8 years ago
Longform (10 posts found)
Aristotle Was Wrong: Why ‘The Purge’ Is The Most Important Film of the Year So Far
Note: The following essay contains spoilers for The Purge. You’ve been warned. Don’t yell at me.
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Brace yourselves: there’s a good chance the most culturally important film of the year is now in theaters.
No, it’s not that movie from a few months ago w...
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The David Lynch Retrospective: ‘Dune’
The Movie Mezzanine Filmmaker Retrospective series takes on an entire body of work–be it director’s, screenwriter’s, or otherwise–and analyzes each portion of the filmography. By the final post of a retrospective, there will be a better understanding of the fi...
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The Thematic Preoccupations of M. Night Shyamalan
M. Night Shyamalan’s name has literally become laughable. A director once anointed as a promising auteur, has now had many revoke that status from him. In the words of Nick Schager’s recent piece at The Village Voice, Shyamalan is now seen by many as “just ano...
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The David Lynch Retrospective: ‘The Elephant Man’
The Movie Mezzanine Filmmaker Retrospective series takes on an entire body of work–be it director’s, screenwriter’s, or otherwise–and analyzes each portion of the filmography. By the final post of a retrospective, there will be a better understanding of the fi...
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The David Lynch Retrospective: ‘Eraserhead’
The Movie Mezzanine Filmmaker Retrospective series takes on an entire body of work–be it director’s, screenwriter’s, or otherwise–and analyzes each portion of the filmography. By the final post of a retrospective, there will be a better understanding of the fi...
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Tony Stark Is a Villain: How the ‘Iron Man’ Films Subvert Traditional Views of the War on Terror
It should go without saying that 9/11 didn’t just change the world, it changed the movies. Over the past decade, no other event has seeped into our cinema more thoroughly, from political thrillers that focus directly on the War on Terror to blockbuster escapis...
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Coming Soon: Disappointment!
The evolution of movie trailers is as relevant to the state of cinema as the films themselves. At some point, crafting a trailer came into its own as an isolated art form. Obviously a trailer cannot exist without the film it’s designed to promote, but while tr...
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A Communion With the Self In ‘To the Wonder’
The following isn’t a review. Instead, it’s a collection of thoughts, impressions, and emotions I wanted to jot down before they disappeared into the ether. Mild spoilers, if you can call them that.
Given the disappointed reviews for Terrence Malick’s lates...
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The Cycles of History in Jeff Nichols’ Thought-Provoking Films Shotgun Stories and Take Shelter
“This started a long time ago,” Son (Michael Shannon) says in Jeff Nichols’ Shotgun Stories, evoking one of the many thematic through-lines in the director’s first two films. Shotgun Stories and Take Shelter are all built upon things that started a long time a...
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The Terrence Malick Retrospective: The Tree of Life
The Movie Mezzanine Filmmaker Retrospective series takes on an entire body of work–be it director’s, screenwriter’s, or otherwise–and analyzes each portion of the filmography. By the final post of a retrospective, there will be a better understanding of the fi...
Read more →
