Atom Egoyan’s Adoration: A Return to Form(s)?
“In classic Egoyan style, the humor is always also terrifying. . .”
Category: Genres
Jesus Fucking Christ: Lars von Trier’s Antichrist
The scandal-plagued release of Lars von Trier’s latest film inspired Jack Stevenson, American expat in Copenhagen, to take a deeper look at the film in a Danish context.
Essays · Film Technology & History · Music & Musicals
Art Thou Troubled? Musicals May Calm Thee
But don’t forget DVD opera
Here Come the Bromides: Living in the Era of the Bromantic Comedy
“Nothing is more exhilarating than philistine vulgarity.” — Vladimir Nabokov
Activist & Political · Reviews
Dark Harvest: Robert Kenner’s Food, Inc.
“It’s not a tomato, it’s the idea of a tomato.”
Sleep Stalking: Jerzy Skolimowski’s Four Nights with Anna
“Just like you wanted, grandma. I’m seeing a woman.”
Fellini, Michael Jackson, and La Voce della Luna (1990)
In America, the 1960s were the golden age of the foreign film. Film directors like Michelangelo Antonioni, Jean-Luc Godard, Ingmar Bergman, and Alain Resnais were considered “superstars,” and[…]
Directors · Exploitation & Erotica · Reviews
Ed Wood Blogathon: Screwy Details in THE NIGHT OF THE GHOULS
It’s a shame that Ed Wood’s last non-skin film, NIGHT OF THE GHOULS (1959), had to go unseen all through the prime time of Wade Williams’ TV horror package. It[…]
Directors · Exploitation & Erotica · Reviews
José Mojica Marins Meets the Spirit of Ed Wood in the World of Coffin Joe
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLgx38t7AQ4] [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAdAixzYq-k] Thank you, Spirit of Ed Wood Blogathon, for giving me an excuse to write about José Mojica Marins, the Brazilian screenwriter, director, and star of films every bit[…]
DRAG ME TO HELL / STUCK – Women in Trouble
The first is a supernatural horror film. The second is a horror story without any trace of the supernatural. Otherwise, they are remarkably similar. Both apply the horror film’s fundamental[…]
Essays · Exploitation & Erotica
Between Nudist Morality and Freudian Realism! Denuding Fleshly Hypocrisies, Cinematic and Otherwise
“Nude on the Moon’s exploitation is as innocent as the Good Christo-Nudist’s reclaiming of a pre-figleafed (albeit non-recreational) Eden.”
Essays · LGBT & Queer · Photo Essays
Retro Virus: Did AIDS Perform Nensha?
“Be aware: there are forces at work here of which we have no knowledge.”
Actors & Personalities · Asian · Silents
The Goddess in Her Element: Ruan Lingyu in Shanghai
“This is an actress who shows excitement down to the curl of her fingers, and whose face reveals every kind of mercurial change.”
Tex Avery: Arch-Radicalizer of the Hollywood Cartoon
“Tex Avery — Arch Radicalizer of the Hollywood Cartoon” consists of slightly glorified program notes that I wrote for the Zagreb Animation Festival in 1978. It was a big hit in the Old World and was published in Russian, Croatian, Dutch, French, and Italian (twice), but the only time it ever got printed in English was by Gary Morris in his cinephile-revered rag called Bright Lights. Now, thirty-one years later, Mr. Morris has decided to reissue the piece online. I have forgone attempting any actual rewrites, though, because the observations have not dated especially egregiously, except for my discussion of the then-current state of cartoon criticism. The biggest faux pas contained herein is my overconfident assertion that cel animation would inevitably dominate the future of the medium (oops – maybe not), as CGI was then but a distant pixel on the historical horizon.
Actors & Personalities · Interviews · Sports
Return of the Obsessed: James Toback Steps into the Ring Again with Tyson
“And then he said, ‘It’s like a Greek tragedy. The only problem is, I’m the subject.'”
Actors & Personalities · Documentaries
“Just Another Man”: On James Toback’s Tyson
“Toback, to his credit, and despite the empathy he feels toward his subject, doesn’t pull his punches.”
DVD & Blu-ray · Experimental & Underground
Opposition Compositions: Treasures IV: American Avant Garde Film 1947-1986 on DVD
“Avant garde filmmaking has been defined almost entirely in opposition to the Hollywood mainstream.”
Actors & Personalities · Exploitation & Erotica · Pre-Code
Desperation and Divinity: “Help us, Mae!”
Hazy thoughts on the transition from real sex to digital hallucinations
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