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NO
Great 66 Points 2013

So big it came down to YES or NO. A national referendum on authoritarian rule, YES or NO?

NO won, a shock to Chile, many Latinos and the world. Turns out that pop was the way to nail the weasel. The weasel was General Augusto Pinochet, the strongman who had fixed the economy but crushed diss…

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WikChip Video Selling Liberation Like Toothpaste
King of the Hill
Really Great 66 Points 1993

King of the Hill is a real life Little Rascals, what with pipsqueak brothers living alone during the Great Depression. Amazingly, it’s the truthy autobiography of A.E. Hotchner, Paul Newman’s pal and business partner. Even if fictional, it would still charm and enlighten, as it’s a perfect fi…

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WikChip Video Charming and Enlightening
The Iron Lady
Barely OK 66 Points 2011

The Iron Lady? More like the Rusty Lady. Meryl Streep’s uncanny performance as Margaret Thatcher doesn’t redeem this disjointed, disrespectful and disappointing biopic.

The Iron Lady focuses on Baroness Thatcher’s dotage, complete with dementia induced hallucinations. It achieves some pow…

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WikChip Video Watch this and skip the movie.
Restoration
Great 66 Points 1995

Restoration refers to Britain’s casting off of Puritanism, a liberated time of royal hedonism and bawdy theater, from which a much lauded historical novel was derived. Add in Robert Downey Jr., Meg Ryan, Sam Neill and the stunning Polly Walker for cinematic firepower. Restoration is the resul…

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WikChip Image Polly Walker's stunning Royal Mistress
Muscle Shoals
Perfect 66 Points 2013

The Rolling Stones, the Allman Brothers, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Etta James and Percy Sledge did their best work in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Lynyrd Skynyrd added the piano intro to Freebird while there. This Muscle Shoals documentary covers all that rocking glory, with Bono commenta…

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WikChip Video Keef vouches for Muscle Shoals magic
Doctor Zhivago
Great 66 Points 1965

A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. The sugar: a terrific love story. The medicine: the wanton cruelty and dehumanization endemic to the nascent Soviet Union. Director David Lean – King of the Epics – reunited with Omar Sharif and several essential crew members from "Lawrence of Ar…

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WikChip Video They don't make 'em like they used to.
Killing Kennedy
Good 66 Points 2013

Killing Kennedy could easily be titled Kennedy’s Killer given its salutary focus on Lee Harvey Oswald. JFK we knew. It’s unfortunate then that Killing Kennedy spends time on the Leader of the Free World’s womanizing. Given 90 minutes of real runtime, bikinis take away from also understanding …

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WikChip Image Killing Kennedy brings this to life.
Jimi Hendrix: H...
Great 66 Points 2013

“Are you experienced?” Rock fans of a certain age recognize that bold question as cover for “Do you dig Jimi Hendrix?” Ya dig. For those of us in that cohort and for rock and blues fans of all ages, Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train a Comin’ is a 90 minute documentary well worth viewing, turned up …

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WikChip Video Hendrix ⏩ Wild Thing ⏩ Monterey Pop
The Madness of ...
Perfect 66 Points 1994

Fascinating history lessons are rarely tremendously entertaining, yet The Madness of King George is both. Frequently funny, often charming, it’s nevertheless chockablock with important historical insights about the British government, crown and class system, and the ignorant barbarity of pre-mo…

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WikChip Image Dissolute Prince behind dignified King
The Agony and t...
Really Great 66 Points 1965

Charlton Heston makes Michelangelo as operatic as Moses in The Ten Commandments. Facing off with Rex Harrison’s Warrior Pope in 1500s Rome makes The Agony and the Ecstasy a spectacle extraordinaire.

The 2¼ hour runtime wisely starts with a 12 min. intro that covers Michelangelo’s highlight…

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WikChip Image Charlton Heston with the Contessina