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Comical and clinical

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Gay men with flavorful stories

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Tsui Hark’s action-adventure whodunit

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Borat the first

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Comical and clinical

This week’s picks are meant to get us through this transitional period. Bartleby (1970) With all the movies in my mental Rolodex, surely there’s one tale of a lead character ...

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Gay men with flavorful stories

What do this week’s film have in common? A diverse trio of gay men with flavorful stories to tell. Capote (2005) There was something about the back page New York ...

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Tsui Hark’s action-adventure whodunit

Tsui Hark is one of world cinema’s exemplars of action. One can learn more about editing from five minutes of Hark than all the Bourne duds combined. Once in my ...

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Borat the first

Keeping in the spirit of Borat’s return, here are a few words about his debut feature. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2005) Remember ...

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First fright

We may not recall the first time we laughed or cried at a movie, but who doesn’t remember the first time they got well and truly scared in a theatre? Here are a trio of ...

October 23, 2020

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Cesar Romero’s high-fructose performance with Carmen Miranda

Havana watch a trio of musicals set in pre-revolutionary Cuba. Care to join me? Week-End in Havana (1941) Out of the 480 steamship passengers stranded on a reef, Nan Spencer (Alice Faye), a hosiery salesgirl ...

October 16, 2020

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October 9, 2020

Hitchcock-tober

Hitchcock-tober returns to the Angelika Film Center this month with five of the Master’s finest. Rear Window (1954) The rights to Cornell Woolrich’s short story “Murder from a Fixed Viewpoint,” were purchased by Hitch and ...

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October 2, 2020

The best sociopathic John Travolta impersonator of 2008

This week’s selections represent the best 2008 had to offer, starting with an invitation to the wedding of the decade. Rachel Getting Married (2008) Many were quick to complain about Jonathan Demme casting a feature ...

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September 25, 2020

Henry Silva’s golden years

This week, I struck gold with Henry Silva. Johnny Cool is the swingingest Rat Pack neo-noir ever filmed without the active participation of Frank and Dean. Peter Lawford co-produced, Joey Bishop begged the question, “Would ...

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September 18, 2020

Unexpendable Rambo

It’s over, Johnny. Rambo: Last Blood was the final nail in the Rambo coffin. This week, we look back on the first and fourth installments of Sylvester Stallone’s fivefold franchise. First Blood (1982) Abandoned, betrayed, ...

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September 11, 2020

Dracula’s eternal life

Three things I know about Dracula. Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922) It was not the famous bloodsucker’s first screen appearance: that distinction goes to the long lost Hungarian film Dracula’s Death, made a year ...

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September 4, 2020

Proust-ian pastrami with Tom Palazzolo

Tom Palazzolo is one of Chicago’s foremost documentarians, but you don’t have to be a local to appreciate his films. Anyone who’s ever had the occasion to visit a bustling deli will find something to ...

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Bob Hope using Bing Crosby’s Dumbo ears to pin back his ankles

This week brings a pair of comedy duos: one legendary, the other with plenty of Hope (and Crosby) in their soul. Where the Truth Lies (2005) A fictionalized account of a murder that may or ...

August 28, 2020

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Fred Astaire’s staggering glory days

This week’s homework assignment finds Fred Astaire and company in peak form. Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940) If Orson Welles is credited with introducing the ceiling to cinema (he didn’t), then the “Begin the Beguine” ...

August 21, 2020

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August 14, 2020

Oceanside Film Festival goes virtual

This year, the Oceanside Film Festival goes virtual, with over 120 shorts and features. The festival runs August 15 and 16. Visit online for more information and reviews. The Devil’s Road: A Baja Adventure (2019) ...

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August 7, 2020

Tennis with François Truffaut and Donal Logue

It’s game, set, and match with these three tennis-related films. Tennis, Anyone...? (2005) Things you learn at the movies: next time you’re at a strip club, walk up to the first exotic dancer you see ...

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Comical and clinical

Gay men with flavorful stories

Tsui Hark’s action-adventure whodunit

Borat the first

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