originally published 5.26.2017 Though they are drastically different films, the Coen Brothers’ Barton Fink and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining share more in common than you might think, especially when it comes to their depictions of haunted writers. And though these hauntings manifest in extremely different ways, they are both brought on by the same impetus:Continue reading “Video Essay: The Haunted Writers of BARTON FINK and THE SHINING”
Monthly Archives: December 2019
Flawless Frames: THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO
THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO, the 2019 debut feature from writer/director Joe Talbot, is poetry on page and in celluloid, a collision of haunting beauty emanating from within the film’s characters as well as from the ephemeral environment – a place so casually familiar in our consciousness that what DP Adam Newport-Barra doesContinue reading “Flawless Frames: THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO”
CinemaGrids: FIGHT CLUB/ A CLOCKWORK ORANGE
When David Fincher set out to adapt Chuck Palahniuk’s hyper-violent novel FIGHT CLUB, the first and only film that sprang to his mind was Stanley Kubrick’s absurd nod to ultra-toxic masculinity, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, itself an adaptation of the novel by Anthony Burgess. The result was a murky counterpart to Kubrick’s film; where CLOCKWORK wasContinue reading “CinemaGrids: FIGHT CLUB/ A CLOCKWORK ORANGE”
Essay: Blood in the Water: The History of Shark Movies
originally published July 11, 2016 Sharks are perfect movie villains: they’re ruthless, calculating, merciless, efficiently lethal, and look like total badasses, all sleek and cold and sharp. Sharks have no emotions, they rely on no rationale other than to fulfill three primal needs, as famously noted by Richard Dreyfuss’ Matt Hooper in JAWS: “swim andContinue reading “Essay: Blood in the Water: The History of Shark Movies”
CinemaGrids: Postures of SHAME
Steve McQueen’s SHAME is a complicated movie. Not narratively, from that perspective it’s pretty straightforward: a man wrestles with his increasingly uncontrollable sexual addiction. But from a performance perspective, the task given actor Michael Fassbender was not an easy one – take this man whose perversions and callous use of other people define him, thenContinue reading “CinemaGrids: Postures of SHAME”
Flawless Frames: WALKABOUT
British director Nicolas Roeg didn’t direct a single film until he’d been in the industry a quarter-century, the first wave of his career being in cinematography. Roeg was a photographer turned DP who earned his chops as a 2nd unit cinematographer on the greatest film ever shot – LAWRENCE OF ARABIA – and himself shotContinue reading “Flawless Frames: WALKABOUT”
Essay: A Crisis of Chrysalis: The Runway Scene in THE NEON DEMON
originally publiushed June 30, 2017 THE NEON DEMON is Nicolas Winding Refn’s version of a fairy tale. It features a young pauper who’s really a princess – Jesse – it takes place in a magical kingdom – Los Angeles – and it comes complete with jealous stepsisters, spells, and dramatic transformations, but alas, no PrinceContinue reading “Essay: A Crisis of Chrysalis: The Runway Scene in THE NEON DEMON”
CinemaGrids: OLDBOY/KONG: SKULL ISLAND
Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ 2017 film KONG: SKULL ISLAND is peppered with references to many of the greatest films of all-time, most of which depict the Vietnam War, during which Vogt-Roberts’ film is set. There are nods to PLATOON, THE DEER HUNTER, and APOCALYPSE NOW, but far and away the most ingenious reference is to ParkContinue reading “CinemaGrids: OLDBOY/KONG: SKULL ISLAND”
Video Essay: Why the Last 30 Seconds of PRISONERS is Perfect Storytelling
originally published 4.7.2017
Essay: The Once, Present, and Future King: Are Refn’s ‘One-Eye,’ ‘the Driver,’ & ‘Lieutenant Chang’ the Same Character?
originally published 7.14.2017 Like David Lynch, there is a thematic tipping point in the filmography of Nicolas Winding Refn, a movie in which the director discovered an overarching concept that he would explore from alternative angles over the course of several films. For Lynch, that point was the original Twin Peaks series, and the conceptContinue reading “Essay: The Once, Present, and Future King: Are Refn’s ‘One-Eye,’ ‘the Driver,’ & ‘Lieutenant Chang’ the Same Character?”
the flawless frame 