8 years ago
Longform (10 posts found)
Caesar No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil: The Humanism of “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”
“Somewhere in the universe, there must be something better than man.” The iconic tagline for 1968’s Planet of the Apes is alive and well, almost 50 years later. Seven sequels and two attempts at a reinvention later, Matt Reeves has delivered the best film in o...
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Control The Engine, Control The World: Obsession In “Snowpiercer”
Every filmmaker has their obsessions. Martin Scorsese has examined the ins and outs of Catholic guilt and redemption through a gangland lens since the start of his career. Alfred Hitchcock nursed a predilection for mistaken identity and the kinky duality of tr...
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The Edge of Glory: “Edge of Tomorrow” as Propaganda
In Doug Liman’s Edge of Tomorrow, Tom Cruise goes to battle. And then does it again. And again. And again. Trapped in a time loop worthy of your typical Marvel-esque exposition, Cruise's Bill Cage and his counterpart Rita Vrataski (Emily Bunt) act as beacons o...
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Black Faces, White Hoods: Blaxpoitation, Meta Narratives and the KKK
At first glance, the image is ironically funny. There’s a gun toting OJ Simpson, decked out in the robes of the Ku Klux Klan, taking aim at an anonymous redneck. Given OJ’s eventual fame, it’s impossible to separate the image from its context. It’s also the...
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The Male Gaze Has Outlived Its Usefulness
Mulvey may have been right about its existence, but she was wrong about the potential for change.
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Beyond Blaxpoitation: An Introduction
“He hated his family because he knew that they were suffering and that he was powerless to help them. He knew that the moment he allowed himself to feel to its fullness how they lived, the shame and misery of their lives, he would be swept out of himself with ...
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“I Call Them Dogs”: Lars von Trier Calls Out Rape Culture
Lars von Trier wants to hold us accountable. His films sear and contain a rawness that’s rare in cinema. He shows a small town community protecting people who abuse a fugitive, sexually and emotionally, and a religious culture that allows its elders to be disp...
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The Smart Dumb Films of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
If Phil Lord and Christopher Miller can be defined by any one thing, it is their ability to turn flimsy properties into unexpected hits. Their first feature-length directorial project, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, an adaptation of the eponymous children’...
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Putting Women in Their Place: Actresses Back in the Spotlight
When the average moviegoer is asked to name some of the greatest female characters, the first names that spring to mind are Ripley and Sarah Connor. Actresses were asked to do exciting things after the 1940s and 50s and films were littered with great female pe...
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Isolationism and Cinema
What does Obama’s commencement speech at West Point have in common with X-Men: Days of Future Past? More than you think. Despite his protestations, Obama’s speech has been cast by his critics as a push for isolationism. “[A]ccording to self-described realists,...
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