Julian Krainin Movies
The true story of two medical pioneers -- one celebrated, one overlooked -- is brought to life in this made-for-cable drama. Alfred Blalock (Alan Rickman) is chief surgeon at Johns Hopkins University, where he is pioneering new techniques in heart surgery. Blalock makes the acquaintance of Vivien Thomas (Mos Def), a carpenter hired to work at the University, and to his surprise discovers a man of keen intelligence who has a great interest in medicine. However, as a poor black man in the Jim Crow South, Thomas lacks the financial resources to obtain a medical degree, though he certainly has the knowledge and the desire. Blalock takes Thomas on as his lab assistant, and together they develop a technique that allows them to correct a common congenital heart defect in children. However, while they work side by side in the lab and in the operating room, Blalock and Thomas do not walk the same paths in society, and Thomas develops a deep resentment that he has been given little credit for his contribution to a medical innovation that makes Blalock famous. Produced for the premium cable network HBO, Something the Lord Made also features Gabrielle Union, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Charles S. Dutton. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Rickman, Mos Def, (more)
- 1990
An explosion in a nuclear warhead silo located near a tiny Texas town causes all kinds of terror in this taut suspensor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1984
The Jewish people have one of the oldest and richest civilizations in the world, with over 5,000 years of history and traditions. This nine-volume documentary chronicles the story of the Jews, from the birth of a people in the Middle East's cradle of civilization through the creation of the state of Israel in 1947. Archival film footage and photographs, art and artifacts, journals and personal accounts, and commentary by scholars provide the particulars about a people that have long been persecuted, and yet have given so much to world culture. This fourth volume in the series examines developments in Jewish culture during the Middle Ages, between 732 and 1492. The fate and fortune of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam were intertwined in the crucible of civilization in Europe. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide
- 1984
Part three of this splendid documentary traces the fortunes of the Jews under Roman rule in many lands between 1 A.D. and 899 A.D. After a charismatic Jew named Jesus lights the fire of a new religion in the first century, his Jewish disciples preach his teachings throughout the Mediterranean world. Rivalries between the old Jews of Moses and the new Jews of Jesus, called Nazarenes, eventually develop and rend Judaism into factions. One is called Christianity. Meanwhile, uprisings by Jews against Rome fail while Christians suffer persecution and death in the Roman arena. After Emperor Constantine's epiphanic vision of a cross in the sky, he replaces the polytheism of his pagan forebears with the monotheism of the Christians, and a universal church, Catholicism, emerges. In Part four (900-1499 A.D.), Jews flourish in Spain under another religion, Islam, and help further human knowledge while preserving the classics of antiquity. Christian Europe then drives the Muslims out of Spain, and displaced Jews use their talents as merchants and moneylenders to thrive in other European lands. Some Christians, envious of Jewish prosperity and fearful of losing souls to Judaism, blame Jews for spreading deadly plague. Pogroms develop, and the Jews flee to eastern lands. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide
- 1984
The Jewish people have one of the oldest and richest civilizations in the world, with over 5,000 years of history and traditions. This nine-volume documentary chronicles the story of the Jews, from the birth of a people in the Middle East's cradle of civilization through the creation of the state of Israel in 1947. Archival film footage and photographs, art and artifacts, journals and personal accounts, and commentary by scholars provide the particulars about a people that have long been persecuted, and yet have given so much to world culture. This second volume examines the time period between 586 B.C.E. and 72 C.E., and the effects that six centuries of rule by the Persians, Greeks, and Romans had on Jewish civilization. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide
- 1971
Filmmaker and wine connoisseur Jonathan Nossiter directed this documentary look at how changes in global commerce and culture are impacting the work of vintners around the world. Focusing for the most part on small independent winemakers, Mondovino offers a number of perspectives, not simply on how wine is made and what sort of people devote their lives to the grapes, but how the marketing power of certain large winemakers and the homogenization of public taste brought on by the influence of North America has promoted the business of wine at the expense of the art, and has led to a less "sophisticated" palate overall. The film also offers the perspectives of some of the world's largest wine producers and explores the personalities of its subjects, revealing how the characters and their beliefs influence their products and business. Mondovino was screened in competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
It's 1958, and the producers of the quiz show 21 have a problem. Their current champ, Herbert Stempel (John Turturro), has a phenomenal memory and a broad range of knowledge. He's also a pudgy loudmouth with a grating personality, so Herbert is encouraged to "take a dive" and allow Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes), a handsome and charming college professor, to become the show's new champion. Audiences like Van Doren, and he's certainly not averse to the money he's winning, but the ethics of the situation begin to trouble him, especially when the show's producers begin to give him the questions in advance. Director Robert Redford and writer Paul Attanasio paint a telling portrait of how the network heads and advertising men who manipulated the quiz shows were also able to manipulate the responsibility for the scandal away from themselves. While on the surface a story about the scandal itself, Quiz Show is just as importantly about a turning point in the 1950s when TV and advertising began to change American character and culture. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Turturro, Rob Morrow, (more)
