Celebrate the 60th anniversary of The Sound of Music with a screening that’s unfortunately relevant. The Oscar-winning film set in pre-WWII Salzburg combines an unforgettable soundtrack by Rodgers and Hammerstein with incredible performances from Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer as the real-life story of the Von Trapp Family Singers plays out. Witness a powerful account […]
Celebrate the 60th anniversary of The Sound of Music with a screening that’s unfortunately relevant. The Oscar-winning film set in pre-WWII Salzburg combines an unforgettable soundtrack by Rodgers and Hammerstein with incredible performances from Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer as the real-life story of the Von Trapp Family Singers plays out. Witness a powerful account […]
Learn how Colonial culinary tastes were shaped and American cuisine started to define itself at the screening of James Hemings: Ghost in America’s Kitchen. This 2022 documentary explores the life, contributions, and eventual erasure of perhaps the most influential American chef of all time. Credited with introducing staples such as ice cream, French fries, and […]
Step back in time with Silents Scored Live, a silent-film screening with in-person musical accompaniment. Composer, film lecturer, and Violet Crown artist-in-residence Matt Marshall brings more than two decades of experience writing and performing music for classic film screenings that offer a glimpse into what the cinematic experience once was. Marshall live-scores works from the […]
When we asked our Screens columnist, Justin Humphreys to do a round-up of the year’s movies, he made his feelings clear: “I’m going to have to be very honest and say how precious few good movies there were this year.” His top five losers are below. Joker Folie a Deux Nicknamed Joker Filet-o-Fish online, few […]
Stories of survival, the trials and triumphs of friends and families, animated offerings, and films from around the world. The 37th Virginia Film Festival brings together an incredibly diverse program of features, shorts, and documentaries for your consideration. The festival takes place from October 30–November 3 at various theaters throughout Charlottesville, opening with Sean Baker’s […]
Australian director George Miller’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga traces the origin story of the hit Mad Max: Fury Road’s heroine, Imperator Furiosa (with Anya Taylor-Joy in the role originated by Charlize Theron). Even though Max only appears for a brief cameo, this is a superior prequel that delivers everything viewers expect from the Mad […]
Director Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Back to Black details the short, volcanic life of pop star Amy Winehouse. It’s a by-the-numbers music biopic that is mostly unremarkable, with the exception of the film’s cast. Marisa Abela as Winehouse and Jack O’Connell as her husband Blake Fielder-Civil give performances that intensely enliven the film. Winehouse died at age […]
Director-co-screenwriter J.A. Bayona’s Society of the Snow is a well-made, engrossing story of survival told straightforwardly and conventionally. The film deftly depicts a horrifying, real-life tragedy and, although it is vivid, it avoids being sordid. In October 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 to Chile, carrying a rugby team of young men and some of […]
Writer and director Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus One is easily among 2023’s most engaging, exciting, and poignant films. This isn’t some pulp monster movie to be casually dismissed by snobs—it’s a compelling post-World War II drama that periodically features a monster rearing its huge head, and it gives its big, scaly, radioactive leading man his […]
Ridley Scott’s historical epic Napoleon covers the well-worn territory of the titular French emperor’s monumental military conquests and eventual downfall. Scott’s battle sequences are undeniably extraordinary, and it’s gorgeous overall, but mediocre dialogue and Joaquin Phoenix’s dull title performance noticeably weaken the film. Scott opens Napoleon with a climax: a bold sequence depicting the beheading […]