Features
Thursday, January 6 2011
The Best DVDs of 2010
As the medium continues to struggle with significance in the steady "streaming" of the 21st Century, here are PopMatters' picks for the best the format(s) have to offer.
Friday, January 8 2010
The Best 30 Films of 2009
In one of the rarest rating periods ever, several on the staff could successfully argue for any of the Top 30 choices as a potential number one. While not all classics, they remain the consistent cream of 2009's crop.
Wednesday, January 6 2010
The Best Female Film Performances of 2009
Some in the media would have you think it was a sparse year for women on the silver screen. One peak at this amazing list of 20 girl power performances will have you giving said sentiments a specious second look.
Thursday, June 21 2007
Part 4: Challenging Convention
As cinema went completely commercial, abandoning art for artifice, true aesthetic acumen was hard to come by. Luckily, for the movies included herein, it was their difference, as well as their diversity, that helped them stand out from the rest of the high concept hackwork.
Columns
Wednesday, November 21 2012
Building the Perfect Star Beast: The Antecedents of 'Alien'
The impact of Alien is undeniable, and with Prometheus breathing new, terrifying and artistic life into the saga, Alien's legacy could go anywhere. However, Alien didn't spring, fully-formed onto movie screens as the near-perfect Star Beast that it is.
Tuesday, January 26 2010
Apologies to James Cameron: 'Avatar' a Sign of Changing Cinema
'Avatar' is pop culture at its most popular. It captured the world immediately, and I never saw it coming. I predicted all hype but didn't think Cameron could do it. Again.
Reviews
Tuesday, September 11 2012
One of the Most Popular Movies to Date Is Back to Prove Why We Love it So: 'Titanic'
This will most definitely not be the last home media incarnation Titanic gets, but at the moment it’s undeniably the most exquisite.
Monday, April 16 2012
'Titanic 3D' Connects on an Elemental Level
Titanic's re-release in 3D provides the opportunity to drink in its spectacular mise-en-scène, to admire its graceful, imposing, and majestic camerawork, particularly in several magnificent sweeps across the bow of the ship.
Wednesday, December 8 2010
'Avatar': There's Always a Bigger Fish
If you add up the unabashed color and light shows, the crazy special effects that aren't quite photorealistic but blend convincingly into their own environments, the clumsy dialogue and the undeniable showmanship, you get something a lot closer to the Star Wars prequels than some of the angrier nerds would care to admit.
Friday, December 18 2009
Avatar
Cameron's evocations of everything from Blackwater's Iraq massacres to the Trail of Tears gives his story an uncommon resonance. This is a whole new kind of science fiction filmmaking.
Thursday, December 17 2009
Avatar
For all its powerful technologies, Avatar can't get out from under its essential cardboardness.
Blogs
Friday, May 20 2011
'The Terminator' Was Indeed the Start of Something...Significant
In 1984, Hollywood had never really heard of The Terminator's team. Today, it wouldn't be the same without them.
Sunday, April 25 2010
Bigger Than Life: 'Avatar' on Blu-ray
Avatar is one of the most versatile entertainments ever conceived, a big idea epic that also excels in the smaller, more detailed moments. It's eye candy of a type so amazing and monumental that you rarely get tired of consuming it.
Thursday, April 22 2010
Sigourney Weaver Saves the Cosmos!
Pull back all the girl power politics and strong role model manipulation and you have one of the rare actors who understands the needs of the narrative, no matter how outrageous or unrealistic.
Thursday, December 17 2009
Blue World: James Cameron’s 'Avatar'
Cameron's evocations of everything from Blackwater's Iraq massacres to the Trail of Tears gives his story an uncommon resonance. This is a whole new kind of science fiction filmmaking, something particularly grandly spectacular, even if occasionally daft and overblown.
Tuesday, September 1 2009
Avatar dir. James Cameron (trailer)
James Cameron's Avatar is the director's first release since Titantic. While that's a lot to live up to, this teaser trailer proves that he may…
News
Wednesday, April 4 2012
Is the world ready for more ‘Titanic’ tears? James Cameron & Co. hope so
LOS ANGELES — In the late 1990s, a peculiar global fever broke out. Boys in Afghanistan began cutting their hair like Leonardo DiCaprio, girls in…
Thursday, October 28 2010
A pair of 'Avatar' sequels is on its way from James Cameron
LOS ANGELES — James Cameron has set his return trip to Pandora. Fox announced Wednesday morning that "Avatar 2" and "Avatar 3," the sequels to…
Sunday, February 28 2010
In James Cameron's worlds, women lead the charge
Who would have thought James Cameron would turn out to be one of the strongest feminist voices in contemporary cinema, and yet he is. It's…
Saturday, February 6 2010
Super Bowl weekend should be another win for 'Avatar'
After holding the top spot for seven consecutive weeks, it looks like "Avatar" will reign one final time over Super Bowl weekend. Despite rising interest…
