By Ali Moosavi. British writer-director Vaughn Stein’s feature film debut was Terminal (2018), starring Margot Robbie, Simon Pegg, Mike Myers and Dexter Fletcher. Getting such a cast for your first feature may seem to be very lucky and quite unusual. However, when you delve in Vaughn Stein’s filmography, it becomes […]
Wild at Heart: Philip Barantini’s Villain
Thomas Puhr
May 22, 2020
By Thomas Puhr. The latest poster for Philip Barantini’s Villain (2020) smacks of an effort to reach as broad an audience as possible. Adorned by flames and sporting a stylish suit, star Craig Fairbrass grimaces at something, perhaps his next victim, offscreen. “FURY UNLEASHED,” the tagline announces, prepping viewers for […]
The Case of the Poorly Hidden Bunker: Vaughn Stein’s Inheritance
Thomas Puhr
May 22, 2020
By Thomas Puhr. The opening montage of Vaughn Stein’s Inheritance (2020) exposes a fundamental flaw: in a sequence that juxtaposes DA Lauren Monroe (Lily Collins) sparring in court, Congressman William Monroe (Chace Crawford) prepping for an upcoming election, and their father, Archer (Patrick Warburton, squandered in a rare dramatic role), […]
Some Grace Notes from Tarantino: Thoughts on Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Christopher Sharrett
May 18, 2020
By Christopher Sharrett. Those who know me will be shocked to read this piece, a partial valuation of Quentin Tarantino’s last film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I have considered the filmmaker a nihilist – the word popped into my head when I saw Reservoir Dogs at its premiere (today, I […]
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Nailing a DIY Debut: Mark Jenkin’s Bait
Ali Moosavi
May 12, 2020
By Ali Moosavi. In the old days, in most cases the decision to whether to shoot a film in colour or black and white was determined by budget and economics. These days, it is mostly an aesthetic one, selected by the director, sometimes in consultation with the cinematographer. Black and […]
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On the Tribeca That Should Have Been
Gary M. Kramer.
May 7, 2020
By Gary M. Kramer. The Tribeca Film Festival sadly did not take place this year because of the global pandemic, but the festival’s shorts programs, curated by Sharon Badal and Ben Thompson were available for press. Badal, Thompson, and their team winnowed more than 6,100 entries down to 64 shorts […]
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Told It Slant – The Nosferatu Story by Rolf Giesen
Tony Williams
May 6, 2020
A Book Review by Tony Williams. Usually, I have a fondness for direct-to-library publishers such as Bear Manor, McFarland, and Scarecrow since they often provide a very important service in publishing books often unjustly neglected by mainstream publishers that contribute to knowledge rather than engage in theoretical mystifications designed to […]
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Portraying the “Big Book of Testimonies”: Armando Espitia on Our Mothers
Gary M. Kramer
May 1, 2020
By Gary M. Kramer. Our Mothers is a somber but powerful drama getting a virtual theatrical release on May 1. Ernesto (Armando Espitia) is a forensic anthropologist in Guatemala, 2018. He is surrounded by death. He assembles a skeleton at work and digs up mass graves. He also listened to […]
The “Russian Griffith” with Jarring Physicality – The Bolshevik Trilogy: Three Films by Vsevolod Pudovkin (Flicker Alley)
John Duncan Talbird
May 1, 2020
By John Duncan Talbird. Vsevolod Pudovkin entered Moscow University to study physical chemistry at the age of seventeen. His studies were disrupted by the start of World War I where he was soon taken prisoner. Reportedly, he saw D.W. Griffith’s Intolerance (1916) in his late twenties and his passion for […]
Looking Out, Looking In – Filmed Thought: Cinema as Reflective Form by Robert B. Pippin
Thomas Puhr
April 29, 2020
A Book Review by Thomas Puhr. It’s hard to make the mental jump from Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel to, say, Douglas Sirk, but Robert B. Pippin pulls off such connections in his thoroughly-researched Filmed Thought: Cinema as Reflective Form (University of Chicago Press, 2020). Though film criticism frequently incorporates philosophical […]