Author: Niall McArdle
Poetry In Motion (Pictures): 19 Films that Feature Poetry
There’s a very easy way for screenwriters to make characters seem smart, and that’s to have them quote some verse, usually by a heavyweight poet (Shakespeare, Milton, Yeats or Eliot). Sometimes it’s just a way for the screenwriters to wear their educations on their sleeves. Splendor in the Grass (1961) Splendor in the Grass,…
Breaking the Fourth Wall: From Alfie to The Wolf of Wall Street
Ah, the fourth wall: that invisible barrier between the audience and the stage that allows us to suspend disbelief. Breaking the fourth wall – addressing the audience directly – is probably as old as theatre. After all, doesn’t Puck turn to the audience at the end of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to assure us everything…
What a Scam: Ten great films about con artists
What is it about con artists in the movies that we like so much? We wouldn’t want to cross paths with these people in real life, but the cinema can’t seem to get enough of clever schemers who separate poor dumb schmucks from their money. The stakes can be small (the amounts of money in…
Religion in the movies: The Kendrick case study
God is making a comeback in movies, and this time, it’s personal. After several years free of biblical cinema, 2014 may well be remembered as the year that Hollywood found religion again. First up is Son of God, produced by Touched by an Angel’s Roma Downey and her husband, Survivor mogul Mark Burnett (perhaps the…