Directed by Peter W. Kunhardt; written by Chris Chuang; 2018, 111 min. TV-14

To commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we’ll be screening this documentary, produced by HBO. The film was referred to as a refreshingly frank and soberingly insightful look beyond the myth of King to give a view of the human being who inspired the world. It was the winner of the 2019 Emmy for Outstanding Historical Documentary and the 2019 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Documentary.

Rotten Tomatoes: 100%

Directed by Peter Bogdanovich; starring Barbra Streisand, Ryan O’Neal, and Madeline Kahn; 1972, 94 min. G

Continuing celebration of films turning 50, we feature Peter Bogdanovich’s screwball comedy about the mix up of four identical pieces of luggage. It’s on both the American Film Institute’s top 100 Greatest Comedies and 100 Greatest Love Stories lists. Bogdanovich, who died on . Roger Ebert wrote, “You don’t have to believe too much for too long, because there’s something else happening,” and The New Yorker’s Richard Brody called it “an analytical twist” on screwball comedies.” The film won a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy Written for the Screen and a Most Promising Newcomer Golden Globe nomination for Madeline Kahn.

Rotten Tomatoes: 89%

Directed and written by Jordan Peele; starring Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, and Bradley Whitford; 2017, 104 min. R

To commemorate Black History Month, we bring you the directorial debut of a new master of the horror genre. Coming off years of work in comedy, including a five-year run of the acclaimed skit comedy show Key & Peele, Jordan Peele made his first foray in horror movies with this tale of a young black man who travels home to meet his white girlfriend’s parents, only to find something amiss. IndieWire’s Anne Thompson said, “Peele seduces, subverts and manipulates audience expectations – as the masters Alfred Hitchcock, John Carpenter, and Stanley Kubrick did before him.” Peele won the 2018 Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, and the film was nominated for Best Motion Picture, Best Actor (Daniel Kaluuya), and Best Director.

Rotten Tomatoes: 98%

Directed by Sam Peckinpah; starring Steve McQueen, Ali McGraw, Ben Johnson & Al Lettieri; 1972, 122 min., PG,

Hollywood icon Steve McQueen and legendary (and notorious) director Sam Peckinpah reunited for this action-packed tale of a newly-released ex-con and his wife (Ali McGraw) as they go on the run after a botched heist leaves them carrying the loot, with the cops and the thugs that the protagonists have wronged in hot pursuit. While critical reviews were lukewarm when the film was released, it was the 8th highest grossing film of 1972, and appreciation for the film by critics has grown over the years.

Rotten Tomatoes:  86%

Directed by Julie Dash; starring Cora Lee Day, Barbara O, Alva Rogers & Trula Hoosier; 1991, 112 min., PG

To commemorate Women’s History Month, we present Julie Dash’s film about three generations of Gullah islander women as they prepare to migrate from their island home. The film was the first feature film directed by an African-American woman distributed theatrically in the United States and was selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the National Film registry in 2004. The film garnered much acclaim from critics, with Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw calling the film, “mysterious, fabular and sometimes dreamlike,” comparing it to Chekhov or a performance of Shakespeare’s Tempest.

Rotten Tomatoes:       94%

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock; starring Jon Finch, Alec McCowen, Barry Foster, & Billie Whitelaw; 1972, 116 min., R

In recognition of Alfred Hitchcock Day (March 12), we give you the second to last film in Hitchcock’s long and illustrious career. Frenzy is the story of a serial killer in 1970’s London and the recently-discharged Royal Air Force serviceman who is the principal suspect. “Frenzy” was the last of three films that Hitchcock made in his native England after moving to the United States in 1939. Like so many of Hitchcock’s films, “Frenzy” was hailed as masterpiece, with critic Roger Ebert calling it, “a return to old forms by the master of suspense, whose newer forms have pleased movie critics but not his public.”

Rotten Tomatoes:   90%

Directed. By Diego Luna; starring Michael Peña, America Feerrara, & John Malkovich; 2014, 102 min, PG-13

In honor of Cesar Chavez’s birthday (March 31), we present this bio-pic which was named Best Picture by both the American Latino Media Arts and the Imagen Awards. Directed by Diego Luna “Cesar Chavez” chronicles the struggles of the civil rights leader and labor organizer’s inspiring battle to secure a decent wage for farm workers. The Chicago Sun Times called it, “A solid and mostly successful attempt to introduce this important labor leader and civil rights activist to younger audiences, while reminding older folks of the impact Chavez had on this country.”

Directed by Robert Altman; starring Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, & William Devane; released 1972, 120 min. R

Film auteur Altman put his unmistakable stamp on the western genre with this revisionist tale of a charismatic but naive entrepreneur, McCabe, and a shrewd professional madam, Mrs. Miller, who build a Pacific Northwest town from the ground up. Shot sequentially, Altman found a suitable British Columbia location and built up the “set”, which the viewer witnesses as McCabe builds up the town in the film. Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader wrote decades after the film’s release: “Still Robert Altman’s best moment, this 1971 antiwestern murmurs softly of love, death, and capitalism.”

Rotten Tomatoes: 84%

Directed by Sean Penn; starring Emile Hirsch, Catherine Keener, & Hal Holbrook; 2007, 148 min. R

In honor of Earth Day (April 22), we screen this film about a young man who abandons everything to hitchhike across America to live in the Alaskan wilderness. Sean Penn directed and wrote the screenplay based on Jon Krakauer’s non-fiction book. Flagstaff Native and Grand Canyon boatman, Brian Dierker, a river guide for many local productions, was given a major supporting role by director Penn. Roger Ebert called the film “spellbinding,” and Matthew Lucas wrote, “A masterpiece; a rapturous, quintessential American odyssey…”

Rotten Tomatoes: 83%

Directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson; starring Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, & B.B. King; 2021, 118 min., PG-13

End of the Year Celebration – Under the Stars

In the summer of 1969, just weeks before the iconic Woodstock concert was held 100 miles north, the Harlem Cultural Festival presented six weeks of concerts featuring some of the greatest jazz and soul talent of the day, including Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, The 5th Dimension, and more. The concerts were filmed but no television network or movie studio showed any interest. Over 50 years later, director Questlove put together this marvelous film about the music and the times, which Rolling Stone called, “a tribute to the artists and, just as importantly, their audience — which is what makes it not just a great concert film but a great documentary, period.”

Rotten Tomatoes: 99%