The Politics of Cinema

What do The Pink Cloud, Enter the Ninja, Safe House, Revenge of the Ninja, Citizen Kane, Ninja III: The Domination and Bound all have in common?  They were all discovered through our #PoCWatchChallenge. Up next, Watch Challenge #4 - Films About Labor from different decades. Films about the labor movement, the nature of work, relationship between bosses and workers, we want to see how these portrayal change through time. Follow us at: Twitter / Instagram / Letterboxd / Facebook 

We're taking a look at Pre-Code Hollywood with a discussion about Blondie Johnson (1933). Follow us at: Twitter / Instagram / Letterboxd / Facebook 

It's Double Feature time!  Isaac has paired up two eco-apocalypse films for this episode: Cornel Wilde's No Blade of Grass (1970) & Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke (1997).   Follow us at: Twitter / Instagram / Letterboxd / Facebook 

Another Deep Dive episode and another return to the cinematic well of 1968.  This time we take a look at Sergio Corbucci's masterpiece The Great Silence. You can stream The Great Silence on Kanopy or YouTube (but buy the Blu-ray). Follow us at: Twitter / Instagram / Letterboxd / Facebook 

What do 1968 2068 (2018), Afronauts (2014), The Last Angel of History (1996), The Changing Same (2001), Watermelon Woman (1996), Eve's Bayou (1997), Bamboozled (1999), School Daze (1988), The Learning Tree (1969) and Welcome Home Brother Charles (1975) have in common?  They were all discovered (or re-watched) during our February Watch Challenge. Here's the link to the UCLA L.A. Film Rebellion program Aaron mentioned. We also preview our March Watch challenge: Listen to a commentary track An Eco-Apocalypse film A ninja film Bonus: Listen to a score, then watch the film Follow us at: Twitter / Instagram / Letterboxd / Facebook 

On this episode we get nostalgic, with the Hughes Brothers 1995 sophomore feature film Dead Presidents.   Follow us at: Twitter / Instagram / Letterboxd / Facebook 

On this episode we dive into a bit of Russian history and a bit of film history as we take a look as Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin (1925).    

What do 76 Days (2020), Men in Black: International (2019), Rebecca (1940), L.A. Wars, Virtuosity(1995), She Done Him Wrong (1933), Robo Vampire (1988) and Red Scorpion (1988) all have in common?  They were all discovered (or re-watched) during our January Watch Challenge. We also preview our February Watch challenge: A film from the Afrofuturism genre A film from a Black Female director A Spike Lee film you've never seen. Bonus: Pick your own film. Follow us at: Twitter / Instagram / Letterboxd / Facebook 

During our two part coverage of Uptight (1968) we included several clips from our interview with Mike Wendt from the Greater Cleveland Film Commission that pertained to the film.   Here is the complete interview where we discuss: film productions in Cleveland, hometown pride, Paul Schrader, Cherry (2021), Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) and The Land (2016). Follow us at: Twitter / Instagram / Letterboxd / Facebook 

Uptight (1968) is a Cleveland set, Cleveland filmed masterpiece that is ripe for re-discovery. It was co-written, produced and co-stars Cleveland born Ruby Dee and documents the political and social struggle of local revolutionaries in the wake of MLK Jr.'s assassination. In part II of our II part series; we recap the film for those who haven't seen it (or to refresh your memory), talk shop with special guest Mike Wendt from the Greater Cleveland Film Commission and then dive into the politics and filmmaking in a nearly scene by scene analysis.    Watch Uptight on YouTube   Sources: Soul Searching: Black-themed Cinema from the March on Washington to the Rise of Blaxploitation Follow us at: Twitter / Instagram / Letterboxd / Facebook