Friday, May 24 2013
Creepy Myths, Curses and Urban Legends of Hollywood
From deep within the shadows of Hollywood's backlots crawl the creepiest rumors and legends: a hanged Munchkin, the Superman Curse and... Ted Danson in a top hat!
Thursday, May 23 2013
In Defense Of ... New Orleans Gospel Music
Despite its rich tradition, the future of gospel music in various parts of the world has been an issue of contention and heartbreak in recent years, but the Electrifying Crown Seekers make a case that the genre is still going strong.
Monday, May 13 2013
How Do Film Adaptations of Books, Such As ‘The Great Gatsby’, Affect an Author’s Literary Status?
Many people assert axiomatically that "the book is always better", while others have suggested that bad books make good movies and good books make bad movies. But do films adapted from books, good or bad, give books a longer shelf-life?
Friday, May 10 2013
‘Spring Breakers’, ‘Pain & Gain’ and Postmodern Folly at the Movies
Rather than exercise judgment or critical perspective on crime and punishment, Spring Breakers and Pain & Gain share their characters’ self-indulgence, making narcissism seem like a palatable or practical means to achieve goals.
Thursday, May 9 2013
In Defense Of ... Going to the Movies
The popcorn. The posters. The previews. The audience camaraderie. Try as they may, big-screen televisions and streaming services will never be able to duplicate the moviegoing experience as long as the theaters stay open and the films keep coming.
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?
Friday, April 26 2013
Books of the Dead: The Followers and Clones of ‘The Evil Dead’
Initially a disaster of an experimental horror film, The Evil Dead went on to become an acclaimed and influential movie that launched careers and spawned sequels and copycats, not to mention a string of cash in faux-sequels. Who were these pretenders to the Deadite throne?
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.
Friday, April 5 2013
In Defense Of ... Hip-Hop Receiving the Respect It Deserves
In Ice-T's 2012 documentary, Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap, he asks why rap music doesn't garner the same amount of respect afforded to jazz and blues music.
Thursday, April 4 2013
A Cirque Du Soleil Performance in Hollywood Evokes Memories of the Circus of Hollywood
What do Dracula, The Pink Panther, Rocky Horror, The Exorcist, Thomas Edison and Danny Elfman have to do with Cirque Du Soleil? The Next Reel explores the 'Two Billion Nickelodeon'.
Monday, April 1 2013
Kafka on Kickstarter: Crowdsourcing, Capitalism and Art
From the Kickstarter-fuelled resurrection of Veronica Mars to Amanda Palmer's 'art of asking', the influence of crowdsourcing is impossible to ignore. Can it provide a new perspective on the relationship between art and money?
Tuesday, March 26 2013
Polymorphously Inclined: Comics as Influence, Comics Influenced
'Poaching' and 'copying' goes on in the making, reading, and interpreting of all forms of art and expression. The manner in which comics seem to invite connections to other media is what makes them vital artifacts of pop culture.
Friday, March 22 2013
Meryl Streep, Sex Goddess
Meryl Streep is portraying a string of desirous mammas, these days. In Mamma Mia, It's Complicated and Hope Springs, each of the leading ladies are mothers with grown children and a sexual appetite. A healthy one.
Friday, March 15 2013
You Can’t Escape Your Future or Your Past
In storytelling, the past dictates the future. Plots are laid out like traps that our heroes inevitably fall into. And we, watching Bruce Willis in Looper, or reading of Dream in The Sandman, are thus fated, as well.
Friday, March 8 2013
Everyone Lost: Protest Art and the Iraq War
While people were killing and dying, what did it matter whether there were decent songs being sung, insightful films being produced, appropriate art being inspired? When did poetry ever stop a war?
Friday, March 1 2013
Italy’s Lost Bellissima Actress, Margie Newton, Re-Appears in The Next Reel
Just before rising Italian star Margie Newton was set to take on Hollywood, she vanished from the public eye. What happened? Where did she go? Is she coming back?
Tuesday, February 19 2013
In Defense Of ... 2012’s Best Movie, ‘The Master’
With the Oscars set to be handed out this Sunday, it's time to take a look at what made the one film that somehow got pushed to the back of the awards season bus so transcendent, so polarizing, and so... great.
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.
Wednesday, February 13 2013
A Blackly Sardonic Telling of Abe Lincoln: ‘Crime Classics, The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln’
You think Steven Spielberg's Lincoln is compelling? Try upping the ante with Crime Classics: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
