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Erik HintonFeatures
The Seventh Seal of SmugIf hipsters really are the harbingers of cultural end-times, then what sort of apocalypse have they wrought? [7 October 2008] Who Can Save Us Now?Sherlock Holmes, pudgy heroes, and Superman’s sexual prowess: an interview with Owen King. [27 August 2008] Accepting the Absurd via Super Smash Bros. BrawlWhile video games will always adopt varying levels of verisimilitude, the Wii presents a novel challenge to the conventional consciousness, and that is an attack on realism. [17 April 2008] Grotesque Neo-Realism: Discussing Martin Scorsese’s Confounding StyleObscenities, Catholic imagery, self-immolation, blood-soaked killing sprees and falling from grace: what lies beneath the surface of filmmaker Martin Scorsese's distinctive style? [29 June 2007] Reviews
Boody: The Bizarre Comics of Boody RogersBoody’s bizarre comics are Golden Age nuggets of an off-kilter author who found a particular release in his medium. This is the absurd with no absurd as context. [3 September 2009] 
32 Stories: The Complete Optic Nerve Mini-Comics32 Stories effectively demonstrates how the dolorous ‘90s diary comic might pull itself out of the mire of its similar contemporary pieces. It is Tomine’s command of form that ultimately redeems the genre. [4 August 2009] 
Chicken with PlumsBefore even opening Chicken with Plums it is apparent that the book will have to go beyond the cultural seduction of Persepolis if Satrapi’s career is to become anything other than a one-note veil dance. [16 July 2009] 
Moomin Book FourMoomin owes much of its unique brilliance to its inversion of traditional argumentation. Whereas it is not unusual for an essay to recourse to fantastic thought experiment to complement its strict reasoning, Moomin builds strictly verisimilar situations out of an aesthetics of wild illogic. [7 July 2009] 
Licentious Gotham by Donna DennisThe book is not necessarily a history of erotic publishing as much as the history of erotic publishing’s clash with the law. [28 April 2009] 
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-SmithThis book combines love of ironic bric-a-brac with love of things that can passed off as “indicies of the post-modern condition”, or something similar. [21 April 2009] 
Variety’s “The Movie That Changed My Life” by Robert HoflerBy the end of both tabloid and book you are forced to abandon your childhood idealism and confess that celebrities are rather trite. [14 April 2009] 
Screening Sex by Linda WilliamsA tract on sexuality that is uncompromising without being outrageous, a text that embraces sexuality without making it a spectacle. [24 February 2009] 
I Served the King of EnglandThe film ends up feeling like an intricate semantics overlaid on a simple grammar. [19 February 2009] 
The Art of Soccer with John CleeseCleese seems to be well aware of his pandering, as he plays a caricature of himself. [15 February 2009] 
Hellions by Maria RahaHad I a daughter, I would love for her to be introduced to all the ass-kicking women of pop-culture by Raha’s book. [22 January 2009] 
Lost: The Complete Fourth SeasonThe order of myth becomes manifest in Season Four. [12 January 2009] 
An Autumn AfternoonOzu is at once alien and ordinary, without allowing this atypical film to be assimilated into some pop culture fashion. [4 December 2008] 
Mortal Coil by David Boyd HaycockThe profuse wringing of hands about whether or not we are doing violence to humanity in our tech-objectives only serves to hinder social progress. [20 November 2008] 
Forgotten Founder, Drunken Prophet, by Bill KauffmanThis book is a quick read and marked by monumental scholarship and deft style. [11 November 2008] 
BeaufortIf Beaufort is a fair bellwether, Cedar should become one of the more prolific Israeli directors, if not an international sensation. [7 November 2008] 
La RondeSesame Street teaches youngsters how to count less explicitly than this film laments the sexual mores of France, circa 1950. [21 October 2008] 
Soundstage Presents: Heart LiveBy the end of “Crazy on You”, you're crawling on the floor tossing your hair Lita Ford-style. [17 October 2008] 
