Tag: cinema
Flesh and Blood: Body Modification and the Movies
I suppose it all began, it cinematic circles at least, with the Germans. The Student of Prague (1913), The Golem (1920). Morbid tales of the undead. The soulless. They begat Frankenstein in 1931 (though I suppose Mary Shelley actually begat it) and the rush was on. Altered versions of the human form would become a…
The Fallibility of Superheroes: Fighting the Gorgon
The Avengers Cinematic Universe presents an uncompromisingly problematic worldview. On the one hand, Marvel and Disney have established an unprecedented level of intrigue in their Grand Cinematic Experiment, forcing blockbusters to strive for a higher level, higher budget, higher income, and higher expectations from producers, filmmakers and filmgoers alike. The consolidation of characters and crossover…
Masterpieces of Suspense: The Top 10 Hitchcock Films
Alfred Hitchcock. The greatest director of all time? Maybe not. The most iconic? Who are you ranking ahead of him? His combination of artistic output and oversized public persona, burnished by famous cameo appearances in movies and cemented by his constant presence on TV in the new medium’s formative days, makes him arguably the most…
Turkey Shoot remade: Ozploitation Ozploited
Cinematic history is rife with examples of films that have (generally accidentally) achieved just the right combination of train-wreck and entertainment to become cult classics. One such example is Turkey Shoot (1982)… at least that’s what it was called if you saw the film in Australia. Viewers in the US would have been treated to…
La Comédie Française: 7 French Comedies That Deserve to Be Better Known
The French like their comedies, and their tastes don’t just extend to Molière – as evidenced by a long line I once saw in Paris outside a movie theatre advertising a Marx Brothers picture. Yet many Gallic laugh-fests are rarely seen outside the continent, owing in part to the use of subtitles, as well as…