Push

If you live in a city- and more and more often, even if you don't- you're probably constantly befuddled by how expensive it is to live somewhere. Whether as a renter or as a prospective home buyer, with each passing year you feel 200 miles further away from ever affording a home. All the data, …

Ladybug Ladybug

There's something great about that string of black-and-white movies from the early 60's that I'll never grow tired of. Shot in stark, sharp black-and-white, with intense, dramatic framing and balls-to-the-wall dialogue and situations, these movies have teeth in a way no other era of film quite manages. Movies like The Pawnbroker and Fate is the …

Gaza Calling

It's virtually impossible to discuss Israel and Palestine without someone's emotions flaring up, no matter who or where you are. Even people who are neither Arab nor Jewish seem to have deeply held ideas about what's going on, casting judgement on "bad guys" and "good guys" without any firsthand experience of the situation. To attempt …

The Spirit of ’45

The great Ken Loach usually makes neorealist dramas that feel like documentaries, but with The Spirit of '45, he actually gives us a documentary about a movement in England that clearly informed Loach's entire life and career. Between WWI and WWII, England, like much of the Western World, suffered through an economic slump that makes …

Azucar Amarga (Bitter Sugar)

When does art turn into propaganda... or, when does propaganda become art? Leon Ichaso's Azucar Amarga is a vibrant and angry Exhibit A in the case of propaganda vs art. Just one look at its IMDB user reviews shows you just how divided people are on the film- it's either a 5-star masterpiece, or a …