Johnny Stecchino

Roberto Benigni: you either love him, or you hate him. Italy's top clown, the man has come to carry the torch of physical comedy into this generation, culminating with his worldwide smash, Life is Beautiful, which is either a loving tribute to the power of the human spirit, or a tasteless, tone-deaf attempt at sanitizing …

La Dolce Vita

Who can say why Fellini's masterpiece, and one of the greatest movies of all time, is unavailable on any streaming platform? Only Capitalism can say. In the meantime, here it is for your enjoyment- Fellini's wonderful, 3-hour-long dreamlike journey through high Italian society and celebrity culture, the one that gave us the word "Paparazzi," the …

Allegro Non Troppo

Debussy, Dvorak, Ravel, Sibelius, Stravinsky, and Vivaldi all get to see their masterpieces turned into bawdy, earthy satire in Allegro Non Troppo, Brono Bozzetto's very Italian sendup of Fantasia. That pretty much says it all; the great Maurizio Nichetti plays "the Animator" to a pretentious Conductor, a hack Producer and an orchestra full of Old …

Dellamorte, Dellamore (aka Cemetery Man)

If early Peter Jackson or Evil Dead II is your jam, and / or you appreciate the overly stylized visuals of Italian filmmakers like Fellini and Dario Argento, then there's really no argument: Michele Soavi's Dellamorte Dellamore is mandatory viewing. With a ridiculous- I mean, completely bonkers- storyline that conveniently weaves in gorgeous women and …

Volere Volare

The lazy American way of describing this film would be "Roger Rabbit for adults." And while, yes, Volere Volare is a live action film interacting with animated cartoons, it's also a delightful and whimsical comedy by Italian filmmaker Maurizio Nichetti, whose work seems to have slipped into obscurity on the Western side of the Atlantic. …