By Thomas Puhr. “I don’t have an agenda,” intones journalist Gareth Jones (James Norton) in Agnieszka Holland’s historical drama, Mr. Jones (2019). “Unless you call truth an agenda.” While some write off his stance as idealistic naivete, he is not speaking in an abstract, philosophical sense. The truth, in this […]
Dreamer and Performer: An Interview with Jessica Henwick and her Father, Novelist Mark Henwick
Ali Moosavi
June 11, 2020
By Ali Moosavi. For fans of fantasy and sci-Fi Tv and cinema, Jessica Henwick is a familiar name. After refining her acting skills in a number of British TV series, Hollywood beckoned, and she landed parts in such iconic projects as Star Wars VII – The Force Awakens (as Jess […]
More to the Show: Jeffrey McHale on You Don’t Nomi
Ali Moosavi
June 9, 2020
By Ali Moosavi. Showgirls (1995) is one of the most notorious films in Hollywood history. Director Paul Verhoeven and screenwriter Joe Eszterhas were riding high on the massive box office success of their previous joint effort, Basic Instinct (1992). Perhaps because of that success, the critics had sharpened their pencils, […]
The 2019 Seoul International PRIDE Film Festival: A Conversation with Director KIM JHO Gwang-soo and Programmer Dave KIM
Areum Jeong
June 7, 2020
By Areum Jeong. In 2019, the Seoul PRIDE Film Festival, founded in 2011, became an accredited international film festival. The festival took place from November 7 to 13 at CGV Myeong-dong Station Cine Library, where 100 films from 33 countries were screened. The film festival opened with Portrait of a […]
Bruce McDonald’s Dreamland: Side Effects Include Drowsiness
Rod Lott
June 5, 2020
By Rod Lott. With Dreamland, the Canadian creative triumvirate of raconteurs behind 2008’s beloved Pontypool are back together, Musketeers-style: director Bruce McDonald, writer Tony Burgess and actor Stephen McHattie. To cut right to the chase, lightning does not strike twice. Set in Europe – the part that throbs with the […]
Screen and Canvas – Cinemagritte: René Magritte within the Frame of Film History, Theory, and Practice by Lucy Fischer
Thomas Puhr
June 1, 2020
La belle captive (1983) A Book Review by Thomas Puhr. Given their ubiquity in the public consciousness (who wouldn’t recognize The Son of Man’s [1964] bowler-hatted gentleman with an apple covering his face?), it comes as a surprise that Lucy Fischer’s Cinemagritte (Wayne State, 2019) is the first book-length analysis […]
Praise and Loathing in Bozeman, Montana: The Rabbi Goes West
Elias Savada
May 30, 2020
By Elias Savada. I’ve known critic-archivist-filmmaker Gerald Peary for at least a dozen years. He sought me out in 2007 to do some copyright research, and I’ve worked for him on numerous projects (For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism, Archie’s Betty) ever since, although I’m […]
The Poetry and Politics of Dropping Balls: J-P Valkeapää’s Dogs Don’t Wear Pants
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
May 29, 2020
By Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. In some of its most famous forays into mainstream cinema, BDSM seems to almost instantly bestow some filmmakers with the belief they have found a one-way ticket straight to Cutting Edge Town. Instantly, with a few consensual slaps and saucily deployed feather dusters, we’re meant to believe […]
Move Over Hallmark, Here Comes The High Note
Elias Savada
May 28, 2020
By Elias Savada. In a pandemic-free world, The High Note would have been playing in movie theaters, maybe to decent business but not stellar success. The coronavirus playbook for every film these days is still questionable as we wait for the “all clear” signal from various authority figures. For now, […]
Mrs. Steve Austin: The Bionic Woman and The Woman’s Film
David Greven
May 26, 2020
By David Greven. The following is an excerpt from The Bionic Woman and Feminist Ethics: An Analysis of the 1970s Television Series © 2020 David Greven by permission of McFarland & Company, Inc., Box 611, Jefferson NC 28640. www.mcfarlandbooks.com. As I will have several occasions to note, The Bionic Woman […]