An heroic and independent entrepreneur creates a low-cost sanitary pad for the world’s poor, but must overcome cultural shame associated with menstruation to get his invention accepted. Based on a true story. [ Pad Man credits: Dir: R. Balki/ Akshay Kumar, Radhika Apte, Sonam Kapoor/ 140 min/ Biography, Comedy, Drama/ Creator-as-Hero, Individualism/ India/ 2018/ aka Padman … [Read more...]
Lord Jeff | Film Review
An orphan boy is saved from a criminal gang and reformed by a private charity. [ Lord Jeff credits: Dir: Sam Wood/ Freddie Bartholomew, Mickey Rooney, Charles Coburn/ 85 min/ Family, Drama/ Voluntarism/ 1938] No trailer available. Lord Jeff is a delightful, uplifting classic film that also highlights one of the greatest private charities of all time: the “National … [Read more...]
Bitter Harvest | Film Review
A young Ukrainian fights for his freedom, and to survive, as occupying Soviet troops deliberately starve his country into submission during the infamous Holodomor holocaust. [ Bitter Harvest credits: Dir: George Mendeluk/ Max Irons, Samantha Barks, Terence Stamp/ 103 min/ Drama, Romance, History/ Democide, Anti-socialism/ 2017] “The land belongs to the State. You, your … [Read more...]
Kinky Boots | Film Review
When a young man inherits a failing shoe factory, he discovers that the only way to save it is to abandon its traditional product and manufacture…custom boots for transgenders?! Based on a true story. [ Kinky Boots credits: Dir: Julian Jarrold/ Chiwetel Ejiofor, Joel Edgerton, Sarah-Jane Potts/ 107 min/ Comedy, Drama/ Creator-as-hero, Individualism, Social … [Read more...]
Ghostbusters (1984)
An entrepreneurial ghost-removal service runs into opposition from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) -- and other creatures of evil. [ Ghostbusters credits: Dir: Ivan Reitman/ Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis/ 105 min/ Comedy, Sci-Fi Fantasy, Horror/ Creator-as-Hero, Anti-Regulation, Pro-Capitalism] "Personally, I like the university. … [Read more...]
The Death of Stalin (2017)
When socialist dictator Joseph Stalin dies unexpectedly, a chaotic power struggle between surviving Soviet officials ensues. [ The Death of Stalin credits: Dir: Armando Iannucci/ Jason Isaacs, Andrea Riseborough, Olga Kurylenko/ 106 min/ Comedy, Drama/ Anti-socialism/ 2017] External Reviews "This delightfully silly movie is an intelligent, hilarious circus crammed full of … [Read more...]
Shin Godzilla (2016)
Godzilla returns to attack Japan, but this time with an unlikely ally: a sclerotic Japanese government that is disastrously slow to respond. [ Shin Godzilla credits: Dir: Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi/ Hiroki Hasegawa, Yutaka Takenouchi, Satomi Ishihara/ 120 min/ Action-Adventure, Sci-Fi/ Incompetent Government, Individualism/ a.k.a. Godzilla Resurgence/ Japan] Mary … [Read more...]
Good Bye Lenin (2003)
A young man in newly liberated East Germany tries to hide the fall of communism from his enthusiastically socialist mother because doctors say the shock would kill her. [ Good Bye Lenin credits: Dir: Wolfgang Becker/ 121 min/ Comedy, Foreign/ Anti-socialism] This German-made comedy captures, in its own ironic way, the fall of communism far better than any straightforward … [Read more...]
The Stranger (1946)
A post-WWII war crimes official hunts down a little-known escaped Nazi: the man who secretly planned and managed the Holocaust. [ The Stranger credits: Dir: Orson Welles/ Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young/ 95 min/ Drama, Thriller/ Democide] What makes Hitler’s extermination of six million Jews “The Holocaust” isn’t just the sheer number murdered, horrifying … [Read more...]
Key Largo (1948)
A convicted mobster plots to return to his former glory by bringing back Prohibition, and the profitable criminal enterprises it spawned – but he will have to get past a WWII veteran to do it. [ Key Largo credits: Dir: John Huston/ Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall / 100 min/ Drama, Romance/ Legalize Drugs] “I bet you two or three years, we get … [Read more...]