In the month of July, I take a look at films released in my very favorite film stock and aspect ratio: black & white in anamorphic. Unless they’re being financed with credit cards, movies are rarely shot like this anymore because they’re impossible to sell to television. Yet these dreams sneak onto Turner Classic Movies [...]

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By Joe Valdez
What the *&#! Are They About?
In the mines of the Roman province of Libya, slave Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) sinks his teeth into the ankle of a guard, earning himself a death sentence. Recognizing an unbroken spirit he could mold into something great, slave merchant Batiatus (Peter Ustinov) purchases the condemned and returns [...]

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Cutthroat Island (1995)
Written by Michael Frost Beckner & James Gorman and Raynold Gideon & Bruce Evans and Susan Shilliday (uncredited) and Robert King and Marc Norman
Directed by Renny Harlin
Produced by Carolco Pictures/ Forge/ Laurence Mark Productions
Running time: 119 minutes

Synopsis
In the waters surrounding Jamaica of 1668, pirate Morgan Adams (Geena Davis) – daughter of buccaneer [...]

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Synopsis
In April 1805 off the coast of Brazil, the HMS Surprise – 28 guns and 97 souls – has been ordered by the British Royal Navy to intercept the Acheron, a French vessel intent on carrying Napoleon’s war [...]

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