Raquel Stecher

Eat Pray Love (2010) meets Corpus Christi (2019) in this tender drama about a middle-aged woman reclaiming her life after years of service in the church.
Set in Malta during the 1980s, Carmen stars Natascha McElhone, the sister of the local priest. Per Maltese customs, when a priest is ordained, his oldest sister must make the sacrifice of abandoning any hopes of a career, relationship or family of her own in order to take care of her brother in service. Carmen has done since from the age of ...

In this episode, Max is joined by Raquel Stecher to discuss The Pawnbroker (1964).
Check out Raquel's article for TCM on The Pawnbroker here: https://www.tcm.com/articles/Programming%20Article/021661/special-theme-hispanic-heritage-month-part-1?lid=blmpil5g49wm
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In this episode, which is part of my series, INGMAR BERGMAN Movie Reviews, we review AUTUMN SONATA (1978), which was directed & written by Ingmar Bergman. The film starred Ingrid Bergman and Liv Ullmann. My guest and I thoroughly review the film, as well as offering trivia on the making of it. My guest is Raquel Stecher who is a film critic, YouTuber and writer ! Check out her blog and YouTube channel at the link below! OUT OF THE PAST Blog: http://www.outofthepastblog.com Raquel's YouTube Ch...

The 2022 Classic Film Reading Challenge is officially over. I'm so proud of all the participants for tackling their stack of books and for everyone's continued enthusiasm for the challenge. Great work! I look forward to seeing what you all read next year.
And this year I decided to select five winners for the giveaway. These winners will receive one Kino Lorber single-disc DVD or Blu-ray of their choosing. Congrats to:
Alejandro on Goodreads
"Curtis delivers a worthy biography that so rich in...

September 18 & 25 | 4 Movies
Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15th to October 15th) is a celebration of the many contributions Hispanics and Latinos have made throughout history. From the early days of Hollywood, Hispanic actors have been a driving force in the film industry demonstrating not only their talents but also their versatility and broad appeal.
Despite their triumphs, they have had to endure many obstacles. Hollywood had little to offer Hispanic actors and many were relegated to ...

Set in the outskirts of São Paulo, Brazil, Charcoal/Carvão tells the story of an impoverished family who make an almost Faustian bargain to lift themselves up out of their situation. Irene (Maeve Jinkings) cares for her ailing father but between that, raising her son Jean (Jean Costa) and dealing with her husband Jairo’s (Romulo Braga) reckless behavior, she is overwhelmed. When a nurse, Juracy (Aline Marta), offers Irene a shady deal to help the family, after much consideration Irene agrees....

Australian director Baz Luhrmann is a contemporary example of an auteur, a filmmaker whose work is a manifestation of their own personal vision and style. His work is singular in its opulent visuals, how his films mix old and new, tragedy and comedy, and how he reinvents the movie form to transform it into something much more theatrical.
Luhrmann has been influenced by opera, history, fashion, and his own work in the theater. His films have been both celebrated and criticized for how they bre...

Rock on Film
The Movies That Rocked the Big Screen
foreword by Sir Michael Lindsay-Hogg
TCM and Running Press
“One of the beauties of rock movies is that sometimes they capture the time and sometimes, dangerously, they’re ahead of the time.” — Sir Michael Lindsay-Hogg
If your love for music runs as deep as your love for film, Rock on Film: The Movies That Rocked the Big Screen deserves a spot in your book collection. Written by former Rolling Stones editor Fred Goodman, Rock on Film features ...

Danger on the Silver Screen
50 Films Celebrating Cinema's Greatest Stunts
TCM and Running Press
“Stunt work taps into our brains, giving us pleasure by simply watching human beings do things we, the audience, cannot. Marvelous acts like jumping out of a window and surviving thrill us and remind us that while we are safe in our seats, others are capable of doing amazing things for the camera.” — Scott McGee
There's nothing quite like the thrill of watching an action movie. Stuntmen and stuntwo...

“There is no story about wishing that is not a cautionary tale”
Dr. Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton) embraces solitude. When she’s not teaching at the university, she spends her time reading and studying and feels the independence of not being attached to a spouse, child or family network. As a scholar of mythology and storytelling, she often travels to faraway lands to be in the world of the fantastical stories that she teaches. On one trip to Turkey, she finds a unique looking bottle in a sho...

Hollywood Tiki
Film in the Era of the Pineapple Cocktail
by Adam Foshko and Jason Henderson
The History Press
“Tiki Culture was never about a real place but about the escape to imaginary places—not real Hawaii, but an idea of Hawaii; not any real island, but the idea of an island. A perfect idyllic getaway that was an escape from an industrial postwar life that was the opposite of that.”
A follow-up to their 2018 book California Tiki: A History of Polynesian Idols, Pineapple Cocktails and Coc...

"Stars look down on New Year's Eve in New York. They say that fate is in the stars. That each of our years is planned ahead. And nothing can change destiny. Is that true? How many times have you said 'I wish I could live this year over again?' This is the story of a woman who did relive one year of her life."
Directed by Alfred L. Werker and based on a novel by William O'Farrell, Repeat Performance (1947) is a time travel noir that imagines a protagonist being given a second chance to change ...

The Roaring Twenties was a decade of prosperity and indulgence. The U.S. was enjoying a post-World War I boom that brought social and cultural change and marked the decade as one of the most transformative of the 20th century. A technological boom saw advancements in the automobile and aviation industries. Prohibition made alcohol illegal and threatened to put a damper on everyone’s fun.
In turn, it created a cottage industry of dangerous bootleggers who smuggled booze all over the country. P...

The Roaring Twenties was a decade of prosperity and indulgence. The US was enjoying a post-World War I boom that brought social and cultural change and marked the decade as one of the most transformative of the 20th century. A technological boom saw advancements in the automobile and aviation industries. Prohibition made alcohol illegal and threatened to put a damper on everyone’s fun.
In turn, it created a cottage industry of dangerous bootleggers who smuggled booze all over the country. Par...

How Garbo Conquered Hollywood
University Press of Mississippi
November 2021
Greta Garbo was extraordinary in many ways. She was one of the most beloved and sought after celebrities of her time. Her level of fame was astonishing for the era and nearly unmatched today. Despite coming to America not speaking English and also despite her deep aversion to publicity, she quickly became one of MGM's most bankable stars and was embraced by the public. Everyone knew who Garbo was and audiences flocked...