Iran at the Chicago International Film Festival
The Best Picture Award winner at the 50th Annual Chicago International Film Festival went to the stunning Iranian film "The President."
Alice in Blunderland: "The Dance of Death" and war between the sexes
This production of the Swedish playwright August Strindberg's 1900 "The Dance of Death," now playing in Pasadena, is expertly acted and directed.
"Citizenfour": "The Shock Doctrine" plays out in the Patriot Act
The NSA and the National Security State have committed possibly irreparable damage to democracy itself, which depends on free speech and liberty of thought.
New directions for LA opera: "Dido and Aeneas/Bluebeard’s Castle"
LA Opera's edgy double feature takes this august art form in other directions and shows the possibilities of different modes of expression for the operatic medium.
"Season of the Witch" examines occult history of rock
Speaking as an occult enthusiast, I prepared myself for the possibility that this book would consist of clichéd assumptions about the occult. Fortunately, the author doesn't go that route.
“Free Radical Bluz”
"To my fellow workers going it alone, who square off with bosses but just get skinned right down to the bone..."
Brad Pitt fires last shot in “Fury”
The film does boast some excellent performances, but by the second half, the script turns utterly preposterous.
Freedom of the press? "Kill the Messenger" in review
Kill the Messenger raises daunting questions about the role of the press in society. This passion play is a piece of our nation's recent and ongoing history.
French New Wave classic flows back onto the screen
The late 1950s and early 1960s was a pivotal, heady, historic time for French cinema, as Nouvelle Vague or New Wave classics flowed onto the screen.
In "The Decent One," Heinrich Himmler: Dedicated family man
This haunting film, now in theaters, recently won the best documentary award at the Jerusalem Film Festival.
