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”
Category Archives: CinemaGrids
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”
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”
CinemaGrids: 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY/2010 THE YEAR WE MAKE CONTACT
It’s tough to follow Stanley Kubrick, and it’s even tougher to follow his masterpiece – the groundbreaking, genre-shifting, immortal 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. But Peter Hyams did just that with 2010: THE YEAR WE MAKE CONTACT, based on Arthur C. Clarke’s literary sequel to the original source material. Hyams realized, wisely, that the trick hereContinue reading “CinemaGrids: 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY/2010 THE YEAR WE MAKE CONTACT”
CinemaGrids: VERTIGO/TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN
It’s no secret that David Lynch holds Alfred Hitchcock’s VERTIGO as one of his favorite and most influential films. MULHOLLAND DRIVE, for all intents and purposes, is a VERTIGO remake in which the woman dupes herself. LOST HIGHWAY could be described the same way but with the woman in control, and intentionally cruel. But perhapsContinue reading “CinemaGrids: VERTIGO/TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN”
CinemaGrids: HER/LOST IN TRANSLATION
Both Sofia Coppola’s LOST IN TRANSLATION and Spike Jonze’s HER are love stories unique to our modern, over-populated, connected-but-not-connecting society. Both tell of emotionally isolated people scorned by love seeking to reestablish their hearts in hostile environments. Both use the metropolis as a counterpoint and augmentation of their central characters’ loneliness. Both star Scarlett Johansson.Continue reading “CinemaGrids: HER/LOST IN TRANSLATION”
the flawless frame 