Any Husband of Yours: Spellbound and 13 Minutes
Dreams and Pistol Shots * * * From Leslie Halliwell to David Thomson, capsule reviews of Hitchcock’s Spellbound have made sure we know that the psychiatry on offer is pure[…]
Category: Genres
Activist & Political · Essays · SF & Fantasy
Blood Will Tell: The Purge: Election Year (2016)
To be a popular film, which is the intent of the Purge series, is to play into what an audience loves; and in the case of something it is not[…]
Originality Is Overrated: Ghostbusters (1984) and Its Remake (2016)
The new Ghostbusters seems quite pleased with itself, but it leaves the overwhelming impression that nobody involved really believed in it. Despite the original film’s numerous flaws and Bill Murray’s[…]
Drama · Essays · Writers & Critics
Innocence on the Open Market: Cormac McCarthy, The Counselor, and Artistic Agency
Today (July 20) is Cormac McCarthy’s birthday. He’s 83. We send birthday wishes his way by reposting Sophia Nguyen’s persuasive discussion of McCarthy and the book/film of The Counselor, which[…]
Sharing the Yoke: The Female-Animal Bond in Au Hasard Balthazar and White God
The common theme of these films is the peculiar connection between women and animals, and their shared devaluation in a hierarchical, male-dominated structure. It is, after all, not a coincidence[…]
Activist & Political · Drama · Essays · War · Writers & Critics
The Deer Hunter Debate: Artistic License and Vietnam War Remembrance
The response to The Deer Hunter amounted to a serious public debate over the Vietnam War that extended beyond film critics to engage a wide range of viewers. It wasn’t[…]
Book Review: Into the Dark: The Hidden World of Film Noir, 1941-1950, by Mark A. Vieira
The box office and critical reaction to many of these film noirs varied wildly and widely, especially with viewers in the middle of the country. “The picture is too long[…]
Old Anxieties, New Bodies: Demystifying Masculinity in Brad Anderson’s The Machinist (2004)
It is this very concept of challenging traditional models and exposing not viscera but inconsistencies within societal constructs that makes The Machinist arguably one of the most horrifying films ever[…]
“That’s Actually Kind of Funny. It’s So Stupid”: Irony and Nostalgia in Alex Ross Perry’s The Color Wheel (2011)
The Color Wheel has been criticized in some circles for having an improvisatory and unfocused structure, yet all the film’s major thematic concerns are explicitly introduced in its compact pre-credit[…]
Under the Sign of 39: The Case of the Curious Coincidence from Hitchcock to Antonioni and Beyond
In movieland, there is also the kind of coincidence where someone indeed has planned it, someone acting from behind the scene, manipulating appearances. In this case, a coincidence is a[…]
Happy Birthday, Dark Angel: Notes on R. W. Fassbinder (born May 31, 1945)
The homely, jowly face, dictatorial blatherings, and ragged leather chaps masked one of the great makers of modern cinema Few filmmakers lived their private lives more publicly than Rainer Werner[…]
Designers · Historical & Epic · Horror
Dressing The Witch: An Interview with Costume Designer Linda Muir
The Witch thrives on its damning details. It seems authentically claustrophobic and austere. Threats to faith take their toll. The untouched surroundings and natural lighting allow each period detail revelrous[…]
Actors & Personalities · Exploitation & Erotica · Interviews
Happy Birthday, Pam Grier: Interview with the Accidental Action Heroine
It’s time again to tip our hat to Pam Grier, who’s 67 today (born May 26, 1949), by reposting Steve Ryfle’s interview. Here the incomparable star of Foxy Brown and[…]
Women in Love: Three Early ’30s Melodramas by John M. Stahl (Seed, Back Street, Only Yesterday)
The subtle beauty of John M. Stahl’s early ’30s work is revealed by the exquisite 35mm prints screening at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in the series Universal Pictures: Restorations and[…]
The Road to Hell: Three Early Films of Edward L. Cahn (Law and Order, Afraid to Talk, Laughter in Hell)
Among Cahn’s champions is Dave Kehr, a curator at the Museum of Modern Art, who has programmed a four-week series (running through Wednesday, June 15) devoted to his tenure at[…]
Directors · Interviews · SF & Fantasy
Futureworlds: Talking with Yorgos Lanthimos about The Lobster (2015)
The Lobster tries to look at how we are as people – what it means to be single, alone, or involved with someone and all of the constraints that society[…]
Directors · Drama · Interviews
Articulating Desire: Talking with José Luis Guerín about The Academy of the Muses (2015)
For me, the idea of having an academy of muses is an impossible, if not ridiculous, idea; but, the discussions and debates that occurred among them struck me as fascinating,[…]
Asian · Directors · Documentaries · Interviews
Being Human: An Interview with Hong Kong Filmmaker Cheung King-wai
Note: This interview was conducted in English during the Hong Kong International Film Festival in Sha Tin, Hong Kong, on 3 April 2016. The author wishes to thank Esther Yau,[…]
Drama · Memoir · Philosophy
After Love: Alan J. Pakula’s The Sterile Cuckoo
FROM CABIN C AT OUDIN’S COURT COTTAGES I just awoke, and wondered where you were. It was the strangest feeling, like I really expected you to be there. Eventually my[…]
Book Review: Cycles, Sequels, Spin-offs, Remakes, and Reboots, edited by Amanda Ann Klein and R. Barton Palmer
Cycles, Sequels, Spin-offs, Remakes, and Reboots: Multiplicities in Film and Television, Edited by Amanda Ann Klein and R. Barton Palmer (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2016, 367pp, $29.95 from the[…]
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