By Thomas M. Puhr. Far from great satire, but further proof that Clark is willing to take big swings, budget and taste be damned.” While watching Zach Clark’s The Becomers (2023), I was reminded more than once of a web comic that was making the rounds on social media earlier […]
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 […]
Highlights and Tributes: The 26th Annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
By M. Sellers Johnson. One of the American South’s premiere film festivals showcases documentary stories from across the globe….” After a year-long hiatus, the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival resumes energized this year in downtown Durham, North Carolina. Fully in-person screenings date back to pre-pandemic, so the festival is also […]
“Who the Hell is That Dick Watson?”: Ricardo Darín and the Construction of Latin American Film Stardom
A Book Review by Dávid Szőke. Both a compelling analysis of how political influences shaped the notion of the ‘movie star’ and an impressive biography of a cultural icon….” Argentine’s cinematic evolution is inextricably linked to the 20th-century tumultuous political landscape in the country. This process has been marked by […]
Revisiting the Rebels: Jeff Nichols’s The Bikeriders
By Andrew Montiveo. Such subtlety has become increasingly rare….” Popular culture has long relished the outlaw motorcyclist, and Hollywood embraced the outlaw motorcyclist soon after his postwar emergence, mainly due to a number of displaced veterans returning from WWII. Early exploitation cinema profited from the public hysteria over these latter-day […]
Lost and Found: In Praise of Josh’s Blair Witch Mix (1999)
By Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. The Blair Witch Project – Josh’s Blair Witch Mix (1999) can be found online in full at Archive.org here. The essence of The Blair Witch Project that has made it so compulsively alluring for me has largely remained as elusive to me as ever. And then I […]
“Why Did Fate Make You a Sinner?”: Victims of Sin (1951, Criterion Collection)
By Jeremy Carr. Its pulp façade encases a genuine, sincere examination of sundry motivations, dilemmas, and outcomes, routinely begging the question stated in one its many songs: ‘Why did fate make you a sinner?’” Victims of Sin, or Víctimas del Pecado, is an aptly titled Mexican melodrama where the concept […]
Danse Macabre: Filmmaker Karen Arthur on The Mafu Cage (1978)
By Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. I find that there is an emotional energy in a theater piece [the basis for The Mafu Cage] and that the relationships are so much stronger and more connected. I always use the concept that you have to see in film and so therefore I took the […]
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 […]