Co-Host of the Cold War Cinema podcast: sites.libsyn.com/501203
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Get Shorty 1995
Get Shorty was a favorite of mine in my twenties and I wanted to revisit it after Gene Hackman's death. I'm happy to report that the movie did not disappoint. I love the constant references to classic Hollywood and B-horror flicks. I love the clever dialogue and the complex plot. The film is a throwback to the noir era, especially to films like The Big Sleep with their intricate twists and turns. It's also one of the great 1990s crime comedies, along with the movies of Guy Ritchie and the Coen brothers. Besides Pulp Fiction, this is my favorite John Travolta role.
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Ivan the Terrible, Part II: The Boyars' Plot 1946
This wasn't quite as good as the first part, to me, but it's still very good. There is so much strangeness, so many surprises. In the long banquet scene, for example, we switch into color and enter into a nightmarish surrealism. That scene also advances the plot and reveals Ivan to be not only terrible, but terribly conniving and clever. What a work of art.
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Come and See 1985
First things first, FUCK NAZIS. This should be repeated often and without hesitation.
I mention this because Come and See is probably the best anti-Nazi film I've ever seen. It's a brutal, visceral war drama like no other. The cinematography, sound design, set design, make-up, acting, and everything else are simply virtuosic. What I didn't realize until investigating the film is that Belarus arguable suffered the most of any country during WWII. It was occupied by Germany, and the Nazis…
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Sambizanga 1972
It occurred to me late in the film that its narrative structure somewhat mirrors the arc of a revolution: slow, at first, with little conflict to speak of, and then building into a swell of violence until a much-needed release. The revolution in question is the Angolan War of Indepence from the brutal Portuguese colonial occupation. We sometimes forget that Portugal was part of the "scramble for Africa" alongside the UK, France, Belgium and the other European empires, and like…
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