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Shaun HustonAbout Shaun Huston Shaun Huston is an associate professor in Geography and Film Studies at Western Oregon University, where he primarily teaches courses in political and cultural geography. He is currently working on a documentary film about the community of comics creators in Portland, Oregon. You can learn more by visiting his faculty webpage. Features
An Auteur’s Touch of EvilThe auteur is dead, long live the auteur: Orson Welles and Touch of Evil, 50 years on. [19 March 2009] Life Into Art: Strange Culture and the Measure of Documentary FilmStrange Culture is a critical entry point into the current discussion of what makes a documentary a documentary, most notably because it announces its own subjectivity in a clear and provocative way. [14 August 2008] Mad Men, Sad MenThe increasing prevalence and sophistication of advertising, the popularization of psychotherapy, and an emerging political consciousness in the American middle class all come to the fore in this excellent television series. [6 August 2008] Barbarians at the GateIn addition to enabling collaboration and sharing, recently developed social open sourcing technologies -- sometimes called Web 2.0 or the read-write web -- make it possible to cultivate communities of interest around a particular film and even short-circuit normal promotional efforts and theatrical distribution. [27 February 2007] Bringing Short Films to a Mailbox Near You: An Interview with Karl MechemDoes the short film have a reputable future beyond stupid human tricks on YouTube? [8 December 2006] Balancing on The Wire: David Simon and America’s Forgotten WarThe micro and macro storytelling mastery of HBO's The Wire shows the devastating effects creating social policy in the shape of war. [15 September 2006] The False Divide: Crosstalk in the Digital WarsIn the arguments over digital versus traditional film, can't we all just get along? [23 August 2006] The False Divide: Crosstalk in the Digital WarsIn the arguments over digital versus traditional film, can't we all just get along? [10 August 2006] The Closing of the FrontierDeadwood has the audacity to gut American mythology and morality using the very same symbols we use to romanticize it. [27 June 2006] Fascism and the Text: Alan Moore, the Wachowskis, and V for VendettaWhen Alan Moore complains of big screen adaptations of his graphic novels, is all just a bunch of authorial ego run amuck? [26 May 2006] Breaking the Social Order: Brokeback Mountain and the Re-Imagined WesternMore than a simple gay cowboy movie, Brokeback Mountain challenges the Western's basic codes and shows the misery of conservative notions of duty. [24 February 2006] Columns
A Case for Comics in CollegeMy name is (insert name here) and I am a visual learner -- and other reasons why comics is a relevant subject for the college curriculum. [3 February 2010] (more Worlds in Panels) Forget McCloud (or Maybe Not, Baudrillard)Scott McCloud's text does not make any concessions to doubters. It gives people permission to start from the presumption that comics are 'real' art, as well as 'real' literature. [10 December 2009] (more Worlds in Panels) What We Talk About When We Talk About Supergirl’s ShortsSupergirl's summer costume change -- which included concealing shorts under her skirt as she flew about, kicking butt -- reveals a lot about our changing superheroes. [20 November 2009] (more Worlds in Panels) Are Comics Like Reading with Training Wheels?Reading a comic requires multiple forms of literacy and levels of interpretation. Every movement from word to image and back again so as to create a coherent, narrative whole engages the reader’s brain in distinct ways. [13 October 2009] (more Worlds in Panels) Comic Re-ImaginingNot all comic book adaptations are created equal, especially not when comparing our own imaginings with what actually happens when books are moved from print to screen. [18 September 2009] (more Worlds in Panels) Comics, Art for the IdiosyncraticWith little pressure to conform to storytelling or visual norms, comics are rife with artists like Jason Shiga, who bends and splices genres, and whose aesthetic sense is readily identifiable as his own. [11 August 2009] (more Worlds in Panels) Barbara Thorson, Giant Killer, is Within Us AllWe needn’t substitute our daily fears with the supernatural to understand what it means to adopt different identities for different purposes and to feel both tied to and apart from others, but in Barbara’s case, it helps. [9 July 2009] (more Worlds in Panels) Is the ‘New York Times’ Tracking Porn Sales Now?That “comics” persists in connoting “pulp” and “graphic novels” implies something “literary” is purely a matter of convention, and is not because those are the inherent meanings or implications of the terms. [2 June 2009] (more Worlds in Panels) Meaningless Landscapes: G. Willow Wilson’s and M.K. Perker’s ‘air’Airports and airplanes are extreme manifestations of a placeless McWorld, and Jihad is a backward-looking form of resistance to that placelessness, but we need not be limited by those choices. [14 May 2009] (more Worlds in Panels) English-Only? Not Quite: Linguistic Difference in Jessica Abel’s La PerdidaThe interaction between cartoonist, language, and reader is unusually subtle and complex in Jessica Abel's La Perdida [26 March 2009] (more Worlds in Panels) Getting Through Hard Times: Re-visiting Andi Watson’s Breakfast After NoonIn our sobering economy, Breakfast After Noon is more relevant than ever, as it addresses the psychic and emotional toll of unemployment. [25 February 2009] (more Worlds in Panels) Convergence Culture: the Many Faces of HellboyDifferent media means different Hellboys. Mike Mignola's versus Guillermo del Toro's. [15 January 2009] (more Worlds in Panels) Capturing the Abstract in the ConcreteWhat do the worlds contained within comics, within and between panels, tell us about the worlds in which we live out our lives? [16 December 2008] (more Worlds in Panels) Reviews
Sita Sings the BluesThis is a beautiful and vibrant film that should be seen as much for its own merits as for what it represents in ongoing struggles over the copyright system. [11 January 2010] 
Chinatown (Centennial Collection)Despite bringing film noir into the daylight and into color, this is among the darkest of Southern California tales. [18 November 2009] 
Monsoon Wedding (The Criterion Collection)A family drama, as mosaic of modern, globalizing India, as a love story that sneaks up on you, and as a discourse on post-modernity and tradition. [13 November 2009] 
Private CenturyNot a single shot in Private Century is original to Sikl or his collaborators. This is a profound illustration of the significance of editing to the nature of film as an art and craft. [28 October 2009] 
Audience of OneDirector Michael Jacobs resists simplifying his subject, leaving viewers to come to their own conclusions about pastor Richard Gazowky, who he is, and why he wants to make his movie. [31 August 2009] 
Dakota SkyeIf Dakota Skye were a comic book, it would be a rather nice small press title, and not a glossy book from Marvel or DC. [25 August 2009] 
2 or 3 Things I Know About HerGodard conveys that virtually all people are cajoled and channeled into various forms of prostitution so as to achieve a level of petit bourgeoise comfort. [4 August 2009] 
This American Life: Season TwoAfter two seasons on TV, for me this remains primarily a radio show, but I look forward to the creators' continued experiments with word and image. [24 July 2009] 
Rip: A Remix ManifestoRegardless of how you access it, you will see an entertaining, thoughtful, and politically committed articulation of what Gaylor dubs the “copyLEFT”. [24 June 2009] 
Inside Outside: Vandalism, Art and Vandalism as ArtPerhaps the best compliment I can give this documentary is that it made me want to grab a marker and go outside. [11 June 2009] 
A Film Is a Burning Place: Works by Enid Baxter BladerThese works are highly individual, and operate in an aesthetic realm that is radically different from what many are likely to think of as “film”. [4 June 2009] 
Ashes of Time ReduxThis film pushes the wuxia genre to its narrative limits in such a knowing, strange, and beautiful way. [30 March 2009] 
To Catch a Thief: The Centennial CollectionThis is not really about how to nab a cat burglar, but rather about beautiful people in beautiful places. [24 March 2009] 
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (3 Disc Special Edition)This limited “3-Disc Special Edition” is as much a tribute to the writer-director as it is a showcase for the film. [5 December 2008] 
Star Trek: Alternate RealitiesSpeculation lies at the heart of what makes Star Trek appealing, thus, these experimentations with detours. [17 November 2008] 
Prometheus’ GardenGrounded in themes of violence and destruction and matched by those of transformation and regeneration. [27 October 2008] 
Ladies and Gentleman, the Fabulous StainsAs Corrine Burns, the 15-year-old Diane Lane, simultaneously naïve and hard-edged, negotiates the tensions inherent in rock stardom as well as anyone ever has on screen. [16 October 2008] 
My Blueberry NightsWong's films are structured around images of characters in repose, of interactions weighted with desire, and of individual memory and fantasy. [28 August 2008] 
