By Yun-hua Chen. Characters that I am trying to create are in general characters that are very thrilled to exist as who they are. So, I think this is really about not making apologies.” Exploring untaken paths and traces of human connections that feel like originating in past lives, Celine […]
A Literal Battle of the Sexes: Neil LaBute’s Fear the Night (2023)
By Thomas M. Puhr. It’s fun to watch the former enfant terrible explore his obsessions through low stakes genre fare. Sign me up for more.” At first glance, Neil LaBute’s Fear the Night (2023) seems like a far cry from his early films, let alone from his theater work. You’d […]
The Paradox of Peace: The Miracle Club (2023)
By Jonathan Monovich. What makes The Miracle Club work is the film’s deliberate choice in including four very talented actresses from four different generations for its core cast. Each character brings a diverse perspective on life and a varying level of surliness that gradually increases with age.” The Miracle Club […]
Plenty of Enjoyable Crunch – Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
By Elias Savada. Cruise and company battle an out-of-control sentient AI creation called ‘the Entity,’ which seems to have no weak points and quite a global advantage…. Preposterous? You bet. Fun? Of course!” All the movie magic and stunt work you’ve grown to admire in the Mission: Impossible series comes […]
Shepherding It to the Finish Line: An Interview with Russell Owen
By Leo Collis. Filmmaker Owen discusses gaining some momentum after a decade of grind. A lot can happen in 11 years. In fact, the last five years alone feels like two lifetimes. It was back in 2012, when I was a bright-eyed intern for Film International, that I first spoke […]
Universal’s First Horror Films
By Gary D. Rhodes. Here is an amazing history, one far more enduring than, say, Paramount’s connection to the comedy genre or Warner Bros. to the gangster. The question of precisely when Universal horror movies began is equally as fascinating as it is complicated.” In the 21st century, Universal Pictures […]
Clocking Out after 42 Years: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
By Elias Savada. For the most part Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny captures the frantic life of its central character — whether he wants it or not — racing around the planet for pieces of its past. It’s a grand send off.” The tired, gruff archeology teacher is […]
“Playing Innocent Would Have Meant Lying”: From the Introduction to Christian Petzold: Interviews
By Marco Abel, Aylin Bademsoy, and Jaimey Fisher. The following is an excerpt from the Introduction to our volume of interviews with German filmmaker Christian Petzold, entitled Christian Petzold: Interviews and published in the University Press of Mississippi’s Conversation with Filmmakers series. We thank UPM for permission to reprint this […]
A Neglected Man as Machine – Soldier: From Script to Screen
A Book Review Essay by Andrew Kolarik. There is something admirable in the blind positivity the book has towards Soldier and makes it a quiet strength, for better or worse.” What is it about some films that makes us utterly embrace them, even the derided and forgotten ones? Why do […]
Letting Them Be: An Interview with Ali Edwards and Sophia Castuera on August at twenty-two
By Leo Collis. “This isn’t a coming out story. This is just a story about a group of people and who they happen to love. I find that, as an artist, it was important to have Cal just be.” —Ali Edwards Navigating the world is tough at the best of […]