By Theresa Rodewald. An unflinching depiction of the dying West and the violence inherent to the frontier….” Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) is a film shaped and defined by its past. Shot more than 50 years ago, its production was infamously fraught. Director Sam Peckinpah and […]
Ten Rules for Doing Documentary Interviews the Right Way
By Roger Nygard. Every documentarian starts out doing interviews wrong. I learned the hard way, by making all these mistakes.” Interviews are the main ingredient in the documentary recipe, so how you conduct them is crucial. Everybody starts out doing interviews wrong. I learned the hard way, by making all […]
Ultimate Equity: Hoag Kepner’s Torched
By Phoebe Hart. Like Ultimate Frisbee in its grassroots approach. Funded by a Kickstarter campaign, the makers have done well to put together a cohesive piece that will thrill both fans of Ultimate and folks interested in equity.” Torched is a new film directed by Hoag Kepner about Austin’s professional […]
Self-Taught Genius – Tim Mackenzie-Smith’s Getting it Back: The Story of Cymande
By Phoebe Hart. This documentary on the neglected 70s funk band consisting of West Indian Londoners is beautifully shot and edited, with an infectious energy….” Getting It Back: The Story of Cymande charts the comeback of influential funksters, Cymande. The band were a seminal influence on generations of musical artists […]
When Radiohead Met Nosferatu: Josh Frank on Silents Synched Event Cinema
August 1, 2024
In running a tiny drive-in, I found over time that people were not coming for new releases or even often caring that it was an old movie, they wanted a special movie experience. This got me thinking about how to customize the experience of going to the cinema, horror and […]
Notes on Anatole Litvak’s City for Conquest (1940) and the Tough Vulnerability of James Cagney
By Theresa Rodewald. City for Conquest revitalizes the sports drama formula: losing does not break Danny.” Danny is a truck driver, a boxer, a brother to Eddie (Arthur Kennedy) and a boyfriend to Peggy (Ann Sheridan). He drives a truck to earn money, to pay the rent and put food […]
Drive Away Dolls: On a Goofy Coen Road Comedy
By Elias Savada. Gags and pratfalls ensue, many funny and more than a few blush-worthy as the film speeds through its brief 84-minute running time.” Sure, we’ve been conditioned over the last 40 years that you can’t have one Coen (brother) without the other. Two peas in a pod. Ethan […]
Environmental Action in Opposite Directions: Extinction (2019) and Guardians of Life (2020)
By Dávid Szőke and Sándor Kiss. While Extinction and Guardians of Life declare “nonviolent open rebellion” and the urge to action for the survival of our natural world, the divergence between their stated ideals and their disruptive tactics in shaping public understanding of climate-related issues point toward starkly opposite directions.” […]
Movie Theaters Need to Win Us Back
By Gary D. Rhodes. Movie theaters must do more work to ensure that we are seeing unique content, not films that are already streaming or will be within a few weeks. And this means being clever, because movie theaters can show far more than just movies. (Thank you, Taylor Swift!)” […]
Teddy Co and the Regional Remapping of Philippine Cinema: An Obituary
By Paul Douglas Grant. Saying goodbye to this luminary figure, we know his legacy endures through the flourishing diversity and dynamism within the Filipino film landscape, in all its vernacular forms.” On November 1, 2023, the Filipino film community faced a profound loss as Teddy Co, a powerful influence on […]