The Stone Raft (2003) George Sluizer adapts Nobel-Prize winning Jose Saramago’s satirical allegory about the continent of Iberia breaking off and sending Spain and Portugal toward a collision with the Azores. Five people come together, each feeling somehow responsible for causing this natural disaster, and together with a stray dog journey to find a way … More The Stone Raft (2003)
The Harder They Come (1972) Penny Henzell directs Jimmy Cliff in this reggae crime drama, which became a breakthrough sensation in Jamaica for shooting on location using the local Creole dialogue. Roger Ebert wrote, “the movie’s ending is an exercise in plot; its beginning and its music deserve better than that.” The film made a … More The Harder They Come (1972)
Cronos (1993) Guillermo del Toro’s first gothic masterpiece studies the relationship between a grandfather and his granddaughter through a surreal allegory about immortality and the limits of life on earth. Federico Luppi gives a stunning performance as the elderly antiques dealer who discovers a treasure that rejuvenates his blood and turns him younger. But there … More Cronos (1993)
Multiple Maniacs (1970) Not for the squeamish, CRITERION has just released a beautifully reconstructed edition of John Waters’ transgressively offensive home movie, featuring all the freaks he could find in 1969. This is a film created to shock and offend everybody, and still works today. Harris Glenn Milstead cross-dresses as the savagely murderous Divine, … More Multiple Maniacs (1970)
King of Hearts (1966) Alan Bates stars as a Scottish WWI ornithalography specialist mistaken for a munitions expert who is sent into a small provincial French village of Marville to disarm a booby trap rigged by retreating Germans. only to accidentally release inmates from the local mental asylum who assume identities of the absent … More King of Hearts (1966)
Possessed (1947) Not to be confused with the 1931 pre-Code Crawford melodrama, Curtis Bernhardt brings his German expressionist style to bear on this Freudian study of a psychotic breakdown. Joan Crawford said this was the most difficult role she ever played. Van Heflen, as the cynical war vet, and Raymond Massey, as the stern … More Possessed (1947)
Kagemusha (1980) A common thief, discovered to bear a striking resemblance to his feudal lord, is employed as a decoy to keep civil war from breaking out. Akira Kurosawa drew from the Sengoku period, based upon a history of Takeda Shingen, known for his military skills. Mortally wounded by a sniper, the lord requests … More Kagemusha (1980)
Alibi Ike (1935) Wide-mouthed comedian Joe. E. Brown plays a baseball pitcher whose hayseed bashfulness leads to boasting with alibis to cover his mistakes. As a result, he winds up kidnapped by gamblers. Olivia de Havilland cameos as the doting love interest in this choppy, badly segued adaptation from a Ring Lardner classic short story, … More Alibi Ike (1935)
Follow my blog with Bloglovin
The Wasp Woman (1959) Roger Corman directed, and has a brief cameo in this drive-in cult horror film, in which a cosmetics company owner, Janice Starlin (Susan Cabot) tries to save her company from sliding sales by hiring a scientist, Dr. Eric Zinthrop (Michael Mark) who proposes to use enzymes from the royal jelly … More The Wasp Woman (1959)
