By Elias Savada. A lackluster affair, sporting cardboard characters and gag-worthy clichés.” Just a few months ago Liam Neeson was fumbling around the generic wasteland of his usual escapist entertainment with Honest Thief. Easily forgotten stuff. He’s back in the same doldrums with a new film, in a new year […]
Beyond the Limits of Documentary Filmmaking – The Construction of Testimony: Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah and Its Outtakes
A Book Review by Thomas Puhr. This powerful anthology illustrates how the archives are so much more than mere outtakes; they comprise an essential body of historical material, one which must continue to survive for posterity.” With its ten-hour runtime and near universal praise, Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah (1985) is often […]
An Invaluable Guide to “Hollywood East”: Historical Dictionary of Hong Kong Cinema, Second Edition
Once a Thief (1989) A Book Review by Tony Williams. The second edition of the Historical Dictionary of Hong Kong Cinema, by Lisa Odham Stokes and Rachel Braaten, surpasses an earlier 2007 edition edited by one of the key Western scholars in Hong Kong cinema, that contained contributions by Jean […]
A Versatile and Persistent Documentarian: The Films of Barbara Kopple
American Dream (1990) A Book Review by Kate Elora Rogers. The Films of Barbara Kopple offers a thorough dissection of this formative figure in documentary filmmaking, while assessing Kopple’s embrace of other genres and storytelling modes.” The prolific career of filmmaker Barbara Kopple spans the last 45 years and still […]
Guy Maddin Meets SpongeBob: Ryland Brickson Cole Tews’ Lake Michigan Monster (Arrow Video)
By Thomas Puhr. Tews blends green-screen footage, miniature work, practical effects, and a grainy sound design to mimic the look and feel of a ‘50s creature feature (that is, one which has smoked too much pot).” The success of writer-director Ryland Brickson Cole Tews’ (try saying that name five times […]
Chloë Grace Moretz Kicks Ass in Roseanne Liang’s Shadow in the Cloud
By Elias Savada. A small, fierce gem…. Moretz lets it all out with a thrilling performance.” This movie reminds me of the intense, claustrophobic approach to air travel that 7500 did earlier this year. For me, Shadow in the Cloud is a more frantic and enjoyable effort. The action moves […]
From Straight to Hell Comes Jack Ford: Straight Shooting (1917) and Hell Bent (1918)
Straight Shooting By Tony Williams. These two magnificent Blu-ray restorations reproduce the way the films were originally seen and also contain audio-commentaries and video essays by two pioneering Ford scholars: Joseph McBride and Tag Gallagher.” Following on the trail pioneered by the 2016 re-release of John Ford’s Three Bad Men […]
Trouble in the DC Universe (the City and the Comics): Wonder Woman 1984
By Elias Savada. Like so many presents found under the tree this Christmas Day, there might be a lot of folks asking for a refund after viewing this sad excuse for a sequel. It’s a wonder that Warner Bros. has let its prized new female-empowerment franchise slide off the rails […]
A Smash in the Face: Greenland
Another Clarke (the Comet) arrives for the Christmas movie season. By Elias Savada. Greenland, the latest comet disaster flick to smash into our planet, will be one easily forgotten. Comets and meteors and asteroids, oh my! These bits of interstellar debris have been attacking our audio-visual senses for ages, fictionally […]
That’s Why I Don’t Own the World: Hollywood’s Hard Luck Ladies
Rita Johnson (with Ray Milland) in The Big Clock (John Farrow, 1948) A Book Review by Zoe Kurland. With meticulous details gathered from an impressive variety of sources, Hollywood’s Hard Luck Ladies implies that, regardless of luck, Hollywood was (and is) quite unkind to women, especially those who attempt to […]