Thursday, April 12 2007
Aronofsky: A Shockingly Talented and Aggressive Filmmaker
Aside from being the early efforts of a shockingly talented and aggressive filmmaker, Requiem for a Dream and Π -- while relating quite different stories -- share an underlying narrative structure and a profound concern for the individual's deeply embedded need for the patterns that inform his/her life.
Tuesday, April 10 2007
Children of the Revolution
While the government gradually abandoned the Revolution, Mexican cinema rewove its sundry and complicated histories into a singular, nationalistic spectacle filled with valiant leaders, easy morals, stunning imagery, and catchy songs.
Friday, April 6 2007
Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez Talk Grindhouse
The celebrated directors discuss their new double-feature, a salute to the grindhouse film era, and offer a hit list of grindhouse classics for your viewing pleasure.
Tuesday, April 3 2007
Wim Wenders: Merging the Infinite Via the Enigma of Cinema
Like an abstractionist who refuses to discuss his inspiration, or an avant-garde artist who renders his icons through a vague and untouchable design, Wim Wenders can be both fascinating and frustrating.
Friday, March 30 2007
Rattling the Cage: An Interview with Screamers Director Carla Garapedian
With a new documentary and the aid of System of a Down, Garapedian tries to get the world talking about genocide.
Thursday, March 22 2007
Unbridled with Life: Interview with Mira Nair
With The Namesake, based on Jhumpa Lahiri's popular novel, Mira Nair has found an ideal subject -- a family full of complex characters who spend their lives traversing traditions and expectations.
Thursday, March 8 2007
Paul Robeson: Showing a Little Grit
Today, Paul Robeson seems impossible. How could one man have accomplished so much, commanded such respect, be so large and legendary, even during his lifetime?
Friday, March 2 2007
The PopMatters ‘Short Ends & Leader’ Spring Film Preview
In order to separate the worthy from the worthless, PopMatters' "Short Ends & Leader" editor is highlighting 10 new films he's looking forward to this spring.
Thursday, March 1 2007
Blood, Guts, and Counter-Revolution
Entreaties to “build the middle-class” and “extend a hand to whoever works for you” are of course meaningless, feel-good platitudes offered as alternatives to empowering the impoverished. A critical look at Venezuela’s number-one anti-Chávez action flick, Secuestro Express.
Tuesday, February 27 2007
Barbarians at the Gate
In 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.
Wednesday, February 21 2007
Shallow Graves
Martin Scorsese's hotly tipped Oscar fave, The Departed, plumbs the depths of the psychological and sociological motives of violence, loyalty, and duty.
Wednesday, February 14 2007
Love and Frogs: Dating John Waters
The unique filmmaker talks about his sweet compilation, his extreme romantic tastes, and the definitive way to divorce.
Friday, February 9 2007
From the Inside, Looking Out
Holcomb speaks with writer-director Djinn, director of Perth. Djinn hails from Singapore, a small nation of avid movie goers who, like their film industry and their country, says Djinn, are 'always looking outward.'
Monday, January 29 2007
Legendary Weapons of Hong Kong
When their films bog down in plot contrivances, Chor and Chang share a baroque leadenness. By contrast, Chia-Liang offers nimble entertainments.
Tuesday, January 23 2007
Pixilated: Frank Capra’s Columbia Years
Capra's films of the '30s are seminal works and cannot be underestimated; their influence on American film has been viral, forever infiltrating the structural and thematic templates of contemporary cinema.
Thursday, January 11 2007
A Symbol of Transition: Interview with Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro: It's not like there was no cruelty before or no brutality before. But the fact that now people can go out in the open about it, publicly, and not be shamed, even be proud of it!? I think it's a very dark time right now.
The Pay Off: The Best Film of 2006
For many of the movies on PopMatters' 2006 list of the year's best films, it is clear that a heavy personal and professional stake was riding on the final product.
Tuesday, January 9 2007
Primal Screens: Mark Savage and Australian Independent Cinema
A promiment figure in Australia's burgeoning genre scene, Mark Savage is more or less unknown in America. Now, thanks to a stellar DVD overview of his two decades behind the camera, he's finally poised to take his place among independent cinema's standouts.
Thursday, January 4 2007
Dreaming Out Loud: Robert Altman at the IFC Center
Robert Altman's films often reveal in dreams the strangeness of being alive. This more than anything sums up the timeless greatness of Altman at his best, and starts to convey what’s lost when cinema is thought of as commodity rather than art.
Wednesday, January 3 2007
“Great Tenacity”: The Real Dirt Interview
The Real Dirt on Farmer John combines home movies, archival footage, and recent imagery to consider the far from simple life of a flamboyant farmer. PopMatters interviews filmmaker and subject.
