist” Chronicles Theft of American Dream

April 17, 2012 By Steven Mikulan Leave a Comment

heist

Steven Mikulan: Like Inside Job and just about any title in the Brave New Films catalog, Heist gets our blood boiling with its money-pile graphics and occasional glib comments exhaled by Wall Street fat cats. Call this genre the Cinema of Outrage.

Filed Under: Film Tagged With: Alan Greenspan, American Economy, Brave New Films, Business Interests, Causey, Corporate Agenda, Eye Candy, Familiars, Fat Cats, Film Makers, Government Regulation, Heist, Heritage Foundation, Job Security, Justice Lewis Powell, Koch Brothers, Mainstream Media, Manufacturing Jobs, Money Pile, supreme court justice

The Cinematic Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of

April 17, 2012 By Ed Rampell Leave a Comment

robert osborne and

TCM Classic Film Festival Review co-host Ben Mankiewicz was “booed” on the night of April 15 as if he was the taxman or a silent movie villain when he told 500-plus fans packed into Hollywood Blvd.’s historic Egyptian Theatre that the ensuing presentation of The Thief of Bagdad was to be the TCM Classic Film [...]

Filed Under: Film Tagged With: Ben Mankiewicz, Blossom Room, Cable Tv Network, Class Film, Classic Film Festival, Crime Genre, Debbie Reynolds, Egyptian Theatre, femme fatales, Filmfest, Hollywood Blvd, John Huston, Kim Novak, Liza Minnelli, New Perspectives, Night Of April, Noir Classics, Orson Welles, Personal Appearances, Real Stars, Richard Edwards, Robert Osborne, Roosevelt Hotel, Shado, Turner Classic Movies

Russia and the West in the Films of Karen Shakhnazarov

April 16, 2012 By Walter G. Moss Leave a Comment

shahnazarov

Walter Moss: Shakhnazarov has his biases and failings, and they sometimes are apparent in his films. What we can learn from viewing them, however, is sympathy for all the people in the world facing the dilemmas of Westernization

Filed Under: Film Tagged With: Alexander Solzhenitsyn, American Daughter, Commencement Address, Dostoevsky, English Subtitles, Harvard Commencement, Individualism, Legalism, Materialism, Mosfilm Studios, President Karen, Quarter Century, Rationalism, Russian Films, Russian History, Russian Intellectuals, Screen Televisions, Secularism, Similar Words, Slavophiles, Spiritual Values, Youtube

LA Asian Pacific Film Festival Runs May 10 to 20

April 13, 2012 By admin Leave a Comment

where heaven meets hell

With personal Festival Week favorites, Planet of Snail from South Korea and Golden Slumbers from Cambodia, it’s exciting to bring Festival Week audiences along for a full-on journey of discovery, compassion, humor, and understanding.

Filed Under: Film Tagged With: Asian American Movement, Asian Pacific American, Asian Pacific Heritage, Asian Pacific Heritage Month, Asian Pacific Islander, Carol Liu, Documentary Films, Exci, Feature Length Documentary, Fiction Features, Fiction Works, International Directors, K Pop, Outhern California, Pacific Film, Pacific Islander Community, Pacific Islanders, Prestigious Film Festival, Vibrant Film, World Premieres

Hunger Games: Young Racist Fans

April 12, 2012 By Rev. Irene Monroe 1 Comment

hunger games rue

Rev. Irene Monroe: Would being more explicit when introducing non-white characters play into a racist assumption that literary characters are white unless otherwise stated?

Filed Under: Film Tagged With: Actor George, Amandla, Awkward Moment, Blockbuster Film, Close Caption, Entertainment Weekly, Fan Attention, Film Script, Gay Rights Activist, Helmsman, Hikaru Sulu, Innocent Girl, Josh Hutcherson, Literal Representation, N Word, Racist Comments, Schism, Series Star Trek, Suzanne Collins, Takei, Tweets, Uss Enterprise, Visual Images, woody harrelson

Moneyball: The View from Ridge Hill

April 9, 2012 By Jim Cullen Leave a Comment

brad pitt moneyball

Jim Cullen: I take my kids to local multiplexes because movie-going was one of the great pleasures of my childhood, and a ritual I want to pass on to them even as the days of theatrical release in theaters may well be numbered.

Filed Under: Film Tagged With: Baseball Coach, Boredom, Brad Pitt, Disney Movies, Excursion, Grayson, Hollywood Stars, Jodie Foster, Michael Lewis, Moneyball, Multiplexes, Pitt Fan, Pixar, Pixar Movies, School Vacation, Soccer Game, Theatrical Release, Twin Boys, Video Digital, Watching Tv

Russian Films on YouTube: From Eisenstein’s Masterpieces to the Present

March 28, 2012 By Walter G. Moss Leave a Comment

the cranes are flying

Walter Moss: Available now on Youtube are excellent Russian subtitled films from the days of the great film pioneer Sergei Eisenstein to the present era of popular directors such as Alexei Balabanov and Karen Shakhnazarov.

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Filed Under: Film Tagged With: Alexei Balabanov, Batt, Battl, charlie chaplin, Comedies, Computer Cable, Copyright Law, Cranes, English Subtitle, Film Pioneer, Flat Screen, Google, Great Writers, Hdmi Cable, martin scorsese, Masterpieces, Mosfilm Studios, Quality Films, Russian Films, Russian Titles, Sergei Eisenstein, Technical Quality, Wwii Films, Youtube

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