Tag: movies
Land of the Little People: Controversial filmmaking in Israel
Imagine this scene: the skies are blue, the birds are singing, and four children are playing joyfully in the woods. Now imagine these children covered with two soldiers’ blood as their own private war rages in the woods while a “real” war rages in the outside world. Welcome to Land of the Little People, an…
Nymphomaniac: A one night stand with Lars von Trier
Despite the accolades he’s amassed over the course of his career, Lars von Trier in 2014 is more commonly a topic of discussion than a receptor of praise. Following the release of 1996’s Breaking the Waves, he was hotly tipped to be the next great European auteur, especially in light of the bold Dogme 95…
Crisis of the Undead: Zombies ate my movie script
Zombies are huge right now and never before have so many astoundingly bad films (and books… and TV shows… and video games) made their way into the mainstream. Never has the genre been populated by so many characters who are, in fact, less intelligent than the zombies they are up against. Never have there been…
Sturm und dreck: In defence of Hollywood
Whilst watching Ghostbusters (1984) on Esquire TV the other night, I came to a peculiar conclusion. Hollywood ain’t so bad. There’s recently been a lot of talk about this American movie-churner-outer and the quality of its productions. That somehow, the world of foreign films is a more satisfying land. That Hollywood has had its share…
Revisiting a classic: The Grand Hotel
Grand Hotel (1932) isn’t a perfect, or even great movie, but it is an interesting one. By most accounts, Grand Hotel was the first movie to have multiple headlining stars, rather than just one or two. Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore and Wallace Beery all shared the headlines for this film. Directed…