By Geoff Mayer. The below is excerpted from Hollywood’s Melodramatic Imagination: Film Noir, the Western and Other Genres from the 1920s to the 1950s (McFarland Publishers) by Geoff Mayer. All rights reserved. While sensational melodrama is structured as a fundamental bipolar clash between moral absolutes, the specific moral, political and […]
Sting in the Tail: Filmmaker Avalon Fast on Honeycomb (Slamdance)
By Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. These girls were actively looking for a way out, and to create separation between themselves and the world they gladly left behind. I think they felt more comfortable living in their new world the way they wanted, and controlling when others were allowed to experience and judge […]
A Big Slice of Fondness: Lisa Hurwitz’s The Automat
By Elias Savada. The Automat shouldn’t be looked at as a eulogy [1902-1991], but as a celebration of its long and mostly successful life.” “The food was delicious…the price was right.” So says the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg in Lisa Hurwitz’s affectionate look at the lost era […]
Drifting Through New York: Justin Zuckerman’s Yelling Fire in an Empty Theater
By Thomas Puhr. As a whole, Lisa’s journey feels all the more real thanks to this unpolished packaging – proof positive that you can achieve all kinds of magic with one camera and some game, engaging performers in front of it.” The “love letter to New York” subgenre is beyond […]
Last Survivors Off the Grid – An Interview with Drew Mylrea and Sunil Perkash
By Ali Moosavi. They believe the world is going to end in a nuclear war and they set up places off the grid that are self-sustaining. We took that idea and it evolved into a story about a man for whom the Armageddon was really a metaphorical Armageddon in which […]
What is and What Could Have Been: Alien 3 – Gibson’s Screenplay, Cadigan’s Novel, Fincher’s Film
By Jeremy Carr. Alien 3’s tumultuous genesis and the abundant what-could-have-beens have left many fans of the Alien series to wonder how else the picture could have materialized. Providing one of the more compelling cases is William Gibson’s unmade screenplay….” There was little doubt that whatever came next would have […]
Everything I Expected, and Too Much More: Moonfall Crashes Big
By Elias Savada. If you want an ear-smashing IMAX presentation, you’ll get one…. If you’re a reasonable person, you should avoid being in its vicinity.” Critics haven’t taken kindly to much of the escapist entertainment from German-born producer-director-writer Roland Emmerich. So, why should his latest be any different? It’s not. […]
‘Uncanny Sonic Novum’: Liz Faber’s The Computer’s Voice: From Star Trek to Siri
A Book Review by Paula Murphy. The Computer’s Voice offers a lively, engaging study and makes an important contribution to our understanding of the ways in which film and television both reflect and shape our attitudes to technology.” Conversing with smart devices has become an everyday occurrence: ‘Alexa, what’s the […]
“Just Look at It!”: Iván Zulueta’s Arrebato (Altered Innocence)
By Thomas Puhr. Altered Innocence’s reissue will hopefully not only satiate fans, but also seduce more viewers into joining the Zulueta fold.” On paper, José (Eusebio Poncela) has a life many aspiring filmmakers would happily take. A director of B-level horror movies with titles like The Curse of the Wolfman, […]
An Arctic Train Ride: Compartment No. 6
By Anees Aref. “A charming and elegantly crafted story about romantic longing, companionship, and the surprising places people find it.” Whether as a dramatic or metaphorical tool, the train can function in various ways to explore the inner and outer dramas of both character and plot, emotional and physical spaces. […]