May 31 - June 13: Movies and Music This week

RL's Picks

COLORS
THE FILM
Colors is a 1988 film directed by Academy Award nominee Dennis Hopper, with cinematography by Academy Award winner Haskell Wexler, and music by Academy Award and Grammy winner Herbie Hancock. It stars Academy Award winners Robert Duvall and Sean Penn. Cameo by Mario Lopez.

COLORS
THE SOUNDTRACK
The soundtrack to Colors includes tracks by Ice T, Salt-N-Pepa, Big Daddy Kane, Eric B. & Rakim and Rick James!

  Anne's Picks

Albums for every color of the rainbow!

Red by Taylor Swift
Channel ORANGE by Frank Ocean
Yellow Submarine by The Beatles
Green by R.E.M.
Blue by Joni Mitchell
Purple Rain by Prince
In Rainbows by Radiohead

Adrienne's Picks

"Green Eyes” by Erykah Badu

Erykah Badu’s NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert packs a punch with just two songs. While “Rimshot” is always a welcome listen and the perfect jazzy warm-up to the epicness that follows, “Green Eyes” really shines in its colorful storytelling, style, musicality, chemistry, and goddess energy— everything contributes to the richness of this intimate performance. Erykah Badu is the "Queen of Neo-Soul" but could easily be a songbird from the jazz era. Also from the 2000 album Mama’s Gun, check out the lovely track “Orange Moon”.

“Blue Dream” by Jhené Aiko

Float away in a blue haze with this dreamy track from Jhené Aiko.

“Honey” by Kehlani

Honey can be considered a color, but because June is Pride Month, I wanted to celebrate this song about a romance that has "colored out the lines” but sounds just as sweet as any other.

Don's Picks

The three strip Technicolor process, which allowed color films to proliferate after the Great Depression of the 1930's, is responsible for some of the most dazzling saturated color films in Hollywood history.

These are some of the most lovely technicolor films I know:

Acclaimed British directors, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger have directed many gorgeous films but two particularly stand out with their startling use of color. Black Narcissus, takes a story of the psychological toll that a group of nuns experience while running a hospital and school in an isolated convent in the Himalayas and turns it into a magnetic display of the expressionism of colors. It is one of the most beautifully vivid films of its time. The Red Shoes is also exquisite in its use of color to tell the story of a ballerina who is obsessed with dance.

The chilling Leave Her to Heaven, shows the film noir possibilities embedded in its beautiful Technicolor tones. With fascinating and complicated lighting patterns, the film tells the story of a woman capable of cold-blooded murder in her ambition to possess what she desires.

Originally critically reviled, director Douglas Sirk has gained a strong reputation as a great filmmaker for his expressive use of Technicolor particularly in two of his films starring Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman. Magnificent Obsession and All That Heaven Allows both use technicolor as an extension of the feelings of the characters. The effect is melodramatic, startling and well worth checking out! All That Heaven Allows has inspired many films including the gorgeous, Technicolor inspired Far From Heaven and the moving Ali, Fear Eats Soul.