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)
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)
Pariah (2011) In cinéma vérité style, Dee Rees expands her original documentary, shooting on the streets of New York City, to capture this sexual awakening of a young black girl. Alike (Adepero Oduye) is a talented 17-year-old who struggles to come out to her parents and her community. Laura (Pernell Walker) is her best … More Pariah (2011)
La Promesse (1996) Belgian brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne draw from their documentary experience to fashion this savage critique of trafficking and exploitation of illegals in Liege, Belgium. The father [Olivier Gourmet] involves his son Igor [Jéréme Renier] to cover up the accidental death of a worker who falls from a scaffold. Igor makes the … More La Promesse (1996)
The Falcon and the Snowman (1985) John Schlesinger adapts this true espionage story, based on the book by Robert Lindsey and screenplay by Stephen Zaillian. Timothy Hutton plays Christopher Boyce, who uncovers CIA projects to destabilize and depose Prime Minister Gough Whitlam of Australia. Using his friend, a drug dealer Daulton Lee, played by … More The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)
The Wrong Man (1956) Alfred Hitchcock experiments with documentary realism, adapting The True Story of Christopher Emmanuel Balestrero by Maxwell Anderson. Henry Fonda plays the everyman, accused of multiple armed robberies, and Vera Miles plays his emotionally troubled wife, as the full repercussions of false accusations split their marriage apart. The noir streets of Jackson … More The Wrong Man (1956)
Stop Making Sense (1984) Jonathan Demme assembled the best footage from over three nights of The Talking Heads in live performances at Hollywood’s Pantages Theater during a tour to promote their new album “Speaking in Tongues.” Hits include “Psycho Killer,” “Heaven,” “Burning Down the House.” “Life During Wartime,” “Once in a Lifetime,” and “Crosseyed … More Stop Making Sense (1984)
Curse of the Faceless Man (1958) Edward L. Chan directs this drive-in B-Horror version of The Mummy, this time with a reawakened id of a gladiator who perished during the volcanic destruction of Pompeii while trying to save his aristocratic mistress. Now stone-encrusted, this creature seeks out the reincarnation of his lost love in an … More Curse of the Faceless Man (1958)
Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948) Nunnally Johnson adapted this “fish-out-of-water” tale about a man (William Powell) who catches a mermaid (Ann Blyth) with whom he falls in love. Irving Pichel directs this fable about male mid-life crisis, with Irene Hervey as the jealous wife, Andrea King as a scheming seductress, and Clinton Sundberg … More Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948)
