Tag: film
Emotional Violence and the Movies: 6 Films You’ll Feel
I hate to admit it, but I never made it all the way through Hollywood vs. America, film critic Michael Medved’s long and rather ponderous book which suggested in 1993 that Hollywood filmmakers were largely to blame for the decay of the American social fabric. The idea that any such decay might be attributable to…
There And Back Again: Fantasy Cinema and Literary Legacy
Fantasy cinema, taking the themes and ideas of fantasy literature and putting them up on the big screen, is an increasingly powerful force in cinema. Like superhero films, this genre has been driven by recent successful adaptations, starting with The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). And just as J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the…
Lars von Trier’s Antichrist: Grief, Pain, Despair
Lars von Trier is, beyond a doubt, one of the boldest directors of our time; he never balks at digging a hole in the soil of human emotion with the sole intention of getting well and dirty. Von Trier’s Melancholia (2011) is a meditation on self-destruction, on one’s inner life being untameable, overbearing and suffocating. Antichrist (2009) is…
Marvel and DC: Comics as Cinematic R&D
There’s no avoiding comic book movies. Though they are most obvious in the big screen superhero blockbusters, comic adaptations now cross all genres. There are historical epics like 300 (2007), horror films like 30 Days of Night (2007), crime dramas like Sin City (2005) and Road to Perdition (2002), even quirky comedies like Scott Pilgrim…
Great Femme Fatales: 6 Underappreciated Film Noir Villains
We’ve been dealing with weighty issues of late and so I think it’s time for another list. After all, lists make the blogosphere fun. I know when I think of fun, the first thing that comes to mind is the femme fatale. It being NBA finals time here in the USA, this one will employ…