Welcome to the Dahl HouseDahl traps readers between his incredible powers of persuasion and his equally well-trained powers of self-deprecation. The entire experience leaves you saying, “Oh yes I do hate that about America…Oh, I hate myself for thinking that.” [9 October 2008] 
The Films of Lech MajewskiThese are the really artsy films that anyone who has ever wanted to parody experimental cinema has been waiting for. [24 September 2008] 
The CounterfeitersEvery sequence feels very much alive and the film never loses its breath. [10 September 2008] 
The Multicultural Mystique by H. E. BaberEver a master of the broad stroke, Baber traipses through chapter after chapter with all the refinement of a chainsaw trying to cut lace. [9 September 2008] 
Bright Lights, Big City: Special EditionEven those who have not woken up in a druggy stupor will feel co-opted into the cast’s mired and destructive party lifestyle. [3 September 2008] 
South Park: The Complete Eleventh SeasonSouth Park uses transgressive means to further enlightened themes, the offensive means to be later isolated and paraded in publicity and spin. [25 August 2008] 
The Revolution Continues: New Art From China, by The Saatchi GalleryThis is the glorious trick of the book: getting readers to watch meaning generate and evolve, all between one cover and the next. [14 August 2008] 
Only the ValiantThis film recalls a different cinematic climate in which movies could be made purely for entertainment without being schlocky blockbusters. [8 August 2008] 
Sophia Loren 4-Film CollectionWrapped in striking red, plush vinyl, the set is every bit as attractive and voluptuous as its eponymous star actress. [5 August 2008] 
When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David SedarisStory after story is what you want and expect, jovially straddling the line between the devils of the formulaic and the angels of dependable consistency. [25 July 2008] 
Radical Alterity by Jean BaudrillardPhilosophy has often foregone its search for truth in favor of trumpeting a perceived tectonic ontological crisis: “Hark! The Internet, reality TV, Disney World, America! The sky is falling!” [24 July 2008] 
The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. ChestertonWith the utmost care and exemplary craft, this story transitions seamlessly between rather quotidian adventure and intoxicating and unnerving conflations of myth and philosophy. [30 June 2008] 
The Word of God by Thomas M. DischThis reads as if Italo Calvino was somewhat slow and raised on MTV, but had tried to write If on a winter’s night a traveler …” , anyway. [27 June 2008] 
VanajaThis seems to be banking on the xenophilia of a (provincial white) Western world that is susceptible to the tears of an unfamiliar-looking face. [19 June 2008] 
Vogue Covers by Robin Derrick, Robin MuirAs a nouveau/deco nymph-phantom we see the female as the marked other, some fantastic, ethereal creature but still set apart from her very worldly male counterparts. [22 May 2008] 
La ChinoiseA group of Mao-influenced French students struggle with ideology, the divide between theory and praxis, and the other myriad conflicts of starry-eyed revolutionaries. 
Colour by David BatchelorOne can see Colour cutely sandwiched between a Banksy picture book and PostSecret at Urban Outfitters. [20 May 2008] 
Le Gai savoirThis is the ne plus ultra of intellectual torture tests, dripping with intertextuality and esoteric post-structural philosophy. [14 May 2008] 
M by Jon J. MuthCombining broad strokes of dynamism with incredible tonal control and precious-few dabs of color, Muth not only captures the fog of noir which sets over Lang’s original, he actually improves upon it. [6 May 2008] 
CloverfieldBy being both absolutely verisimilar and absolutely unreal, Cloverfield highlights the extent to which reality is natively constructed. [21 April 2008] 
The Films of Sergei ParadjanovWith this well-packaged collection, the viewer is given the idiosyncratic, the polish, the esoteric, and the translation. In short -- a wonderful and full sense of Paradjanov as a director. [18 April 2008] 
Death at a FuneralAn everyman nucleus surrounded by idiosyncratic grotesques, grounded in a simple plot of the everyman reconciling the irrationality surrounding him, tangential and irrelevant comedic asides. [13 March 2008] 
