Ms. Silver Screen: Trailer Court
Because if there’s one thing Hollywood is in need of it’s a little justice.
Read moreBecause if there’s one thing Hollywood is in need of it’s a little justice.
Read moreIt’s Christmas time in Hollis, Queens (and other non-Run-DMC approved locales), so in honor of this most beloved of holidays, Cinematic Soulmates will turn its attention to a couple of films that (at the time) put a fresh and fun spin on the most famous Christmas story of them all, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Both Scrooged (1988) and A […]
Read moreA word of warning before we begin: things are about to get schmaltzy here at Great Moments of Cinema, so if you’re one of those heartless cynical types who hates all that sappy emotional stuff, you might want to stop reading right now. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s dive right into this month’s column, in which I […]
Read moreFor some people, fame is like a drug, and their desire to attain it becomes the driving force of their lives. This has been the case for a very long time, but it seems to have reached a sort of fevered pitch in the modern era. The rise of “reality television” would seem to bear this out. Indeed, for over […]
Read morePart of the brilliance of director Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) is the way in which it demystifies space travel. His characters aren’t heroic astronauts or brilliant scientists or mystic space knights. Instead, they are blue-collar working stiffs who just happen to make their living on a mining ship that traverses the stars. It is a clever (if not wholly original) […]
Read moreWith Halloween right around the corner, it seemed like a good time to take a look at two films that not only redefined the horror genre, but also had a lasting impact on the culture as a whole. Director Herk Harvey’s Carnival of Souls (1962) has developed a strong cult following in the years since its release, but it is […]
Read moreCarol Burnett once said “Comedy is tragedy plus time.” What she meant is that anything can be considered funny given enough time and distance. George Carlin agreed with her to a point. He believed that everything could be considered funny, and it didn’t matter how much time had passed. His contention was that “It all depends on how you construct […]
Read moreStories that follow the traditional “hero’s journey” template are often geared toward adolescent boys, and feature easily identifiable male characters in the lead role. Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and countless other properties can be placed into this rather broad category, and they all tend to reinforce the notion of the young male protagonist as champion or […]
Read moreDirector Alfonso Cuarón’s dystopian fable Children of Men (2006) is a veritable master class in the art of modern filmmaking, and nearly any moment in the film would be worthy of inclusion in this column. However, the sequence that towers above them all, and serves as the focus of this installment, comes late in the film, and depicts a rare […]
Read moreOne of the finest arts one can learn and do well is acting. To be believable in a role, one must put oneself into a role totally and completely. It has to be something the audience will buy, right? There is a right way to cry, to laugh, to fall, and to get punched in the face. If a punch […]
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