Hello Reader, This week, Steve McQueen's Apple film Blitz hits cinemas. I've yet to see the film so can't comment on it, but I can heartily recommend going back to check out his Small Axe films, which was the last time he made films about Black British history. Steve McQueen's Small Axe 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 Stream on Prime, Rent on AppleTV+ 🇬🇧 Stream on BBC iPlayer; Rent on AppleTV, Sky+, Amazon 🇮🇪 Stream on Netflix 🇳🇿 Stream on Stan Find it in your country Although Steve McQueen became a star for telling...
12 days ago • 1 min read
Hello Reader, You are receiving this as a paying subscriber to The Globetrotting Watchlist (which includes Film Adventurer and Cinephile Members), a monthly newsletter that helps you expand your cinematic horizons through streaming recommendations for the best socially progressive under-the-radar films worldwide. Your support helps us pay our expenses to keep Seventh Row, a non-profit, ad-free and online. What's Inside the Globetrotting Newsletter This month, I'm recommending: Confessions of...
20 days ago • 7 min read
Hello Reader, In the final episode of the TIFF 2024 season, I talk to renowned theatre director Marianne Elliott, who has made her feature film debut with The Salt Path, which had its world premiere at TIFF. The film, starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs, is an adaptation of Raynor Wynne's bestselling memoir and explores the journey of a couple embarking on a transformative hike along the English coast after a series of personal losses. Marianne Elliott is a multiple Tony and Olivier...
22 days ago • 1 min read
Hello Reader, Just because people are buzzing about the latest pope drama, Conclave, doesn't mean it's worth your time. You don't need to see Conclave. But you may want to go back 10+ years to see a better pope-related drama, We Have a Pope (Nanni Moretti, 2011, Italy). Who doesn't want to watch a movie about a pope who has a panic attack once he's elected, gets seen by a psychiatrist in front of all the cardinals (see image below), and then runs away from the Vatican and joins a troupe of...
27 days ago • 1 min read
Hello Reader, In the final installment of our three-part series on the biggest directorial swings at TIFF 2024, film critic Angelo Muredda joins me to discuss Brady Corbet’s ambitious yet polarizing film, The Brutalist. Earlier in the series, we discussed Joshua Oppenheimer’s The End and Luca Guadagnino’s Queer. This four-hour biopic, shot in Vistavision and designed for 70mm, follows Adrian Brody as a Jewish brutalist architect and Holocaust survivor navigating post-war America. While the...
29 days ago • 1 min read
,Hello Reader, You are receiving this as a paying subscriber to The Globetrotting Watchlist (which includes Film Adventurer and Cinephile Members), a monthly newsletter that helps you expand your cinematic horizons through streaming recommendations for the best socially progressive under-the-radar films worldwide. Your support helps us pay our expenses to keep Seventh Row, a non-profit, ad-free and online. What's Inside the Globetrotting Newsletter This month, I'm recommending: Pictures of...
about 1 month ago • 6 min read
Hello Reader, In the second of three TIFF 2024 episodes featuring Angelo Muredda, we dive into Joshua Oppenheimer's post-apocalyptic musical The End. It marks the fiction debut for the director behind The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence. And it takes some big, big directorial swings....to mixed results. The film is due for a limited US/Canada release in early December, so you'll be able to see it soon! Dr. Angelo Muredda joins me to discuss this buzzed-about film, why we found it...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hello Reader, TIFF may be over, but I still have a few last podcast episodes for you...starting with a first look at Luca Guadagnino's Queer! The film, which was just picked up by Mubi in Canada/UK/Latin America and will be released in the US by A24, adapts the William S. Burroughs novel of the same name. The film finds Luca reteaming with several Challengers collaborators including screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes and costume designer Jonathan W. Anderson. Dr. Angelo Muredda joins me to discuss...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hello Reader, If you’ve ever thought, “I wish I could watch obscure arthouse films and still have someone to talk to about them,” the good news is you’re not alone. The even better news is that it’s 100% possible to find other passionate movie lovers to watch off-the-beaten-path movies with so you can discuss them while they're fresh. And they'll make you enjoy the movie even more! I know this because I ran our new membership Reel Ruminators: A Movie-of-the-Month Discussion Club last month...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read