“So much of Ordinary People has been codified into pop culture cliché it can be difficult to imagine how startling the film must have seemed at the time. Here’s television’s original beloved housewife Mary Tyler Moore, who can turn the world on with her smile, playing one of the least maternal moms in movie history with brittle, shattering intensity.” – Crooked Marquee, 09/26/2025

“A breakthrough for Wenders, codifying the dreamy, sentimental existentialism that became his signature. The director can be glimpsed at a diner jukebox early in the film, playing the Count Five’s ‘Psychotic Reaction.’ Indeed, it’s impossible to count all the jukeboxes, diners, highways, old muscle cars and rock n’ roll songs in Wim Wenders films.” – Crooked Marquee, 09/05/2025

“An expert use of Stamp’s ethereal presence. The more serene he is, the more it throws Braddock off his game. The elder assassin starts making stupid mistakes. Parker’s gotten inside his head, planting sly insinuations and pointed asides. Here’s where Stamp’s playfulness comes in especially handy; he’s able to make being beatific into a way of fucking with you.” – Crooked Marquee, 08/29/2025

“Spielberg’s most Altman-esque movie, casting a wary eye on institutions his later pictures would exalt. The mayor from Jaws became such a popular meme during COVID-19 because the film is bracingly up front about how people in charge are not necessarily looking out for your best interests. There’s a New Hollywood cynicism that’s missing from his subsequent work.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 08/27/2025

“Chopped down to 62 minutes and dubbed into English, the film played on double bills alongside something called Mixed-Up Women. Such presentations cemented for generations the notion that Swedish films were full of frolicking nude starlets, a misconception I imagine led to unpleasant evenings for anyone who wandered into The Virgin Spring.” – Crooked Marquee, 08/22/2025

“Turning navel gazing into performance art, Gray obsessively recounted the minutiae of his life as a way of imposing order on an existence he found overwhelmingly chaotic. Telling stories is how we explain our lives to ourselves, but Swimming To Cambodia is about what happens when a seasoned storyteller comes up against the unexplainable.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 08/12/2025

“This was an important afternoon for me, as a kid obsessed with the latest Star Wars and Spielberg pictures realized that old black-and-white movies could also be a blast. I had so much fun watching The Lady Vanishes that I put off seeing it again for another 40 years or so, fearing that the film couldn’t possibly live up to the thrill of that first discovery.” – Crooked Marquee, 07/25/2025

“Other directors tell stories. Robert Altman explored ecosystems. No filmmaker more playfully examined the hierarchies in which we humans like to arrange ourselves, every movie a bustling community that seemed more discovered than staged. Altman’s improv-heavy, overlapping dialogue and roving camera made his films feel caught on the fly.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 07/14/2025

“Beverly Hills Cop is an extremely easy film to watch, floating from scene to scene on the characters’ chemistry and Murphy’s incandescent charisma. The generic crime story makes it even cozier, with familiar beats that don’t take too much focus away from the people we’re enjoying. You can see why it was #1 at the box office for 14 weeks. The movie is good company.” – Crooked Marquee, 07/11/2025

“Poking merciless fun at the self-important music docs of the era, it’s a boomer hagiography in reverse. Reiner plays a documentarian tagging along for what looks like it will be the band’s final tour, downsizing from arenas to air force bases and amusement parks where they’re second billed to puppet shows. It’s the end of an error, the twilight of the dolts.” – Crooked Marquee, 07/02/2025