Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe joined forces on the problem-plagued The Misfits. See also: The playwright’s answer to Elia Kazan’s 1954 Oscar winner On the Waterfront.
Socially Conscious Movies
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Visions of the shattered American Dream in 2 ‘Arthur Miller movies’: The subversive family dramas All My Sons and Death of a Salesman.
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The Poseidon Adventure actress Carol Lynley should also be remembered for a landmark teen pregnancy drama and for a first-rate British thriller.
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Detroit (movie 2017) review: Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal’s skillfull and well-intentioned docudrama is unsatisfying as both cinema and history. John Boyega and Will Poulter star.
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Money Monster (movie 2016) review: Jodie Foster thriller is marred by a phony social conscience, but George Clooney and Julia Roberts are stellar.
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Chi-Raq (movie 2015) review: Spike Lee effectively provides a 21st-century setting to Aristophanes’ 2,400-year-old play. Teyonah Parris is Lysistrata.
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Lord Montagu (movie 2013) review: Real-life victim of British anti-gay bigotry went on to become a successful businessman and popular jet-setter.
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Jean Arthur Films: 3 Frank Capra Classics Starring Progressive-Minded Actress that was 1 of the greatest performers during the studio era.
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Selma (movie 2014) review: Ava DuVernay’s ‘Martin Luther King Jr. in Alabama’ drama is a reminder that Civil Rights events remain disturbingly relevant. David Oyelowo plays MLK.
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Song of the Fishermen (movie 1934) review: Cai Chusheng drama depicts the dehumanizing results of China’s stratified class system.
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Apartheid Movies: Focus on White South Africans criticized in films (usually made by/with British and American talent) such as A World Apart and Cry Freedom.
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Nelson Mandela Movies: South African guerrilla fighter turned political prisoner turned president portrayed reverentially by American or British actors.
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Una Noche (movie 2012) review: Lucy Mulloy proves herself a capable screenwriter-director with this mostly Havana-set refugee drama.
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The East (movie 2013) review: Zal Batmanglij and Brit Marling’s thriller suffers from an overabundance of self-seriousness that ultimately works against its socially conscious message.
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Antiviral (movie 2012) review: Brandon Cronenberg gutsy thriller is too emotionally detached for its own good. Caleb Landry Jones and Sarah Gadon star.
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A Face in the Crowd (movie 1957) review: A hammy Andy Griffith and a didactic Budd Schulberg hinder Elia Kazan’s political drama with Patricia Neal and Anthony Franciosa.
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Paul Winfield, the canine Sounder, Kevin Hooks, Sounder Sounder probably features more extremely wide shots than any movie besides Lawrence of Arabia – and Martin Ritt’s movie is only half …
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Fade Out Fade In: Flaring racial tensions and decaying Hollywood Mansions + right-wing pro-war propaganda with iconic all-American hero.
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Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps box office: Michael Douglas and Shia LaBeouf star in Oliver Stone’s underperforming (and costly) sequel to his 1987 film.
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Hold Back the Dawn (movie 1941) review: Olivia de Havilland showcase is also a solid romantic melodrama. Charles Boyer and Paulette Goddard costar; Mitchell Leisen directed.
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Tokyo Sonata (movie 2008) review: Kiyoshi Kurosawa exposes the unraveling of Japan’s traditional social fabric in this capably acted urban drama. Teruyuki Kagawa and Kyôko Koizumi star.
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Sold for Marriage: Remarkably modern early silent film Though all but completely forgotten today, Christy Cabanne (at times billed as William Christy Cabanne) was a respected name in the 1910s …
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America the Beautiful (movie 2007) review: Overextended documentary tackles the reasons for American women’s obsession with physical beauty.
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The Aerial (movie 2007) review: Esteban Sapir’s black-and-white, near-silent morality fantasy is both daringly innovative and lovingly nostalgic.
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Leatherheads (movie 2008) review: Uneven George Clooney football comedy offers romance mixed with social and political commentary. Renée Zellweger and John Krasinski costar.
Mothers of Men (movie 1917) review: Remarkable women’s suffrage tale asks whether the female right to vote would destroy American society. Dorothy Davenport stars.
Teresa Wright in ‘The Best Years of Our Lives’: Mammoth Blockbuster was Career Highlight as stardom slipped shortly afterwards.
European Colonialism in Sub-Saharan Africa legacy range from apartheid films to Neill Blomkamp’s sleeper hit District 9 + Something of Value.
Elysium (movie 2013) review: Matt Damon is turned into a conventional superhero in Neill Blomkamp’s well-intentioned but uneven dystopian drama.
Monster’s Ball 2001 with Halle Berry, Billy Bob Thornton. This brief piece is an amalgam of two comments posted in response to Alt Film Guide’s Monster’s Ball review written by …
Black Rain. Animego’s DVD release of Shohei Imamura’s Black Rain includes as a bonus feature a selection of World War II-era anti-Japanese propaganda films. Sponsored by various U.S. government bureaucracies, …
Griffith Cinema: Abraham Lincoln Biopic and the dangers of alcoholism + climactic ice-floe river rescue honoring father of American film.
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