As the 65th Cannes Film Festival (May 16-27, 2012) approaches I am reminded of one of my all time favorite Palme d’Or winners, the French/Italian/Brazilian production of BLACK ORPHEUS (Orfeu Negro; 1959). Directed by French director Marcel Camus, the film received worldwide critical acclaim. At home in Brazil, however, it received much criticism due to its cliché portrayal of Rio favela life; as if every day in such desperate poverty is solely a celebration of love and life. ...

Bladerunner at Fantasporto, 2012 What better film to be honored at a 'Fantastic' film festival than the classic Sci-Fi film Bladerunner (1982)! At the 32nd International Film Festival of Porto (Fantasporto), which took place February 20 to March 3, 2012, the film was screened as an homage to cinemas of the future. Directed by Ridley Scott, the canonical film was based on the novel by Sci-Fi writer Philip K. Dick called: "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" about...

  As another Oscar season has passed us by and three-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep has won yet another Academy Award for Best Actress, I think it's time to mention one of my favorite films of all time, one I must admit I watch once a month- OUT OF AFRICA (1985). Why people so often refer to it as a ‘chick flick’ is beyond me when it is a Sydney Pollack film and one of Hollywood’s greatest canonic triumphs. Universal’s “Out of Africa”, which won the Oscar for B...

SAMSARA (2011) (sequel to BARAKA, 1992) premiered this past week at the 27th SBIFF. Stay tuned for a one on one interview with producer Mark Magidson coming soon!   Twenty years ago a film was released that changed the way people viewed cinema because its filmmakers dared to go where no other film has ever been, and none since... ...BARAKA (1992), directed by cinematographer Ron Fricke and produced by Mark Magidson, does everything against the rules in textbook fi...

  Twenty years ago a film was released that changed the way people viewed cinema because its filmmakers dared to go where no other film has ever been, and none since... ...BARAKA (1992), directed by cinematographer Ron Fricke and produced by Mark Magidson, does everything against the rules in textbook filmmaking- it uses no stars, no script and no dialogue!!! - yet in so doing, BARAKA made history with its transcendent cinematic language. The point of this film was made loud and c...

  APOCALYPTO While bringing in the New Year in Mayan Mexico, how can I not think of this extraordinary film APOCALYPTO (2006) by Mel Gibson that gives cinematic verisimilitude a new meaning… Not only are they speaking ancient Yucatan Mayan!... but seriously, this film takes us hundreds of years back to pre-Columbian Meso-America. Gibson creates true cinema remarkably achieved, transporting us to this ancient world and its collective myth psychology. In this arresting scene, ...

  It's Christmas time and of course there are so many great Christmas classics to choose from for a 'Looking Back'...   I don’t know why I always think of this film at Christmastime... maybe because this arresting Zemeckis masterpiece begins at Christmas when FedEx boss Chuck Noland is torn from his life and the love of his life, Kelly (Helen Hunt), after undergoing a fatal plane crash over the South Pacific. Chuck is the only survivor and, against all odds, subsists on...

  It's high time for another one of my 'LOOKING BACK, Cinema's Greatest Moments'...   With all the TWILIGHT: SAGA's (I must be one of the only people in the world who is NOT a fan) I can't help but fill up with nostalgia for the vampire films I was watching to obsession when I was a teenager... BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA (in my opinion) is one of Coppola's great masterpieces... The film adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel: 'Bram Stoker's Dracula'. Here are some scen...