Tag: history
Ways of Watching: Taming the World Through Cinema
Watching films is about more than pleasure. It can be educational and thought provoking, but it also scratches a more primeval itch, one born from our desire to make a safe, controlled space to live in. Cinema helps us to own and to tame our world. Ownership through oils In his book and television series…
Das Kino Deutschlands: An appreciation of German Cinema
I do not intend to cover the history of the cinematic output of Germany; that would take a book, and many already exist. However, I have noticed German films mentioned on CURNBLOG occasionally, and I would like to offer some for consideration, and hopefully introduce them to new viewers. Before the Second World War, many…
Group Offences: Braveheart and the future of prejudiced pictures
The worst thing I ever heard at the movies was laughter. This oft-merry sound reached me, to my dismay, at a Manhattan showing of Mel Gibson’s historical epic Braveheart (1995) nearly 20 years ago. I was watching it in the theatre, surrounded by other New Yorkers, when a scene came up in which King Edward…
Guerra Civil: The Spanish Civil War on Film
From 1936 until 1939, Spain was torn apart by a bitter civil war. This almost forgotten conflict was the precursor to the world war that soon followed, and was one of the bitterest, and cruellest civil wars in modern times. You would need to read a book, and there are many to choose from, for…
Dallas Buyers Club: McConaughey steps up
I was fully prepared to dislike this movie. I’ll willingly admit to being a snob on the subject of cinema, and the same goes for actors as well. I watched Failure to Launch (painfully), couldn’t finish How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, felt nauseated when I saw clips of The Wedding Planner at the doctor’s office, and completely avoided Ghosts…