Tag: movies

Just Because Wednesday, Movies at Home: ‘Kitchen Stories’

Jeff Mitchell

Just Because Wednesday give us a chance to feature our favorite films, because….hey, just because!  This week is an oddball, playful import from Norway, director Bent Hamer’s “Kitchen Stories” (2003).  It’s just after WWII, and Sweden’s Home Research Institute – a technological leader in improving home efficiencies – wishes to understand the kitchen habits of single Norwegian men. Who knows how they tick, right? This pits an elderly hermit named Isak (Joachim Calmeyer) against Folke (Tomas Norstrom), who has been assigned as his observer during a frigid winter in an isolated,…

Celebrate World Table Tennis Day with ‘Top Spin’ on Amazon Prime

Jeff Mitchell

Many of us (or is it all of us?) are sequestered at home these days, so dreams of sold out sports arenas and stadiums are just distant memories at the moment.  Well, not too distant.  Anyway, April 6 is World Table Tennis Day, and although all the big tournaments are probably postponed, we could play ping pong in the comfort of our homes, right? Well, in celebration of World Table Tennis Day, why not catch the 2014 documentary “Top Spin”!   Directors Sara Newens and Mina T. Son follow three American…

Movies at Home: Five Great Michael Haneke films on Amazon Prime

Jeff Mitchell

Happy Birthday, Michael Haneke! Well, no matter how much you prepare for one of Haneke’s films, he always surprises, but it’s no shock that “Amour”, his 2012 movie about dementia, won the 2013 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Not just dementia, but this writer/director isn’t afraid to explore other pitch-black material, and in fact, he’s made a bright career in doing so.  Now, Haneke’s films aren’t apocalyptic, not on a grand scale, but instead, they sear into vastly troubling relationship or family dramas and are wrapped in disturbing intimacy. Since…