127 Hours (2010)

By Bryan Nixon. The opening credit sequence of 127 Hoursis a split screen triptych bursting with vibrant colors of modern society: crowds cheering, the running of the bulls, competitive swimmers racing, New Yorkers scurrying to work, an overpopulated California beach, and a fridge containing Gatorade and Coors. The fridge belongs […]

Saving The Cinema Museum

By Deirdre O’Neill. Tucked away in an unfashionable part of London, The Cinema Museum is a rather well kept secret even amongst cinema lovers. This museum houses a collection of artefacts and memorabilia that celebrate the cinema-going experience from the 1890s up until the present day; there are cinema seats, […]

THE ROBBER: Crime, Resistance, Rebellion

By Matthew Sorrento. Along with a direct title, this film has a high-concept premise: a long-distance runner who robs banks. Once we hear this log line, poster copy from old-time Hollywood appears in mind: He runs! He steals! He runs again! It’s the kind of idea that a studio could […]

Kung Fu Panda 2

By Jacob Mertens. Watching narrative films has always been a fleeting, ephemeral experience for me. After the initial flush of excitement, each viewing slowly diminishes in standing, it’s potency ebbing away from repetition. However, on occasion a film surprises me with its depth and I’ll notice underlying subtext that I […]

Films and Cities: The World (China, 2005)

By Hector Arkomanis. This column is the first in a series that discusses films in the context of specific cities, times and histories. Each time, we start with a close-up of a film which is then related to thoughts about the city drawn from a wide range of sources including […]

HOOVER VS THE KENNEDYS: THE SECOND CIVIL WAR???

Does anyone have or know of any copy at all, home-made or otherwise, of the 1987 TV mini-series HOOVER VS THE KENNEDYS: THE SECOND CIVIL WAR? If so, please get in touch, as I’m looking to buy a copy for research. Gary McMahon (garymcm@hotmail.com)   COPY FOUND! THANK YOU. Previous […]

Revisiting Tea and Sympathy: Sexual Paranoia in Fifties America

By Christopher Sharrett. Vincente Minnelli’s melodrama Tea and Sympathy, finally released on DVDby Warner Archive, deserves revaluation, given its neglect during its long absence from the home video market. Although there have been intelligent comments on the film by Vito Russo (1981: 112) and David Gerstner (2009), it has long been […]

The 28th Miami International Film Festival

By Oscar Jubis. It hardly seems to matter that the Miami International Film Festival has a new director, the third in four years, because the festival has a blueprint for success and a well-established identity. The 28th edition boasted a good selection of 73 features reflecting the festival’s traditional predilection […]

Bloodied Light: The cinema of Martin McDonagh

By Marshall Botvinick. ‘I’m sorry,’ says a somber doctor just as the opening credits for Six Shooter(2005), Martin McDonagh’s first film, dissolve. For a playwright known for his remorseless characters, it is a surprising way to begin a cinematic career, and it sends a clear signal to his viewers that […]