Memento

Christopher Nolan’s “Memento” is a brilliant use of narrative structure. Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) suffers from anterograde amnesia, a condition that makes it impossible for him to “make new memories”. The condition was caused by blunt-force trauma to his head, inflicted by an unknown assailant whom also raped and murdered his wife. The film begins [...]

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The Birth of a Nation

D.W. Griffith’s epic “Birth of a Nation” is as abhorrently racist now as it was thought to be upon its release in 1915. A landmark motion picture, Griffith’s film is largely considered the first feature-length film, at three hours; unfortunately, it features white actors in “black-face”, behaving much like flesh-eating zombies pursuing succulent Caucasian brains. [...]

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True Romance

Quentin Tarantino’s macho coke movie is timeless; an unbelievably talented ensemble cast perform with bravado, shot mostly with close-ups by Jeffrey Kimball. Blood, drugs, guns, money, and women: that’s the “True Romance” in Tarantino’s world.
Clarence Worley (Christian Slater) is an emotionally stunted comic book store clerk who goes to see a Sonny Chiba triple-feature on [...]

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This Is England

Shane Meadows’ This Is England takes place in the highly stylized universe of 1980’s England, amidst political upheaval over the Falklands War and Margaret Thatcher. Reveling in the era’s pop culture, the movie is a gritty, emotionally engaging creation of a time fueled by reggae and rocksteady, but also racism and immigration issues.
The film centers [...]

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