USA

Members of the American Federation of Labor, the Atlantic & Gulf Coast District of the Seafarers International Union commissioned budding filmmaker and magazine photographer Stanley Kubrick to direct this half-hour documentary. Originally released in October of 1953, this short was the director’s first film in color. More of an industrial film than a documentary, it basically served as a promotional tool to get sailors to join the union. Since then, it has been released on home video for curious fans of the director. In addition to directing, Kubrick was cinematographer and editor. Presumably, he took the job of making The Seafarers in order to finance his first feature film, Fear and Desire, which was released in the same year.Read More »

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Soderbergh has brought us SPALDING GRAY’S FINAL MONOLOGUE with the film, “And Everything Is Going Fine”. He compiles what is essentially a final autobiographical testament of Gray’s life using rare footage of his TV interviews, recordings of his theatrical monologues, and even some footage taken personally by Gray with his family members. A simple mash-up of such footage gives Gray the oppourtunity to bring us one final monologue- from the grave- speaking about himself, just as he loved to do…for our pleasure, and his sanity!!! He truly was the best monologist, one-man-show and storyteller to ever grace the stage. Read More »

In 1971, Motor Racing fan Roman Polanski spent a weekend with world champion driver
Jackie Stewart as he attempted to win the Monaco Grand Prix. Polanski was given intimate
access to Stewart’s world for three days, both on the track and off. The result is an
extraordinarily rare glimpse into the life of a gifted athlete at the height of his powers. Forty
years on, Polanski and Stewart meet once again. In a remarkable post-script, they discuss
the sport, both past and present, with a unique and unmatched perspective.Read More »

The second film to be made from Woody Allen’s successful stage comedy (following a 1969 feature starring Jackie Gleason), Don’t Drink the Water is a made-for-television adaptation directed by and starring Allen himself. The fish-out-of-water premise remains the same: Allen plays Walter Hollander, a caterer from New Jersey who takes his family on vacation to a fictional Eastern European country. The trip turns sour when, thanks to a series of misunderstandings involving some inopportune snapshots, they are accused of espionage. The family goes on the run, taking refuge in the American Embassy. There, with the help of a wily young diplomat, they try to figure out a way to return to America without sparking an international incident. Though this version is set 25 years later than the original film, the changes are mostly cosmetic: the visual style is hand-held and more frantic, and the script replaces numerous references to the Cold War with a few glancing nods to present-day politics. Another notable change, the addition of an opening montage parodying newsreels, was reportedly the result of network pressure after Allen’s initial cut proved too short for the planned time slot.Read More »

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The Director of a large anonymous corporation (uncredited Duvall) asks surveillance expert Harry Caul (improbably pacamac-ed hero, Hackman) to record a young couple’s private conversation. The film opens with Caul and assistants (including John Cazale) endeavouring to capture the said exchange in a busy square with an assortment of concealed mics.Read More »

Commando Daffy Duck goes behind enemy lines and causes havoc for a Nazi German officer and his troops.Read More »

In 1840, a young Russian aristocrat, Dimitri Sanin, is returning home after a long tour of Europe. In Germany, he falls in love with a beautiful pastry shop girl, Gemma Rosselli, who soon starts sharing his feelings. They decide to get married and, in order to finance the wedding, Dimitri goes back to Russia to sell his family estate. Unfortunately he falls prey to a seductress, Princess Maria Nikolaevna, who pretends to be willing to buy his land to come nearer him. Now Sanin is in a fix: should he choose the pure Gemma or the evil but irresistible Maria?Read More »

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Creatures of the night find new prey on the scariest night of the year in this horror story. It’s Halloween night, and four friends — Allison (Vanessa Horneff), Elliott (Wil Horneff), Trevor (Karl Jacob), and Brian (Sean Reid) — are on a road trip en route to a friend’s wedding when their car breaks down after running into something. Looking for help, the four happen upon the farmhouse of an elderly couple, Elvin (Richard Little) and May (Barbara Wilhide), which is located next to a huge barn. Elvin and May have already become lost in the darkness of the barn, and soon two of the lost travelers are suffering the same fate as they search for friendly strangers. However, while they can barely see a hand in front of their face, they discover they’re not alone in the barn, which has become home to a huge swarm of bloodthirsty bats. The Roost is framed by an introduction and postscript from a television horror show host, played by Tom Noonan. ~ Mark Deming, RoviRead More »

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Set over the course of a weekend tournament for chess software programmers thirty-some years ago, Computer Chess transports viewers to a nostalgic moment when the contest between technology and the human spirit seemed a little more up for grabs. We get to know the eccentric geniuses possessed of the vision to teach a metal box to defeat man, literally, at his own game, laying the groundwork for artificial intelligence as we know it and will come to know it in the future.Read More »