12 Years A Slave Brings The Pain
Watch the trailer for director Steve McQueen’s new movie, 12 Years A Slave, and you will fear the worst: a weepy, tug-at-your-heartstrings, Oscar-bait Hollywood take on slavery. If you’ve seen […]
The Slugger’s Wife and Extended Slumps
In the 1970s, Hal Ashby directed your favorite films; Harold & Maude, The Last Detail, Shampoo, and Being There to name a few. In the 1980s, his name topped an unbroken string […]
The Shining: King vs. Kubrick
King still thinks the movie is cold, distancing, misogynistic, not about the characters he invented, poorly directed, and not scary.
Escape From Tomorrow: Disney’s Sinister Underbelly
Family man loses grip on reality on extended Disney World vacation, leers at girls, imagines park blowing up. No doubt it happens on a daily basis, but good luck filming it.
Steven Soderbergh, Richard Lester, And The Knack
Nobody ever told me about Getting Away With It, a ’99 book in which Steven Soderbergh interviews Richard Lester, director of such movies as A Hard Day’s Night, Help!, Petulia, […]
Captain Phillips Is Not Okay
There is a moment, towards the end of Paul Greengrass’ true-life actioner Captain Phillips, in which the eponymous sailor played by Tom Hanks is simply overcome. The violence and strain have […]
Mind Control Double Feature #64: Deep Thoughts
When you really think about it, thoughts are problematic. I mean: what are they good for? Can you eat them? Will they keep you from chaffing? How many do you […]
The Son of Netflix Queue and A
Hooray and hurrah! It is time to once again see what’s looming on the ol’ Netflix queue. In our inaugural edition of this column, I listed the top 10 occupants […]
Possession; or Why Divorce is Like Tentacle Porn
Żuławski’s film is like Davids Lynch and Cronenberg had a torrid affair with Ed Wood and gave birth to that baby from Trainspotting in William S. Burrough’s garbage disposal.
What I Learned From The Class of 1984
You think teenagers are trouble today, you should have seen them back in 1982, when a deadly combination of Martian fashion, post-punk music, and the lingering ill effects of […]
The Pull of Gravity
It is inevitable. What goes up must come down. That is the effect of Gravity, the new film from Alfonso Cuarón—director of the stunning Children of Men—starring America’s sweethearts Sandra Bullock, George […]
Mind Control Double Feature #63: Of Ancient Myths And Little Girls
What is it about little girls? They’re spooky. Headstrong. Probably possessed by spirits or intergalactic alien intelligences. Like cats, they’re entirely too curious. They’re the epitome of innocence. Yet they […]
Shame and Lost Highway are not Good
And so here you find me, scouring the internet, looking for a copy of the generally unavailable 1950 film noir, Shakedown. The Supreme Being saw it at a Noir City screening […]
Ron Howard’s Rush Is A Good Movie–Also, Pigs Seen Flying Over Icy Frozen Hellscape
It’s not often I go around seeing, let alone enjoying, films directed by Ron Howard, but what do you know, Rush is a mostly enjoyable movie, stylish and well-made.