Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ • Member Bonus
The members voted and decided that for this month, we should discuss Fred Niblo’s silent classic, the 1925 Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, which holds its ground against Heston’s version for sure—particularly in the chariot race.
The Big Parade
We continue our Cinema Centennial: 1925’s Pioneering Visions series with King Vidor’s The Big Parade, a groundbreaking WWI epic that shocked 1925 audiences with its intimate portrait of soldiers’ lives before confronting the brutal realities of modern warfare.
Battleship Potemkin
We kick off our Cinema Centennial: 1925’s Pioneering Visions series, looking at amazing films that are having their 100th birthday this year, and we’re starting it off with a big one: Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin!
Sunset Blvd.
We wrap up our Platinum Performances: The 1950 Best Actress Oscar Race series with another big one, Billy Wilder’s Sunset Blvd., with a meta and timeless performance from Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond.
Caged
We continue our Platinum Performances: The 1950 Best Actress Oscar Race series, celebrating the five great actresses nominated this year. We’re digging into John Cromwell’s Caged, starring Eleanor Parker.
The Gunfighter • Member Bonus
Our members voted and this month, we’re heading to the Old West with the first western for grownups. Gregory Peck stars in Henry King’s brilliant film The Gunfighter.
Born Yesterday
We kick off our Platinum Performances: The 1950 Best Actress Oscar Race series with the film that took home the Oscar, George Cukor’s Born Yesterday with the hilarious and perfect Judy Holliday.
The Aura
We return briefly to our Ricardo Darín series with a one-off episode, looking at Darín’s second collaboration with writer/director Fabián Bielinsky, The Aura. It’s about an epileptic taxidermist and a casino heist, and absolutely worth tracking down.
The Invincible Six
We wrap up our return to our Seven Samurai Family series with a B-movie that’s pretty bad but oddly still entertaining. It’s one of Jean Negulesco’s final films, The Invincible Six.
Battle Beyond the Stars
We continue our Seven Samurai Family series with a Roger Corman-produced sci-fi that fits the Seven Samurai bill while also cashing in on the Star Wars fever—it’s Jimmy T. Murakami’s Battle Beyond the Stars.