Category: Articles
Netflix and Their Ban on Smoking in Movies: Will It Help?
Fans of Netflix shows like Stranger Things rejoice in the binge-worthy content the platform provides. Hits like Orange Is the New Black, House of Cards, and Ozark keep fans flocking back to the platform, but the movies and shows that Netflix produces are about to change slightly. Having recently announced a plan to ban smoking…
What Mystery Science Theater 3000 Teaches Us About Making Movies
In my humble opinion, Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988) should be part of every film school’s Cinema 101 curriculum. Think about it. The show—an American series originated by comedian Joel Hodgson that places a human and his “robot friends” (including the bronze-colored, bird-like Crow and the orb-headed, wiggly armed Tom Servo) in a spaceship within…
The Best Movies About Seniors
Older people are significantly underrepresented in movies, a recent film analysis by University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism found. Just 11% of 4,066 speaking characters in the 100 top U.S. films are 60 or older. “Seniors on screen are an endangered species in cinematic storytelling”, the authors wrote in the report.…
Meeting the man and movies that put us on the moon
Thoughts from a cinematic memoir written on Earth by Philippe Mora. In Los Angeles in 1979 I was making a film about the Sixties called The Times They Are A-Changin’ for Columbia and Casablanca, greenlit by Daniel Melnick, producer of All That Jazz. Because of some controversial content my film was eventually stopped before release…
The most interesting “American” movies
There has been a president and a gangster. There has been history and graffiti. Beauty and splendor. Hustle and crime. There has been a sniper, and a psycho, and a gigolo. There has been honey. There has been pie. Indeed, American movies seem to be constantly examining what it is to be American. In all…