The most quaint example of catering to corporate groveling resulted in one of the best cult phenomena of the recent past. In 1978, The Star Wars Holiday Special melded a brand new hit movie, in its nascent period before its ascent to cultural significance, with the...
Has there ever been a movie franchise that knew when to retire? Of course, the whole concept of a franchise suggests dragging a hit concept to its withered end. Despite polished production values Scream VI tediously tugs a dying notion through the celluloid, but not...
Hot picks for 2023 SXSW film festival When the pandemic put the squeeze on group gatherings in 2020, the largest convention in the world adapted by going virtual. The South By Southwest Festival [SXSW] offers conferences geared to music, interactive media, and film...
All history was palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary. In no case would it have been possible, once the deed was done, to prove that any falsification had taken place. Books, also, were recalled and rewritten again and again, and...
Here’s a cinematic legend that I find it hard to wrap my head around. Not because I don’t believe it but rather because I do believe it, and it strokes my desire to understand the underlying meaning inherent in the tale. Orson Welles states in an interview that while...
[1] My days have become between three and four hours longer. [2] I no longer see multiple polls, every day, in which people designate Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, or Rush the greatest band of all time. [3] No one talks about who should or shouldn’t be...
Say everyone’s talking ’bout chicken Chicken’s a popular word But anywhere you go, you’re bound to find A chicken ain’t nothin’ but a bird -- Emmett Wallace, as performed by Cab Calloway A couple months ago, I found a copy of the DVD Sitting Ducks, a collection of a...
Studio Executive: This studio will never make a film with an animal defecating followed by a scantily clad woman giving a naked, fat, and prone man a golden shower. Damian Chazelle: Hold my beer. Chazelle starts Babylon at 100 m.p.h. before accelerating into...
Documentaries about movies abound in the form of film essays that use various genres to express their argument. Viewers are bound to recognize favorite films they’ve seen as well as discover films for a future watchlist. Here are some of the best examples of this kind...
I don’t know whether kids “get in trouble” anymore. The talk surrounding young people has become so dark and bleak that the concept seems almost quaint. My daughter was never “in trouble” growing up in the 2000’s and 2010’s, and it seemed that those among her peers...
“Avatar: The Way of Water” felt like it lasted an hour. Such is the pure visionary touch that writer/director James Cameron brings to the action. In 3D, the process is complete immersion into the frame. So whether you say the new Avatar is...
A well-established principle in the world of video gaming is that stylized graphics age better than “realistic” ones. Consider two games, released in 2012: Max Payne 3 and Borderlands 2. MP3 sought a more realistic aesthetic, while Borderlands employed a highly...
In 2005, one of the top-five greatest living musicians not named Paul McCartney died. It went largely unnoticed. This musician's work is in the digital cloud, waiting to be embraced. He is now the subject of the unfinished documentary "Dust Radio: A Film About Chris...
On more than one occasion during The Whale, I nearly closed my eyes. But that would be a violation of the compact of cinema. Each time I walk into a theater, I commit to that experience. The filmmakers have labored over every frame. Films take years, even lifetimes,...
Note: this piece is re-published - originally written after the first season of Stranger Things was streamed. There was no particular reason I should have loved Stranger Things. It followed the usual formula for a streaming show: a dense plot, rich atmosphere, a large...