| |  In This Issue:January 2012What's New on DVDA Thousand Clowns (1965)Comedy. Moving/Offbeat/Witty. Black & White. 118 mins. Unrated. Directed By Fred Coe. Starring Jason Robards, Martin Balsam, Barry Gordon, William Daniels and Barbara Harris. Nominated for four Academy Awards (including Best Picture and Screenplay) and winner of a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Balsam, who's fabulous as Murray's long-suffering older brother, the long ... Read More > | |  |
American Experience: Freedom Riders (2010)Documentary. Brainy/Intense/Moving. Color. 120 mins. Unrated. Directed By Stanley Nelson. While most Americans have doubtless heard of the Freedom Riders, this meticulously researched, incisive documentary provides a level of immediacy and detail that brings the whole period back into ... Read More > | |  |
Bridesmaids (2011)Comedy. Farr-cical/Fast-paced. Color. 132 mins. Rated R. Directed By Paul Feig. Starring Chris O'Dowd, Jon Hamm, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Ellie Kemper, Wendy McLendon-Covey and Jill Clayburgh. Though its comic set pieces are anything but subtle, "Bridesmaids" is still screamingly funny- but to its credit, the movie also offers an honest, unsentimental look at female relationships and one ... Read More > | |  |
David Holzman's Diary (1967)Documentary/Drama. Brainy/Farr-cical/Offbeat. Black & White. 74 mins. Unrated. Directed By Jim McBride. Starring L.M. Kit Carson, Lorenzo Mans and Eileen Dietz. This enthralling puzzle of a movie appears at first to be a cinema vérité documentary, but look closely, and read the credits: it's a completely constructed, fictional world. McBride's truly ... Read More > | |  |
Le Quattro Volte (2011)Drama/Foreign. Brainy/Scenic. Color. 88 mins. Unrated. Directed By Michelangelo Frammartino. Starring Giuseppe Fuda. This restrained, lyrical film presents a disarming meditation on the natural rhythms and passages of life. Using next to no dialogue, and only a few long, carefully choreographed shots, Frammartino ... Read More > | |  |
My Dog Tulip (2009)Comedy. Moving/Witty. Color. 81 mins. Unrated. Directed By Paul Fierlinger and Sandra Fierlinger. Starring Christopher Plummer, Lynn Redgrave and Isabella Rossellini. Beautiful to behold and always worthy of its literary source, the delightful, charming "Tulip" is that all-too-rare phenomenon: an animated film for grown-ups. Refreshingly restrained and decidedly ... Read More > | |  |
Pixote (1980)Drama/Foreign. Blood-curdling/Fast-paced/Intense. Color. 125 mins. Unrated. Directed By Hector Babenco. Starring Fernando Ramos da Silva, Jorge Juliao, Gilberto Moura and Marilla Pera. This brutal, unflinching look at the plight of homeless children in Brazil has lost none of its raw power a full three decades after its release. Young da Silva was plucked from a life not dissimilar ... Read More > | |  |
Poetry (2010)Drama/Foreign. Brainy/Intense. Color. 139 mins. Unrated. Directed By Chang-dong Lee. Starring Da-wit Lee, Nae-sang Ahn, Jeong-hee Yoon and Hira Kim. Director Chang-dong Lee (Secret Sunshine) has been acclaimed as one of the most important voices in the "New Wave" of Korean cinema, and this subtle, multi-layered work gives ample evidence why. This ... Read More > | |  |
Theme of the Month: With the New Year comes Black History month, when we recognize and pay tribute to the black community's long struggle for equal rights in this country. Even for those of us who think we know the story well, it's one that always bears repeating, for ourselves and our children, and an assortment of solid, relevant titles on DVD can help. 4 Little Girls (1997)Documentary. Brainy/Moving. Color. 102 mins. Unrated. Directed By Spike Lee. Starring Chris McNair and Maxine McNair. An invaluable piece of film-making, as Lee revisits an atrocity we should never forget. The overwhelming sense of personal loss is palpable and heart-rending. It's also striking how the tragedy ... Read More > | |  |
