Thursday, May 9 2013
When Everything Changed: Memory, Nostalgia and the Tragic Turning Point
Popular culture creates its own nostalgic image of a time period that is both fact and fiction. When combined with the shaky foundations of our own memories, who can really tell what happened? How will pop culture translate the tragic events of today?
Tuesday, May 7 2013
Political, Pointed, and Peculiar: Armando Iannucci, Comedy Genius
Armando Iannucci's The Thick of It and Veep have solidified his legacy as a political satirist, but we mustn't forget the impact his other works have had on culture and comedy.
Monday, April 22 2013
Django May Be Unchained, But America Is Never Unshackled from Its Racist Past
Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained is at its strongest when it problematizes America's racist past.The destruction of Candyland not only vindicates Django’s revenge-fuelled quest, but also implies that slavery itself has been wiped off the face of the earth.
Tuesday, April 16 2013
Do Women Have Sex? ‘The Chapman Report’
Everyone knows it's impossible for any woman to enjoy guilt-free sex with jazz musicians and delivery boys.
Thursday, March 21 2013
Once More Unto the Beach: The Final Season of Jersey Shore
Post-Hurricane Sandy, the questions the final season of Jersey Shore raise are disturbing: Can we ever go back to the shore? Can we ever rebuild what was broken?
Tuesday, March 12 2013
‘How to Survive a Plague’: Critical Lessons for a New Era
How to Survive a Plague portrays an important era in LGBT history, a time when the gay community banded together in a way that politics or prejudice could never have fostered.
Wednesday, February 27 2013
‘Southland’ Offers a Fresh Take on Police Procedurals
Southland is both the epitome of a cop show and a substantial departure from traditional police procedurals.
Tuesday, February 26 2013
Retro Future: Reviving ‘Have Gun—Will Travel’ and ‘The Rifleman’
It looks like classic TV Westerns "Have Gun -- Will Travel" and "The Rifleman" might be on their way back to screens. Any chance the 30-minute drama might make a return, too?
Friday, February 15 2013
The Ethics of Control: ‘Paul Williams Still Alive’
Having experienced decades in the spotlight, Paul Williams, a reluctant subject, is a more powerful opponent than his director suspects.
Monday, January 21 2013
No More Words Nowadays: ‘The Qatsi Trilogy’
The Qatsi films are artistic ways of raising perceptions in the Irwinian sense: to change the world, we first must know what the world has become by our doing.
Friday, January 18 2013
Your Mission, Should You Decide to Accept It, Is to Watch ‘Mission: Impossible: The Complete Series’
As a window into the Cold War-era pop-culture past, Mission: Impossible is as entertaining as anything you're likely to find. If you can manage to suspend your disbelief, it's a worthy entry into the pantheon of espionage thrillers.
Thursday, January 17 2013
I Shall Be ‘Bref’: France’s New Empire, the Shortcom
The best show on French TV is only three minutes long. And it only aired for one year.
Tuesday, January 15 2013
More Than Any Other New American Director, Francis Ford Coppola Reminds Me of Orson Welles
Lifted from over a 40-year period, the Francis Ford Coppola: 5-Film Collection showcases the director's flexibility under circumstances dire and ideal. It also confirms his auteurist consistency.
Monday, January 14 2013
More Murders Are Committed for Love Than for Hate: ‘Hawkins’
Both Billy Jim Hawkins and Perry Mason are defense lawyers, but the resemblance ends there.
Thursday, January 10 2013
Movie Time Travel and the New Nostalgia
The new nostalgia signals the ultimate rejection of millennial anxiety, postmodernism, irony and the future. It longs for a post-industrial, green world. Of course, that suggests a vague and painful longing for something that never was.
Monday, December 10 2012
Love-Drenched Gunfighters in ‘The Guns of Will Sonnett’
For a couple of rough 'n tough gunfighters, these guys sure do talk about love a lot.
Friday, December 7 2012
Are You in a Film or in Reality? Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘Weekend’ Will Have You Wondering
Criterion's splendid edition of Weekend gives insight into the mind of visionary director Jean-Luc Godard, who aimed at nothing less than challenging the dominant social and cinematic paradigms of his time.
Wednesday, December 5 2012
A Show Divided: ‘Entourage’ as Satire and Misfire
Within Entourage's system of codependent relationships, individuals are treated as brands, women are treated as objects, committed relationships are discouraged, and one’s word means nothing unless a contract is signed and a check clears.
Thursday, November 29 2012
If He Had a Hammer: Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer
TV's Mike Hammer could never be as violent and cynical as in the books; it wouldn't be allowed by censors.
Tuesday, November 20 2012
Color Television: What Diversity Looks Like in America Today
The buzz word from the 2012 presidential election is "diversity". It's a good story. The look of the Obama crowd had both the structure and randomness of a Jackson Pollock painting. It was the ol' melting pot writ large.
