| |  In This Issue:July 2010What's New on DVDA Secret (2007)Drama/Foreign/Romance. Brainy/Intense/Scenic. Color. 110 mins. Unrated. Directed By Claude Miller. Starring Patrick Bruel, Mathieu Amalric and Cecile de France. This twisty, engrossing puzzler works its magic by uncovering its surprises gradually and deliberately. The bulk of the drama- and heart of the film- lies in recounting how Tania and Maxime first met ... Read More > | |  |
As It Is in Heaven (2004)Drama/Foreign. Intense/Moving. Color. 132 mins. Unrated. Directed By Kay Pollack. Starring Michael Nyqvist and Frida Hallgren. Pollak's captivating feature brims over with authentic humanity and depth of feeling, thanks largely to Nyquist's pitch-perfect rendering of the central role. His Daniel is no arrogant celebrity, but ... Read More > | |  |
Broken Embraces (2009)Drama/Foreign/Romance. Moving/Offbeat/Witty. Color. 129 mins. Rated R. Directed By Pedro Almodovar. Starring Lluis Homar, Ruben Ochandiano, Jose Luis Gomez and Penelope Cruz. Almodovar's "Broken Embraces," an elaborately structured roundelay of flashbacks and proliferating storylines, is a heady romantic melodrama that's as much about the dark magic of moviemaking as it ... Read More > | |  |
District B13 (2004)Action/Adventure/Foreign. Fast-paced/Spine-tingling. Color. 84 mins. Rated R. Directed By Pierre Morel. Starring Cyril Raffaelli, David Bell, Tony D'Amario and Bibi Naceri. This breathless, breakneck French flick dances along the cutting edge of real-life action, rejecting big-budget CGI for daredevil stunt work. Bell, who helped popularize a death-defying European ... Read More > | |  |
Husbands (1970)Comedy/Drama. Brainy/Moving/Witty. Color. 137 mins. Rated PG-13. Directed By John Cassavetes. Starring Ben Gazzara, Peter Falk and John Cassavetes. The godfather and patron saint of American independent filmmaking, John Cassavetes made uncompromising, deeply personal movies, and "Husbands" is no exception. Created in close collaboration with his ... Read More > | |  |
Moscow, Belgium (2008)Comedy/Foreign/Romance. Moving/Witty. Color. 102 mins. Unrated. Directed By Christophe Von Rompaey. Starring Jurgen Delnaet and Barbara Sarafian. This refreshingly down-to-earth romantic comedy from director Von Rompaey has the courage to affirm the messy, dysfunctional aspects of romantic love. Sarafian is the marvel here, playing a jilted, ... Read More > | |  |
The Citadel (1938)Drama. Brainy/Moving. Black & White. 112 mins. Unrated. Directed By King Vidor. Starring Robert Donat, Rex Harrison and Rosalind Russell. King Vidor's stirring '30s drama "The Citadel" is an exemplary British film worth revisiting today, when ongoing debates about healthcare and medical ethics have made its central theme (how greed and ... Read More > | |  |
Theme of the Month: Start the Revolution without Me!
July 14th is known as Bastille Day and commemorates the events leading up to the First French Republic. Much like our own American Revolution celebration on July 4th, parades, fireworks and merrymaking mark this French national holiday. This month, we've put together a list of films that evoke that momentous time in French history. Vive la France!
A Tale of Two Cities (1935)Action/Adventure/Romance. Brainy/Moving. Black & White. 165 mins. Unrated. Directed By Jack Conway. Starring Ronald Colman and Elizabeth Allan. Conway's rich, peerless adaptation of Charles Dickens's famous novel ("It was the best of times, it was the worst of times") succeeds on the merits of its lavish production design and exquisite, ... Read More > | |  |
Danton (1983)Drama/Foreign. Brainy/Fast-paced/Intense. Color. 136 mins. Unrated. Directed By Andrzej Wajda. Starring Gerard Depardieu and Wojciech Pszoniak. Having fled communist rule in Poland in 1982, Wajda found a creative outlet for his own sense of outrage in exile, directing this captivating political drama about the abuses of leadership in ... Read More > | |  |
Marat/Sade (1966)Drama. Offbeat/Brainy/Intense. Color. 120 mins. Unrated. Directed By Peter Brook. Starring Patrick Magee and Ian Richardson. Bringing Peter Weiss's shocking, critically acclaimed play to the big screen, Peter Brook enlists the formidable talents of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Company, who collectively drive this ... Read More > | |  |
Scaramouche (1952)Family/Action/Adventure. Fast-paced/Scenic. Color. 111 mins. Unrated. Directed By George Sidney. Starring Stewart Granger, Mel Ferrer, Janet Leigh and Eleanor Parker. "Scaramouche" has enough action, romance and color to fill ten movies, and is justly famous for featuring the longest sword duel on film, which takes place in an abandoned theater. Director ... Read More > | |  |
The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982)Action/Adventure/Romance. Fast-paced/Witty/Offbeat. Color. 136 mins. Unrated. Directed By Clive Donner. Starring Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymour. Set during Robespierre's head-rolling Reign of Terror, this rousing remake of Alexander Korda's outstanding 1935 original (sadly, not on DVD) has all the haute glamour, period flair, and zingy ... Read More > | |  |
Spotlight
•SOLD OUT! On Tuesday, July 13th, John moderates a Q & A with Chevy Chase at the Avon Theatre in Stamford, CT following the 25th Anniversary screening of the movie "Fletch." See the Avon Theatre for details.
• In case you missed it, John's Father's Day movie selections appeared last month in What2WearWhere.
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