A Raisin in the Sun (1961)Drama. Intense/Moving. Black & White. 128 mins. Unrated. Directed By Daniel Petrie. Starring Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeil and Ruby Dee. Based on Lorraine Hansberry's play, Daniel Petrie's magnificent "A Raisin In The Sun" provides an ideal star vehicle for young Poitier's explosive talent. The actor projects barely suppressed rage as ... Read More > | |  |
A Soldier's Story (1984)Action/Adventure/Mystery/Suspense. Brainy/Moving/Spine-tingling. Color. 101 mins. Rated PG. Directed By Norman Jewison. Starring Denzel Washington, Howard E. Rollins, Jr., Adolph Caesar and Patti LaBelle. Based on Charles Fuller's play, which he also adapted to the screen, this cerebral mystery operates on several levels, as we get to know the murdered man through flashbacks and see how many people ... Read More > | |  |
Citizen King (2004)Documentary. Moving/Brainy/Intense. Black & White. 120 mins. Rated PG. Directed By Orlando Bagwell. Starring Martin Luther King, Jr. and Taylor Branch. A riveting PBS "American Experience" entry, Bagwell and Walker's film commemorates the Southern minister's courageous campaign to fight injustice and spread goodwill despite harassment from FBI ... Read More > | |  |
Glory (1989)War/Westerns. Intense/Moving. Color. 118 mins. Rated R. Directed By Edward Zwick. Starring Denzel Washington, Matthew Broderick and Morgan Freeman. Edward Zwick's vivid Civil War epic boasts terrific battle sequences, but aside from the story's inherent fascination, what sets this movie apart are the incredible performances glimpsed in between ... Read More > | |  |
King (1978)Drama/Longer Films/Film Series/Collections. Intense/Moving. Color. 300 mins. Unrated. Directed By Abby Mann. Starring Paul Winfield and Cicely Tyson. Written and directed by Oscar/Emmy winner Abby Mann, "King" is a meticulous recreation of MLK?s mystical odyssey from spirited young Baptist preacher to anointed spokesman for the vast non-militant ... Read More > | |  |
Malcolm X (1992)Drama. Brainy/Intense/Moving. Color. 201 mins. Rated PG-13. Directed By Spike Lee. Starring Denzel Washington and Angela Bassett. Built around a commanding performance by Denzel Washington, Spike Lee's "Malcolm X" is the writer-director's most ambitious, impassioned film to date, as it presents a turbulent and eventful life ... Read More > | |  |
Nothing But a Man (1964)Drama. Moving. Black & White. 95 mins. Unrated. Directed By Michael Roemer. Starring Ivan Dixon, Julius Harris and Abbey Lincoln. A lean film of unusual grace and power, thanks to a perceptive script and solid characterizations. Both Dixon and jazz singer Lincoln give heartfelt portrayals as Duff and Josie, and look for the ... Read More > | |  |
Pinky (1949)Drama. Moving. Black & White. 102 mins. Unrated. Directed By Elia Kazan. Starring William Lundigan, Jeanne Crain, Ethel Berrymore and Ethel Waters. After years away from home, light-skinned black woman Patricia "Pinky" Johnson (Crain) returns to the Southern town where she was raised. She's warmly welcomed by her Granny (Waters), but complex ... Read More > | |  |
Separate but Equal (1991)Drama. Intense/Wholesome. Color. 186 mins. Rated PG. Directed By George Stevens, Jr. Starring Burt Lancaster, Sidney Poitier and Gloria Foster. Originally a TV movie aired in two parts, this Emmy-winning film should be required viewing for kids age 12 and up. Poitier is perfectly cast as Marshall, who in 1950 was lead attorney for the ... Read More > | |  |
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974)Drama. Moving/Wholesome. Color. 110 mins. Unrated. Directed By John Korty. Starring Michael Murphy, Richard A. Dysart and Cicely Tyson. The gifted Cicely Tyson is a marvel as Jane, gradually transforming from a young girl to a wizened but still spirited lady of 100+ years. A revealing history lesson and tribute to the sturdy spirit ... Read More > | |  |
Spotlight • January 8th – John hosts a screening of "The Awful Truth" at a private club in New York City
• February 12th – John hosts a screening of "The Red Shoes" at a private club in New York City  | | | |
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