cult movies
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Movies in The Park: Fireflies and Stars
(“To Sir with Love, 1967) According to the Chicago Park District, 170 current and classic movies will be shown in neighborhood parks throughout the city, through September. I know many of us have missed the first program offerings, but here’s a list of recommendations for the final month of movies. Lots to choose from… Bring popcorn,…
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Fame: Cult Movie of the Week
Fame (1980) is one of those movies that makes you wish you lived in a world so filled with youthful fervor that at anytime a group of kids might break into interpretive dance and jump on a cab. We don’t. But that didn’t keep us from cheering for the characters in the film (especially Coco…
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Cult Movie of the Week: Stray Dog (1949)
A work of Japanese Noir from iconic Japanese director Kurosawa, “Stray Dog” (1949) gets by on good looks, swagger, and heart. Featuring a slinking pace, the film’s cadence is ultimately trumped by its ability to be beautifully gritty and enveloping, just like summer. Set in the depths of summer in Post-World War II Tokyo, the film follows detective Murakami as he seeks to…
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Hi-Fi White: Foodstamps, Bulldogs, and Hollywood
Wilbur White was a nightclub singer on the South Side of Chicago whose bluesy growl wielded so much power that he was nicknamed Hi-Fi. He’d been in the clubs since the 1950s, and although I hear he put on a knockout of a show, that never translated into record sales. Speaking of knockouts, he…
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Cult Movie of the Week: Shaft in Africa
I will start with the disclaimer: I am not really a blaxploitation film lover. I’m a lover of their funky romps-of-soundtracks. That said, I dig Shaft in Africa despite its more reserved soundtrack. Why? It’s titled Shaft…..in Africa! Not only Africa, but, specifically, Ethiopia… a country that holds a lot of romance for me because…
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Cult Movie of the Week: Jacksons an American Dream
Yeah, I said it. Angela Bassett, Terence Howard, dude from Welcome Back, Kotter Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, etc., in the story of Gary, Indiana’s most famous sons (and daughters). I recently pulled out my (second) dub of this. It’s a textbook cult classic: lines you can’t forget, larger than life characters… and untouchably-dope music. Since I couldn’t…
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The Warriors: Cult Movie of the Week
Coke bottles clanging together, the sound ringing down a dark, wet alley. A voice calls out menacingly: “Warriors…. Come out and Play-yay…..” The Warriors (1979) is many things. It is a classical Epic tale (like Homer’s Odyssey). It is a pulpy cult classic with a look all its own (co-starring the New York Transit System…
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Black Girl: Cult Movie of the Week
(1966, Directed by Sembene Ousmane) If you are unfamiliar with this movie, or Black Francophone film in general, change that…now. Black Girl is the story of a beautiful Senegalese nanny named Diouana (played by Thérèse Mbissine Diop, see above), who joins Robert Fontaine (Monsieur) and Anne-Marie Jelinek (Madame) on their trip to the French Riviera,…