Last Watched

Stop Making Sense

   1984    Art
Over the course of three nights at Hollywood's Pantages Theater in December 1983, filmmaker Jonathan Demme joined creative forces with Jordan Cronenweth and Talking Heads... and miracles occurred. Following a staging concept by singer-guitarist David Byrne, this euphoric concert film transcends that all-too-limited genre to become the greatest film of its kind. A guaranteed cure for anyone's blues, it's a celebration of music that never grows old, fueled by the polyrhythmic pop-funk precision that was a Talking Heads trademark, and lit from within by the geeky supernova that is David Byrne.
This circus of musical pleasure defies the futility of reductive description; it begs to be experienced, felt in the heart, head, and bones, and held there the way we hold on to cherished memories. On those three nights in December 1983, Talking Heads gave love, life, and joy in generous amounts that years cannot erode, and Demme captured this act of creative goodwill on film with minimalist artistic perfection. Stop Making Sense is an invitation to pleasure that will never wear out its welcome.

Revolution

   2019    History
Rasputin is gone, but Nicholas II continues his catastrophic policies in war and at home. When Nicholas goes back to military headquarters, he is in fact leaving control of government, exactly when Russia needed to be held together by its Czar. The war by this time is deeply unpopular. It's not only unpopular, it's also arguably the engine that's causing enormous economic crisis, that's causing general unrest. Deprivation pushes the population from unrest to revolution.
Series: The Last Czars

Outbreak: The Virus That Shook the World

   2021    Medicine
This is the dramatic global story of the first year of COVID-19, tracing the devastation caused by the spread of the virus across four continents. The way in which this coronavirus became COVID-19, transmission from animals to humans, is going on all the time. Habitat loss and live animal trading around the world that foster this is continuing. And therefore, we've got to expect that this will happen again.

War

   2019    History
In 1914, Russia entered World War I in response to Austria-Hungary's declaration of war on Russia's ally Serbia. This was fought across multiple fronts while isolated from its allies. The Battle of Tannenberg, where the entire Russian Second Army was annihilated, cast an ominous shadow over the empire's future. The already-existing public distrust of the regime was deepened by the rising costs of the war and rumours of corruption. World War I takes Nicholas to the front. Back home, outrage grows over high casualties and Alexandra and Rasputin's political intrigues.
Series: The Last Czars

The Minimalists: Less Is Now

   2021    Culture
Longtime friends Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus share how our lives can be better with less. The film's title was inspired by the popular maxim 'Less is more,' popularized by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who used this aphorism to describe his design aesthetic; his tactic was one of arranging the necessary components of a building to create an impression of extreme simplicity. The Minimalists have reworked this phrase to create a sense of urgency for today's consumer culture: now is the time for less.
Series: Minimalists

Anarchy

   2019    History
The Romanovs retreat into a bubble of luxury while the czar's forces brutally suppress protests by a starving populace. Rasputin's influence grows, never mind the rumors and scandals. Many people believe Prime minister Peter Stolypin is the last hope of the Romanov Dynasty as reformer-in-chief. He is horrified by the rise of Rasputin. The fight between Stolypin and Rasputin is a battle for influence over Nicholas II. But Stolypin is shot in the Kiev Opera in 1911.
Series: The Last Czars