Mon Oncle Antoine: Criterion CollectionThis coming of age story is also a device for re-examining Québec's political history; acts of rebellion are directed at pillars of the community. [14 August 2008] 
Bomb ItThe film grounds its subject in the everyday aspects of life and takes graffiti seriously as both art and politics. [31 July 2008] 
The Red Violin: Meridian CollectionThe violin is symbolic of our investment of objects with meanings and desires beyond their immediate uses, and it continues to entrance and engage even after the film's final shot. [21 July 2008] 
High Noon (Ultimate Collector’s Edition)When a righteous person's hand is forced by savagery, he will have no option but to become savage or risk both his own life and the advance of civilization. [11 July 2008] 
Robson Arms: The Complete Second SeasonVirtually the entire returning cast makes some kind of life-changing decision in season two. [17 April 2008] 
GattacaThis film is quietly provocative, well crafted, and a subtle meditation on the future. [19 March 2008] 
A Hundred Dollars and a T-ShirtThis documentary underscores that zine culture is made by interactive communities of readers and creators, all of whom bring distinctive sets of purposes, interests, and passions to their work, reading, and sharing. [3 March 2008] 
Drunken AngelOne need not know much about Japanese national cinema or Akira Kurosawa or post-War Japan to enjoy and appreciate a film like Drunken Angel. [10 January 2008] 
Libby, MontanaLibby, Montana's strengths are in the filmmakers' narrative sensibilities and the pathos of their subjects. [3 January 2008] 
Cinema 16: European Short FilmsThe Cinema 16 collections are welcome opportunities for a wider public to see works that would normally only be made available at festivals and in specialized screenings, and few at locations outside of major cities. [30 November 2007] 
You Kill MeAn alcoholic hit man is sent to San Francisco by his “family” to achieve sobriety. You Kill Me is another “mobster in therapy” movie, but with a fresh perspective. [19 October 2007] 
3:10 to YumaWhat's right, what's wrong, and what's reasonable when good men are faced with bad men doing bad things? [28 August 2007] 
Into the Fire: American Women in the Spanish Civil War (2002)Into the Fire constitutes a deeply humanistic portrait of the Spanish Civil War that compliments the more traditional, and uncritically masculinist, narratives that have generally shaped how the war is understood. [3 July 2007] 
Kitchen Confidential - The Complete SeriesAlas, while leavened with small insights into the lives of professional chefs and benefiting from high production values, this series was, ultimately, not much more than a conventional workplace comedy, its premise employed as a set up for wacky hijinks, and, above all, as a pretext for sexual and romantic tension. [27 June 2007] 
Gandhi (25th Anniversary Edition) (1982)The filmmakers tend to aestheticize, rather than dramatize, Gandhi's politics, but despite its superficialities, Gandhi remains eminently watchable a quarter of a century after its original release. [6 April 2007] 
Various Artists: Radio On [DVD]Radio On will enrapture and fascinate some, bore and alienate others, and leave many with unanswered questions. [3 April 2007] 
Mcluhans Wake (2002)As dangerous as the world seems to be, it is also enchanting; all the more reason to try to understand the ways in which we are being affected, refigured even, by the tools of our own invention. [7 March 2007] 
The Festival - The Complete First SeasonThe Festival is pretty smart and knowing about its target, and that's not bad, especially when dealing with a subject as ripe as the Sundance-shaped strain of independent film. [26 February 2007] 
Robert Greenwald Presents - The Brave New Films Box Set (2006)Ultimately, if these films do their job, more idle viewers will eventually become the kind of people who will want to do more than wait and watch. [20 February 2007] 
Kebab Connection (2005)Kebab Connection takes a refreshingly low-key approach to the questions of difference, and underlying issues of prejudice and discrimination, that drive its narrative. [26 January 2007] 
Sir! No Sir! (2006)Sir! No Sir! uses the personal stories of non-cooperators to argue that it was identification with "the enemy", a recognition of the humanity in individual Vietnamese people, that prompted combat and support personnel to refuse orders and quit the military. [19 January 2007] BlogsConsuming Consumables: AK 100: 25 Films by Akira Kurosawa [8 December 2009] |
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