When Francois Truffaut sat down with Alfred Hitchcock in 1962, the former was in his early 30s with few films to his name, the latter was in his early 60s, and was the undisputed master of suspense. Hitchcock was not, however, given proper respect as an artist, at least not as far as Truffaut, and… Read More »
Mark Burton and Richard Starzak — Puns, Cryptomnesia, and Dreams with SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE
Aardman Animation. For hordes of animation fans, you don’t need to say anything else about a film in order to get them to pack a theater. I, however, will add that the latest from that storied studio, the SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE, is everything that not just a great Aardman film should be, but also… Read More »
DOPE is Genius
DOPE is a provocative blend of gritty realism, gentle compassion, and piercing social satire that is so unlike anything that has come before that its maker, Rick Famuyima, may have just invented a new cinematic sub-genre in the spirit, and brilliance, of the Coen Brothers’ FARGO. Boldly venturing into issues of identity, class, gender, sexuality,… Read More »
Stephen Winter Re-discovers JASON AND SHIRLEY
Click here to listen to the interview. When Shirley Clarke made PORTRAIT OF JASON, she was doing more than exercising her creative impulse. The Oscar™-winning director had been all but shut out of Hollywood, and returned to New York to pursue a career as an indie filmmaker rather than deal with being marginalized by the… Read More »
Maya Forbes’ Pet INFINITELY POLAR BEAR
Click here to listen to the interview. Maya Forbes has been a screenwriter for years, with co-credits for MONSTERS AND ALIENS and DIARY OF A WIMPY KID to her credit. She was also a writer and story editor on HBO’s groundbreaking THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW. For her directorial debut, though, she chose a script she… Read More »
Serge Bromberg of Lobster Films talks paternal influences, cocktail-swilling elephants, and when a lobster is not a lobster.
Serge Bromberg, courtesy of the company he founded, Lobster Films, has been discovering and restoring films from the silent era through the 1960s for 25 years. The excuse for myinterview (I’ve wanted to talk to him for years) was his imminent appearance at the 20th anniversary of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, which had… Read More »
A Pale Shadow of A POLTERGEIST
The original POLTERGEIST was said to have a curse attached to it. Perhaps because the producers opted to use real skeletons rather than models because they were cheaper. Perhaps because taunting the supernatural might tick off the wrong non-corporal entity. Aside from the deaths associated with members of the original cast and crew, certainly the… Read More »
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
George Miller first sent Mad Max blazing across the sere post-apocalyptic landscape in 1979 and thence onto cinematic legend. Sequels followed. Mel Gibson in the eponymous role rose to international fame and, eventually, Miller moved on to different sorts of classics with BABE and HAPPY FEET. Now, thirty years and more later, he is revisiting… Read More »
IT FOLLOWS and It’s Relentless
IT FOLLOWS slyly juxtaposes the familiar with the alien as it tells its exceptionally effective tale of terror. The clichéd tropes of low-budget horror — the remote lake house, the eager and nubile kids having sex in the back seat of a car, a terrified girl in high heels and lingerie running in terror down… Read More »
INSURGENT Keeps the DIVERGENT Franchise Puffing Along
The advantage of seeing outstanding actors in a middling film is that you can appreciate just how good they are on a whole new level. And INSURGENT is certainly a middling film, though that is an improvement on the last installment in this franchise, DIVERGENT. With a new director, Robert Schwentke, bringing Veronica Roth’s YA… Read More »
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