By Michael Sandlin. Since 2016, documentaries about influential far-right sociopaths have been on the uptick, having become almost an industry within an industry: Roger Stone, Roger Ailes, Steve Bannon, and Donald Trump have all been subjects of this recent outburst of nonfictional cinematic activism. All of the aforementioned far-right figures […]
Rise of the Tactless Manipulator: Where’s My Roy Cohn?
Elias Savada
October 3, 2019
By Elias Savada. I wonder if lawyer jokes were invented for Roy M. Cohn, the notorious attorney at the center of this perfectly timed documentary about the man who spent decades causing mayhem in the legal profession and creating turmoil for many who crossed his path during the last half […]
Synchronic Is Kangaroo Shit Loony
Elias Savada
October 2, 2019
By Elias Savada. H.G. Wells, move over. In the century-and-a-quarter since his science fiction novella popularized the notion of time travel, the theme of moving back and forth through a temporal vortex, fourth dimensional rupture, or other weird-sounding description has fascinated us. Whether long term and short visits to the […]
Versatile Journeyman – Edmond O’Brien: Everyman of Film Noir by Derek Sculthorpe
Tony Williams
October 2, 2019
A Book Review Essay by Tony Williams. This book is the latest production of prolific archivist Derek Sculthorpe. If not, “The Man with the Golden Gun”, this independent film researcher is “The Man with the Golden Keyboard” whose busy fingers discover formerly obscure entries in the most obscure newspaper clippings […]
Announcing the Anthem Series on Exploitation and Industry in World Cinema
October 1, 2019
Series Editors David A. Cook – UNC Greensboro, USA Will Dodson – UNC Greensboro, USA The Anthem Series on Exploitation and Industry in World Cinema incorporates a broad range of scholarship on filmmakers, genres, cycles and national cinemas, focusing on ways in which exploitation filmmaking and distribution subsidize riskier commercial […]
Film Scratches: Re-Drawing the Table – La Mesa (2018)
September 30, 2019
Film Scratches focuses on the world of experimental and avant-garde film, especially as practiced by individual artists. It features a mixture of reviews, interviews, and essays. A Review by David Finkelstein. La Mesa, a ten minute experimental animation by Adrian Garcia Gomez, is a haunting cinematic poem, a beautifully constructed black and […]
On Programming Content and Context: 73rd Edinburgh International Film Festival in Review
Mina Radovic
September 30, 2019
By Mina Radovic. A lady patiently cleans her house. The yellow lights of Athens peer in through the windows as her husband smokes a cigarette and between puffs complains to her about his job situation. Her daughter walks past, asking for something new, and complaining about her brother. The family […]
Experimentation in NYC: NYFF Shorts 2019
September 30, 2019
By Gary M. Kramer. Two shorts programs at this year’s New York Film Festival are designed to provoke audiences. This is a welcome approach to short films, where the format encourages experimentation. As many of the films here attest, short films can yield some strong emotional responses by not following […]
Making America Dumb Again: The Death of Dick Long
Elias Savada
September 26, 2019
By Elias Savada. There’s a swarth of idiocy running through this so-called dark comedy, but for the most part it fails at being what I had hoped for: funny. Plenty of drollness, though that falls flat, too. Director Daniel Schienert (half of the team known as the Daniels, who made […]
Daredevils of the Red Circle and Other Cliffhangers: Hollywood (1939-1942) and Spy Smasher
September 24, 2019
“Daredevils of the Red Circle and Other Cliffhangers” is a blog on serials by Geoffrey Mayer, the author of Encyclopedia of American Film Serials (McFarland, 2017). The Hollywood studios, except one, studiously ignored Hitler and the fascists throughout the 1930s. The exception was Warner Brothers who, under the leadership of Harry Warner, tirelessly fought […]