Tangerine ★★★★½ / ★★★★★ Director: Sean Baker Magnolia Pictures (Official Site) 88 Minutes Release: July 10, 2015 (limited) – It’s Christmas Eve in Los Angeles, and Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez), fresh off a 30-day stint in the slammer, catches up on the local gossip with her good friend Alexandra (Mya …
Carey Jackson (Robert Montgomery), foreign correspondent for a huge magazine conglomo, has found himself in his employer Carlton Towne’s leather-lined office (“Must be like living in a wallet”), about to be fired. The company is closing their Vienna office because of post-war censorship, but there’s no work for him back …
After years languishing in greymarket DVDs, the 1980s private detective series Spenser: For Hire finally got an official release from Warner Archive in 2014. Just a few weeks ago, Warner released Spenser: For Hire: The Complete Second Season on DVD, with the third season surely arriving soon. Featuring Robert Urich …
Yes, I’m still on a mission to watch all 1000 of the They Shoot Pictures, Don’t They? best films list, and no, I’m not doing very well. Recently watched from the TSPDT1K list: 26. 400 BLOWS, THE (François Truffaut / 1959) 27. MIRROR (Andrei Tarkovsky / 1974) 39. GRANDE ILLUSION, …
The Babushkas of Chernobyl ★★★★✫ Directors: Anne Bogart and Holly Morris Official Site 71 Minutes Premieres at the Los Angeles Film Festival, June 10 through 18, 2015 – With beautiful, classically framed scenery that highlights the healthy appearance of a land that is in reality riddled with invisible dangers, The …
Chagall-Malevich ★★★½ / ★★★★★ Director: Aleksandr Mitta ShiM-Film (Official Site) 117 Minutes Release Date: June 12, 2015 (limited) – “An artist should have his own world,” declares Marc Chagall in writer-director Aleksandr Mitta’s vibrant and playful Chagall-Malevich. Focusing on the first years of the Russian Revolution, this fictional account follows …
Desire for Beauty ★★★✫✫ Director: Miguel Gaudêncio Green Box (Official Site) 91 Minutes Available at Vimeo On Demand – Several months after shooting for Desire for Beauty (2013) wrapped, actress and host Agata Kulesza, at the head of the table during a swanky dinner party for cast and crew, says …
Down, But Not Out! ★★★★✫ Director: Miguel Gaudêncio Greenbox (Official Site) 71 Minutes Available at Vimeo On Demand – Shot in gritty black and white and unafraid of its own silence, the amateur boxing documentary Down, But Not Out! has a compelling neo-noir feel. Following a small local group of …
Generation Baby Buster ★★★½ / ★★★★★ Director: Terra Renton Cinema Libre (Official Site) 91 Minutes On DVD and On Demand starting June 9, 2015 – When I had my first serious boyfriend in high school, I discovered that my parents had been secretly following me around on our dates. I …
After years of small roles in exploitation flicks, Pam Grier finally hit it big with the blaxploitation classic Coffy (1973). Written and directed by Jack Hill, who had directed Grier in low-budget flicks before, Coffy to modern eyes looks far less empowering than it does exploitative. Grier spends a significant …
