Venice winner – Stream On Demand

Hafsia Herzi and Habib Boufares in Abdellatif Kechiche's Cesar-winning film

‘The Secret of the Grain’ on Criterion Channel

!Featured, Blu-ray, Criterion, Criterion Channel, DVD, International Cinema, Venice winner 04/24/2022 Sean Axmaker

Tunisian-French filmmaker Abdellatif Kechiche directs this rich journey through culture and family in an Arab-French port town community.

Sterling Hayden and Sam Jaffe star in the film noir from John Huston

‘The Asphalt Jungle’ – the original heist classic on HBO Max

!Featured, Academy Award nominee, Action, based on a novel, Blu-ray, caper, Classic Movie, DVD, film history, film noir, HBO Max, Hollywood Classic, literary adaptation, National Film Registry, SVOD, Venice winner 04/10/2022 Sean Axmaker

John Huston essentially created the heist film with this classic tale of a crew that undertakes a meticulously planned out jewelry robbery.

Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘Vivre sa vie’ on HBO Max and Criterion Channel

!Featured, Blu-ray, Criterion Channel, drama, DVD, Free, French New Wave, HBO Max, International Classics, Kanopy, socially aware cinema, SVOD, Venice winner 03/14/2022 Sean Axmaker

Anna Karina stars in this drama of social and sexual politics about a shop girl and aspiring actress who becomes a professional prostitute.

‘Pickup on South Street’ – Sam Fuller’s pickpocket noir

!Featured, Blu-ray, Classic Movie, Crime Cinema, Criterion, DVD, film noir, Hollywood Classic, National Film Registry, SVOD, Venice winner 02/20/2022 Sean Axmaker

Richard Widmark gives his most feral performance as three-time loser who gets in the middle of a spy ring in this engaging 1953 film noir classic.

Natalie Portman is the ‘Black Swan’ on Hulu

!Featured, Academy Award, BAFTA winner, Blu-ray, drama, DVD, Film Independent Spirit Awards, Hulu, Streaming Movies, SVOD, thriller, Venice winner 02/16/2022 Sean Axmaker

‘The Red Shoes’ meets ‘Repulsion’ in Darren Aronofsky’s ‘jittery psychological portrait of neurosis and obsession in the ballet world.

Clive Owen and Clare-Hope Ashitey star in the science fiction drama directed by Alfonso Cuaron

‘Children of Men’ – the future is sterile on Amazon Prime Video

!Featured, Academy Award nominee, BAFTA winner, based on a novel, Blu-ray, DVD, Have You Seen...?, literary adaptation, Peacock, Science Fiction, Streaming Movies, SVOD, thriller, Venice winner 11/08/2021 Sean Axmaker

Clive Owen is a reluctant hero in a bleak future who is roused by what may be a miracle in Alfonso Cuaron’s magnificently crafted science fiction thriller.

'I'm Not There,' directed by Todd Haynes and starring Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, and Heath Ledger.

‘I’m Not There’ – the lives of Bob Dylan on Amazon Prime

!Featured, Academy Award nominee, Amazon Prime Video, biographical, DVD, Film Independent Spirit Awards, inspired by a true story, Musical, Streaming Movies, SVOD, Venice winner 09/15/2021 Sean Axmaker

Todd Haynes draws from the songs, lives (real and imagined) and mysteries of Bob Dylan for his impressionistic survey of the artist, his art, his interaction (and at times collision) with the culture he both grabs onto and flees, and the mysteries that surround him.

Campbell Scott and Jesse Eisenberg in Dylan Kidd's 'Roger Dodger'

‘Roger Dodger’ – Jaded love on Amazon Prime

!Featured, African-American filmmakers, Amazon Prime Video, Comedy, DVD, Romance, satire, Streaming Movies, SVOD, Venice winner 08/16/2021 Sean Axmaker

Take an uneasy lesson from Campbell Scott’s charismatic cad in this sharply written character study in romantic cynicism. Jesse Eisenberg costars as his young pupil.

‘The Executioner’ – a satire of Spain under Franco on Criterion Channel

!Featured, Blu-ray, Comedy, Criterion, Criterion Channel, DVD, International Classics, Politics, satire, SVOD, Venice winner 06/17/2021 Sean Axmaker

The Executioner (Spain, 1963), Luis García Berlanga’s black comedy about an apprentice undertaker who marries the daughter of a veteran prison executioner and reluctantly takes his father-in-law’s job so they do not lose their government apartment, is a social satire with a sly sense of humor. Nino Manfredi plays the undertaker, a frustrated young man […]

‘Ponyo’ – Hayao Miyaki’s ‘Little Mermaid’ fable on HBO Max

!Featured, Animation, Blu-ray, DVD, family friendly, fantasy, HBO Max, Kid Stuff, SVOD, Venice winner 11/25/2020 Sean Axmaker

Part Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid, part ecological fable, and part children’s fantasy come to life, Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo (Japan, 2008) is a gentle storybook film, a simple, sweet tale animated with a delicacy unique to animated features. Ponyo is a water sprite, a curious undersea creature and daughter of the sea gods who […]