8 years ago
All posts by Kevin Ketchum
“Under the Skin”: A Study of Predator as Prey
Warning: this post may contain spoilers for "Under the Skin."
After a second viewing of Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin, I'm comfortable calling it a masterpiece. Not just an other-worldly meditation on what it means to be human, like the more obvious them...
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SXSW Review: “Frank” is a Mixed Bag of Tonal Whiplash and Muddled Ideas
The relationship between creativity and mental illness is a topic that has long been discussed in the modern era, with many suggesting that some of the most unstable artists create some of the greatest work. While that is certainly a more complex topic than ca...
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SXSW Review: “Boyhood” is the Masterful Summation of Richard Linklater’s Career
If there’s been a more ambitious filmmaking endeavor in the last ten years than Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, I’d love to know. Shot every year over the course of twelve years, the film chronicles the life of a family living in the south Texas suburbs, featurin...
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SXSW Review: Jim Jarmusch Plays By His Own Rules in “Only Lovers Left Alive”
Jim Jarmusch is a filmmaker who has long been concerned with human behavior, forgoing traditional narratives in favor of observing people interacting with one another, without anything ever really “happening”. When things do happen, it is without much fanfare,...
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SXSW Review: “No No: A Dockumentary” is as Extraordinary and Complex as its Subject
If 13 Sins represented a film at SXSW without a single human being in it, No No: A Dockumentary would be the polar opposite. Chronicling the life of Dock Ellis, the baseball player who famously pitched a no-hitter while tripping on LSD, this is a film so vital...
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SXSW Review: “13 Sins” Is a Flaccid Start to Midnight Programming
The programming at SXSW Midnight is often filled with low-budget, earnest, and unique visions of the horror and thriller genres. These are the independent voices in genre filmmaking we desperately need in today’s world, filled with remakes, reboots, and otherw...
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For Your Reconsideration: ‘Man of Steel’
A funny thing happened this summer. A new Zack Snyder film landed, though this one had immensely more favorable pre-release buzz than any of the director’s previous efforts. The trailers all landed with considerably positive feedback, and everything about the ...
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Gravity Defines Cinema As A Magic Act
As the years go by, visual effects have become more commonplace and audiences have become savvier, leaving filmmakers in a tough position. How can film still capture the imaginations of viewers and leave them feeling like they just saw a magic trick?
We’ve ...
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Five Titles To Get in Criterion’s Flash Sale
Kevin Ketchum lets you know which titles to buy in today's Criterion flash sale.
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Monday Morning Discourse: Does Festival Hype Help or Hurt?
About a week ago, during the time the Telluride Film Festival was in full swing and TIFF was just getting started, I noticed a few tweets and sentiments bemoaning the rapturous responses to films like 12 Years a Slave and Gravity, implying that they would be t...
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