John's Pick: Phase IV

Phase IV was the celebrated graphic designer Saul Bass’ lone film as a director, a cerebral and visually assured science fiction exercise depicting an ordinary ant colony unnervingly transformed into a genuinely alien intelligence.

John's Pick: Make Way for Tomorrow

Confirmed cynic Orson Welles reportedly said of Make Way for Tomorrow, “It could make a stone cry”—and this bittersweet, sharply observed, utterly heartbreaking 1937 picture will almost certainly move you as well.

John's Pick: Asterios Polyp

David Mazzucchelli's outstanding graphic novel Asterios Polyp isn't notable just for its satisfying story - about an arrogant architect who learns to see the world in a new way - but for the way that story is told:  elegant visual devices abound in this thematically rich work.

John's Pick: A Matter of Life and Death

Featured in the Films of Michael Powell collection, A Matter of Life and Death stars David Niven as an aviator placed on trial for his life in Heaven after accidentally surviving a parachute-less jump. Graceful storytelling and visual sumptuousness are on display in this charming 1946 film.

John M.'s Pick: Sacred Songs

What happens when blue-eyed soul collides with progressive rock?  The result is Sacred Songs, Daryl Hall's underappreciated avant-pop collaboration with ex-King Crimson leader Robert Fripp, in which Hall's catchy pop hooks are punctuated by Fripp's fascinating sonic experiments.
 

John's Pick: Retrospective, Rarities & Instrumentals

The career-highlights disc Retrospective, Rarities & Instrumentals is the perfect introduction to the High Llamas' complex melodies and beautiful pop production, channeling post-Pet Sounds Beach Boys by way of Stereolab.

John's Pick: Spaced

Before director Edgar Wright and writer-star Simon Pegg turned to the film world with Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, they perfected a combination of frantic pop-cultural allusions, whiplash editing and surprisingly sweet characterization with Spaced: The Complete Series, a Britcom about disaffected twentysomethings sharing a London flat.

John's Pick: You Can Fly on My Aeroplane

This reissue of Wee’s lone 1979 LP reveals an overlooked gem of psychedelic soul.  You Can Fly on My Aeroplane is a smooth and seductive evocation of both Shuggie Otis and Stevie Wonder’s 70’s-era masterpieces.