Rashomon: One Death, Four Stories
Toshiro Mifune and Machiko Kyo. Photo: Daiei The Rashomon effect is a term that entered the English language maybe as early as the 1960s, meant to describe an event that…
In the Heat of the Night: Virgil and the Rednecks
Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger. Photo: United Artists The 1960s are easily dismissed when we’re talking about which movies were recognized at the Oscars. In many cases, those that weren’t…
Training Day
Young cop Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke) hopes to rise from the ranks by working with a seasoned narcotics detective (Denzel Washington) but discovers that he is one reason why the…
12 Angry Men: Choosing Life or Death
Photo: United Artists The most famous episode of the CBS anthology series Studio One (1947-1958) is from 1954 and features a teleplay by Reginald Rose. Depicting a process where one…
Interstellar: Escape from Earth
Matthew McConaughey. Photo: Warner The day I saw this movie, I woke up feeling sad over what is a very common dream for me. It had taken me back to…
Wages of Fear: Road to Hell
Photo: Cinédis When this film was made, Yves Montand carried enough clout to reportedly make director Henri-Georges Clouzot change his mind on where to shoot it. Clouzot's original plans were…
Il Capitano: Drifting
Antti Reini and Maria Heiskanen. Photo: Sandrews On July 3rd 1988, a married couple and their 15-year-old son were murdered in a small community called Åmsele in northern Sweden. Father…
Midnight Express: Trapped in Turkey
Brad Davis. Photo: Columbia When Barack Obama became president, Republicans accused him of embarking on an apology tour. Well, here's an example of a cultural event that did lead to…
The Abyss: On the Edge of Darkness
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Ed Harris. Photo: 20th Century Fox Watching a good movie like The Abyss and knowing the kind of negative feelings that surrounded the production of it makes you…
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
In the near future, San Francisco scientist Will Rodman (James Franco) has invented a drug that is supposed to cure Alzheimer's... but its most dramatic effect is on apes in…