Jason Renaud

#1 PAGE ONE 2011. Documentary which highlights the late and missed David Carr (NIGHT OF THE GUN) as he shifts from media maven to investigative reporter, delivering the devastating message that credible news platforms are what keeps the barbarians at the gates. Slightly dated but still inspiring.

#2 CITIZEN KANE 1940. Perhaps the most important American film examines the life and legacy of Charles Foster Kane, played by Orson Welles, a composite character based on American media barons William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. How the media became a monster. Pinnacle of cinema.

#3 SPOTLIGHT 2015. Michael Keaton leads a superb cast as The Boston Globe's "Spotlight" team and its investigation into a decades-long coverup of widespread and systemic child sex abuse by numerous priests of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. Thrilling, infuriating.

#4 CITIZENFOUR 2014. Laura Poitras meets Edward Snowden the NSA contractor who leaked classified documents revealing the existence of global surveillance programs to the NY Times and Guardian. Google them both then you'll want to watch this film.

#5 FIVE STAR FINAL 1931. Edward G. Robinson with a wink, a smirk, a casual glance gobbled up the camera. Here he's a big city editor fighting for control of the story, of the paper amidst blackmail, corruption, murder, bribery, suicide. Pre-code adult material not for the light of heart.

#6 STEAL THIS STORY, PLEASE 2026. Semi celebrity documentary about media hero and co-host of Democracy Now! Amy Goodman. How a good heart and persistant intelligence drives top notch journalism.

#7 COLLECTIVE 2019. Documentary on the 2016 Colectiv nightclub fire. Dual stories of investigative journalists at the Romanian newspaper Gazeta Sporturilor uncovering corruption and maladministration, and the government's response to the crisis at the Ministry of Health.

#8 FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT 1940. My favorite Hitchcock. Joel McRea gets a promotion, a name change, and a ticket to the diplomatic ramp up of WWII, and suddenly in the midst of an assassination, or is it a kidnapping? Tension, chases, fistfights, romance.

#9 ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN 1976. The reporting ended a presidency but Redford and Hoffman convinced 10s of thousands to pursue journalism as a career pumping legitimacy and credibility into a field which had previously been disparaged and disappointing.

#10 BETWEEN THE LINES 1977. Chronicles the ups and downs of a Boston alternative radio station, so earnest and self-aware it smarts. Jeff Goldblum's first substantive role. Underwatched and under-appreciated.

#11 HIS GIRL FRIDAY 1940. Howard Hawks, Rosalind Russell, Cary Grant, Ben Hecht; catty, offensive, funny, sexist then and now, fast-paced, hilarious, twists and turns. Seen THE FRONT PAGE? This is better.

Top twelve films celebrating journalism. Why stick to ten? #12 UNDER FIRE 1983 Inspired by the 1979 murder of ABC reporter Bill Stewart and his translator by the Nicaraguan National Guard, an execution entirely caught on tape. Mainstream but sensational.

Not a good day. Here's the trailer from Brian Lindstrom's first and best film, FINDING NORMAL from 2007, which follows three people struggling in the first days of recovery. Every word their mentors use, every action, builds a delicate bridge back to life.

Good wrap + analysis of the Eugene Peacehealth fiasco from Dr. Glaucomflecken.

Amy Goodman will STEAL THIS STORY at Cinema 21 April 24-29. www.cinema21.com/movie/ST0000...

It's a John Barrymore week here, tonight with DINNER AT EIGHT by George Cukor in 1933. Barrymore by this time was both insane with alcoholism AND the greatest actor in the world. Barrymore knew it, the crew and actors knew it, the media knew it, the audience knew it. And he was terrific.

I'm going to try to get to Paris before they block us, so tonight's prep is BREATHLESS by Godard in 1960, the city of his great lifelong fascination, its buildings and streets, cars and cafes, women and more women. And smoking. This is really a film about smoking.

The new NUREMBERG is a terrible film but reminds us to return to Stanley Kramer's classic JUDGEMENT AT NUREMBERG. Here is Burt Lancaster's terrific mea culpa speech, so appropriate today. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

From the fabulous Laura Poitras - the story of her doppleganger, Seymour Hersh.

The proper lens to understand Trump has never been legal or political, but psychiatric. Psychologist John Gartner describes Trump's diagnosis - malignant narcissistic personality disorder - and its dangerous symptoms. BTW - we nailed this diagnosis in 2017 - www.streetroots.org/news/2017/10...

Viewing - MAN IN THE MIDDLE, made in 1964 by future Bond style-maker Guy Hamilton, a well-filmed military court drama with stiff and boring Robert Mitchum in front but Trevor Howard, his face full of gestures, steals the film in three scenes, the last a short pithy condemnation; an actor's actor.

Stunning documentary THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR, just released by Geeta Gandbhir, is the end-all argument for mobile crisis services with mediation with follow-up built-in to the design. Police did nothing wrong, but they did not have the right tools.

Rock Against Racism was formed in response to Eric Clapton's support for racist UK pol Enoch Powell and the fascist National Front. Tonite's view - WHITE RIOT, 2019 by Rubika Shah documents how the kids and punks pushed fascists and racists out of UK politics for a generation. Wear a whistle.

Friday rotation - STAR STARTER by Daiistar.

Tonight - Fabulous Baron Munchausen, 1961 by Karel Zeman, a Czech light romantic fantasy combining actors and animation to tell of either the greatest liar - or the greatest adventurer of all time. An homage to Méliès's version from 1911.

Tonight - BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ, made in 1964 by a perfect match of John Frankenheimer & magnetic Burt Lancaster. A romanticized telling of the life of Robert Stroud, it was released at the pinnacle of American filmmaking and social idealism. A moment where we were brave enough to consider anything.

Tonight - HIROSHIMA, 1953 by Hideo Sekigawa. Controversial, searing, a docudrama using hibakusha actors to show rather than tell of the suffering of 140,000 humans killed by an arrogant emperor and a cruel president on the the other side of the world. www.criterion.com/current/post...

Anne introduces herself to Alvy in ANNIE HALL 1977, and we all fall in love.

"Why do you think beauty is a stone on the beach for any passerby to pick up? Beauty is something wonderful and strange that the artist creates in torment and out of chaos. It is not easy to recognize at first. For that you must have knowledge, and sensitiveness, and imagination."