Obsession is a favorite topic of many filmmakers, and it’s one that you see recur quite often in cinema. Films as diverse as Sunrise (1927), Amadeus (1984), Zodiac (2007), Jaws (1975) and countless others have all touched upon the subject of obsession in one way or another. Quite often, the films are about the way in which obsession leads to […]
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Quite often, movies, books, music, television shows, and other pieces of pop culture serve as a reflection of the time when they were made. Sometimes they are very much rooted in that time, and no longer feel relevant in the decades that follow. Occasionally, though, they maintain every ounce of the power they were infused with when they were first […]
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As a society, as a civilization, even as a species, we like to celebrate success. With the Summer Olympics under way in Ye Olde London Towne, we have one of the great examples of how much we humans celebrate success. We give people medals, trophies, money, cereal endorsements, all for outrunning, outgunning, outswimming, outsynchronizing their rivals. We are surrounded by […]
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For this installment of Great Moments in Cinema, we’re going all the way back to 1924, to look at a sequence that celebrates the power of cinema, which was at that time was still a young and novel medium, and had not yet evolved the style of film grammar with which we are all familiar today. Nevertheless, Buster Keaton, the […]
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In light of some of the… “discourse” generated by reviews of The Dark Knight Rises that have been less than positive, I feel my standard disclaimer might need to be bolded for extra emphasis this week: I’m not going to claim that this is “the right way” to handle this material. I also don’t claim to be an expert on […]
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The theory goes that the term “fan” originated as a shortened form of fanatic. Fanatic comes from long, long ago, when the only fanatics were of the religious type, as a way to describe such people with excessive zeal, enthusiasm and passion, as if driven mad and consumed by the madness. Due to its etymological origin, the term fan, when […]
Read moreWe all have gaps in our cinematic knowledge, films which, if we confess our ignorance of, someone, somewhere will say, “How have you not seen that?!” Catching Up is about these films, and viewing them so long after seemingly everyone else has. Some of these entries may be shocking, some are embarrassing, but all of them are classics. The Film: Directed by […]
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Okay, I know you probably read the headline above and thought to yourself, “What the hell is this guy smoking?”, but hear me out. I can explain. See, when I started writing this column, one of the things I wanted to do was to try and find connections between movies that didn’t seem all that similar on the surface, but […]
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We all have gaps in our cinematic knowledge, films which, if we confess our ignorance of, someone, somewhere will say, “How have you not seen that?!” Catching Up is about these films, and viewing them so long after seemingly everyone else has. Some of these entries may be shocking, some are embarrassing, but all of them are classics. The Film: Directed by […]
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The dog days of summer are officially upon us (though for most of us, it feels like they’ve been here for a while now), and what better way to welcome the season than to take a look at one of the best moments from a flick that is not only one of the best summer movies of all time, but […]
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