CINEMANIA:

La Strada (1954, Italy, Frederico Fellini)

Dan Jardine:

The legendary Frederico Fellini began his career in movies as a screenwriter for neo-realist pioneer filmmaker Roberto Rossellini, and his great success would establish the expectation that Fellini would follow in his mentor’s footsteps. While his earliest films, including I Vitelloni, met with neo-realist’s approval, Fellini was soon subsequently denounced as a turncoat to the cause for crafting films, the first of which would be La Strada, that operated at a heightened level of reality, where fancy and fantasy would play vital roles.

Reefer Madness (1938, USA, Louis Gasner) 

Reefer Madness opens with a siren-warning that "[m]arijuana is…a violent narcotic…the Real Public Enemy Number One!" The camera then focuses on Dr.

Tupac: Resurrected (2003, USA, Lauren Lazin) 

Dan Jardine:

Tupac: Resurrected is a fascinating, if flawed, documentary that finds an unusual hook to lure in its audience: The film tells Tupac’s story in his own words, culling the ubiquitous voice-over narration from a plethora of interviews and layering them over videos and found footage of Shakur.

Giant (1956, USA, George Stevens) AKA You Bought it Sight Unseen 

Dan Jardine:

Giant is a great big old-fashioned film that is framed as an epic, as it spans several decades in the lives of an extended family of characters at a time in Texas history when sweeping social and economic changes were besetting its people. Yet, the story has a quiet intimacy to it despite the immense grandeur of the setting and the scope of the historical backdrop.

We Need to Talk About Kevin  (UK, 2011, Lynne Ramsay)

Ben Livant:

I am going to give the book I have not read on which the film is based the benefit of the doubt.  I am going to assume that the novel is a compelling read because it successfully provides the psychological interiority of the character of the mother who recalls the story from her first person point of view.  It is precisely this inner mentality that the film fails to deliver.

The Mill and the Cross 

Ben Livant:

I know you (editor's note: that would be me, Dan Jardine) have only seen the first few minutes of this film (editor's note: I've since seen the whole film. And really dug it), so I won't spoil it for you.  Not because I am going to shut up about it.  Because there is nothing to spoil.  Well, that is, insofar as we all issue spoiler alerts only with respect to divulging information about plot.

Melancholia (Denmark, 2011, Lars von Trier)

Ben Livant:

Just as NHL addicts love to pick and choose from the whole league to create their dream team, film buffs make Top Ten lists.  And just like a hockey fan who wants to see nothing more than a show-down between his best goalie and his favorite forward, cinema enthusiasts enjoy programing the ultimate double-bill.

Ides of March (USA, 2011, George Clooney)

Ben Livant:

The West Wing for boys instead of girls.  The erotic soap-opera romantics have been replaced by language-as-a-weapon hard-ball sports.  Ostensibly a no-nonsense examination of politics as a profession in a supposedly democratic system, The Ides of March is at the core yet another bleeding-heart morality tale.  The topic is the loss of innocence and the entrenchment of cynicism due to deal-making and back-stabbing on the campaign trail.

Shame (UK/USA, 2011, Steve McQueen)

Ben Livant:

If you hadn't seen the films but merely heard a plot synopsis of each, Steve McQueen's current offering, Shame, could easily sound entirely different than his 2008 debut, Hunger. The latter is about an actual person from a relatively recent historical period, a public figure who became so as the result of his involvement in a political action.

A Personal Journey Through Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise and Before Sunset: Laden With Happiness and Tears

Dan Jardine:

There are many reasons that Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise and Before Sunset demand, like Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece Godfather I and II, to be addressed as a single unit, but two are predominate.