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The movie going experience has been under attack for quite sometime. The rise of streaming services with high quality original content as well as access to fan favorite and classic titles from the comfort of our homes has made going to the theatre seem more and more like a chore. Larger and clearer screens coupled with high quality transfers and 4K releases has faded the allure of seeing works of art on the big screen. And finally, the skyrocketing cost of ticket prices has led to a growing class divide at the box office; with a Friday night movie becoming a pastime reserved only for the elite in some communities. For film lovers we could see these problems on the horizon but they never seemed closer than that. Then COVID-19 happened and the ticking clock on movie theatres jumped ahead about 12 hours.

Experiments in film are nothing new, usually done from a marketing perspective to draw more attendees to the box office, Avatar is the most recent example utilizing the minds of incredibly talented visual effects artists to create the world of Pandora, with it’s lush foliage and almost smellable flowers. In Mr. Cameron’s case that gamble paid off. Avarar became the second highest grossing film of all time at that point. Other experiments haven’t been so lucky. Walt Disney’s Fantasia a symphony of sights and sounds like no other failed to find an audience for decades. Earthquake’s ‘sensurround’ damaged theatres and was too expensive for many theatres but helped lead to a revolution in the way sound was utilized in filmmaking. Then there’s Jonathan Lynn’s Clue a film whose plot…

"It was Hegel who said that all the greatest world events happen twice. And then, Karl Marx added, the first time it was a tragedy and the second time it was a farce."

It's been a long week, you're stressed, and you need to wind down. Hey, why not rent a movie? Pop that bad boy in, sit back, and relax. You're about halfway through the movie, it's not bad, nothing really to complain about. Wait, what was that? Rewind. That person, they look familiar. It was too fast, rewind again. Pause. What the hell? Why does that background actor look exactly like you? It's not just uncanny, it's you, but of course it's not you, you don't remember ever being an actor, but it's you, but it's not you.

This is exactly what happens…

A group of Calcutta Nuns headed by newly promoted Sister Claudaugh (Deborah Kerr, all controlled passion) take over a Himalayan Palace (formerly used to house the local General’s mistresses/consorts) high in the mountains with the intention of bringing reform and Christianity to the locals. Instead, the Nuns are undone by the overwhelming life forces, uncorseted by western society, that pulsate all around them.

Thus begins this programmer’s paltry attempt to summarize Black Narcissus, a 1947 British production written & directed by the wildly creative team, The Archers (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger).

Black Narcissus is one of those movies that is

I hadn’t seen a movie in a movie theatre in 400 days exactly, but the theatres are re-opening safely and I have been vaccinated, so I went to see the brand spanking new remake: Godzilla vs. Kong!

It's no masterpiece, but it's big dumb fun, and definitely…

I am someone who loves watching films. I love the classic era, the modern era, and everything in between. I am also someone who loves celebrity culture and is a fan of different actors. However, when I look back into the classic era in Hollywood, it is dominated by white faces. Yes, I know the culture and the times are different but contrary to popular belief, there were quite a few people of color celebrities back in the day; these pioneers should get re-evaluated and re-discovered. It would be inspiring to young people of color to know about the hard working people who blazed the trail before them…

Paul Thomas Anderson's 2017 masterpiece The Phantom Thread is an enigmatic puzzle that evolves with each subsequent viewing. A story of romance that hides something ominous under its surface. A tale of mystery, filled to the brim with restrained comedy.

In his final performance. . .

When I was a kid, my buddy Timmy Murch had the Godzilla Shogun Warriors Toy. It was pretty cool. But it wasn’t as cool as the oversized Boba Fett action figure he had and when we played in his backyard I always wanted to battle as Boba Fett…

There have been many Hitchcock homages: David Fincher’s Panic Room, Francois Truffaut’s Don’t Shoot the Piano Player, Steven Spielberg’s Duel/Jaws/Jurassic Park (re-workings in a way of The Birds), even Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Phantom Thread (which is a kind of ingenuous re-working of Rebecca). All of them dynamite. All of them also supreme examples of their own filmmakers’ voice/art.

But for this programmer’s money, the only filmmakers who actually managed to out-Hitchcock Hitchcock at his own game are director Stanley Donen and writer Peter Stone when they collaborated to make 1963’s Charade starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn.

Charade follows…

I think it’s time to bring Bollywood Club to Secret Movie Club! Two great clubs that go great together.

Once a month, my friend Amber, who is a Bollywood fan, carefully curates a film for us Bollywood newbies to enjoy. So far, after half a year or so, we are big fans of Shah Rukh Khan (SRK), who has been one of the biggest stars of Bollywood for the past thirty years.

In Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (which translated from the Hindi as basically “The good hearted will take the Bride”), he is…

For this week, I decided to compare the original Saved by the Bell to the recent reboot. I always wanted to watch the show with the revival of the ‘90s culture. For this battle, I am going to be watching the pilot (the first episode) for both. I am going to be comparing the plot, how society reflects what is being shown, along with how I feel about it.

The original is…

When Fritz Lang made M in 1930-1931 just outside of Berlin, he must have already begun to sense his days in Germany were numbered…