The Paris Review Interviews byIt is my firm belief that this collection should not just be cherished by lit snobs or Faulkner fanatics, but should be in the curriculum of every intro to modern literature course. [4 March 2008] 
Southern CrossProduced in the early '50s, this predates even Eisner in claim to the ancestry of the modern graphic novel. [8 February 2008] 
Life, in Pictures by Will EisnerThis collection cleanly articulates the value of owning a book more for history’s sake than for enjoyment. [18 January 2008] 
The KillerWhether or not you traditionally enjoy graphic novels, the cinematic sensibility of The Killer makes the book as accessible as any film. [15 January 2008] 
La Vie En Rose (La Môme)Cotillard simultaneously relates the harsh obstinacy and generally acerbic behavior of the songstress while managing to drip humanity and evoke pathos at every turn. [4 January 2008] 
Iconic America by Tommy Hilfiger, George LoisIconic America is just another routine in cataloging. Or it could be maintaining a robust sociological critique with attractive subtlety. We'll probably never know for sure. [2 November 2007] 
TransformersConsider the patience and time it takes to build a ship in a bottle. Now imagine a fully functional Spanish Armada in a snow globe. [26 October 2007] 
Tokko, Vol. 3Hope raised in Tokko Vol 1, sustained with some effort in Vol 2, is, alas, lost in Vol 3. [16 October 2007] 
SilkIf you approach this as paranormal drama with some horror elements, rather than a horror film, then it may work for you. [12 September 2007] 
Various Artists: This Aint Your Moms Hardcore [DVD]The target audience of this film should really be adolescents with an invariable scowl beneath their eye-obscuring, black-dyed, ironed hair who believe this scene takes itself terribly seriously. [30 August 2007] 
Queen: DVD Collectors Box [DVD]There are some gems to be found in Under Review; but not a glimmer of magic to be had in Magic Moments. [28 August 2007] 
Noein: To Your Other Self, Vol. 4Noein: To Your Other Self, Vol. 4 will serve as an excellent buy for both fans of anime and fans of compelling narrative. [15 August 2007] 
Tokko, Vol. 2Tokko Vol. 2's digressive sub-plots were so painfully tedious that I found myself wishing that it was just a slaughter-fest. [9 August 2007] 
Vocal Group Hall of Fame: Induction Ceremony, Vol. 4 [DVD]This is an occasion when the special features of the film actually save the piece and recast the entire DVD in a different (somewhat brighter) light. [8 August 2007] 
Two Soldiers (2003)Two Soldiers does more for filmmaking and your library of DVDs in under 50 minutes than a shelf full of the three-hour feats of endurance that are now commonplace. [17 July 2007] 
Essential Classics - RomancesThis set highlights the existential crisis about the validity and permanence of love, in a time when Americans were reminded of the absolute ephemeral nature of life and stripped of ideals by the War. [28 June 2007] 
Le Petit Lieutenant (2005)A film so inert that the movie itself is little more than a series of stills. [31 May 2007] 
Wisdom in Chains: Die for Us, Live [DVD]Unlike most genres of music, hardcore is not about the spectacle of the band but rather the all-inclusive participation of everyone present. [23 May 2007] 
Essential Classics - Dramas (1947)This collection is an archive which excludes the archivist as target audience. [11 May 2007] 
The Art of Passion (1994)The Art of Passion might be the closest the film community has come to translating the impressionist style to the silver screen. [17 April 2007] Thank God Youre HereThank God You're Here virtually resurrects US televised improvisational comedy, drawing from its improvisational predecessors while conjuring original elements as well. [16 April 2007] 
Tokko, Vol. 1 (2007)This film is easily digestible but its meter, governed by repetition, sets it apart from the flimsily constituted anime tripe that is oft-showcased on cable television [27 March 2007] 
Mendy (2006)Mendy is virtuosic in bursts but unable to bear the weight of a full length running time. [12 March 2007] BlogsGraphically Speaking: Faction #0 [24 August 2009]Consuming Consumables: Iconic America by Tommy Hilfiger and George Lois [$60.00] [26 November 2007]Re:Print: Bookmarks: Misshapes by Geordon Nicol [22 November 2007] |
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