Thursday, July 7 2011
‘Go Lala Go!’ and ‘Working Girl’: The Chinese/American Dream
Both Go Lala Go! and Working Girl feature the basic Cinderella narrative. Yet there are marked distinctions between the Chinese and American processes, and the films differ greatly in their approaches to female conflict, empowerment, and class struggle.
Friday, July 1 2011
The Best Film, TV and DVDs for Summer
Draw the curtains against that relentless summer sunshine. Crank the air conditioner not only for comfort, but to drown out that infernal sound of laughing children. While away some free time this summer in the company of your TV with these recommended shows.
Thursday, June 23 2011
Obsession As the Driver Behind the Road Movie
Since Jack Kerouac's On the Road, the notion of hitting the road to "anywhere but here" speaks to us not of grand rolling landscapes, but of an emergence into a truer, freer, state of being than our everyday routines allow.
Wednesday, June 22 2011
To Be Or Not to Be Isn’t the Only Question: The Nature of Being in ‘Synecdoche, New York’
By desperately trying to create an authentic piece of art, Caden Cotard, the central character in Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York, ends up dooming himself to live what Heidegger calls an inauthentic life.
Wednesday, June 15 2011
In Search of the Endless Summer: Surf Films
Surfing is a spectacle of sheer uselessness and excessive pleasure that most of us can only dream about. It provides an ideal image of how we desire to live -- devoted solely to a thrilling and utterly innocent pleasure.
Tuesday, June 7 2011
Harlem Nights: Eddie Murphy and the Original Gangsters of Black Comedy
After a decade of uninterrupted success, Eddie Murphy ushered out the 1980s with an ambitious but shaky vanity project. Here is how the director, producer, writer and star of Harlem Nights bit off more than he could reasonably chew.
Monday, June 6 2011
Once a Monarch, Always a Monarch
Why do the same British actors always play Kings and Queens and their underlings? There are, it seems, a handful of interchangeable actors tasked with portraying a finite set of monarchs in new and dizzying combinations of age and relation.
Wednesday, June 1 2011
‘Third Star’, Making the Festival Rounds, Pits Benedict Cumberbatch Against a Taboo Topic
With a difficult theme and a challenging landscape, Third Star, an official selection for film festivals around the world, takes the characters and audience on the road trip of a lifetime.
Thursday, May 26 2011
“Where Will We Live?”: Terrence Malick’s Fugitive Edens
Again and again, Terrence Malick’s films rehearse, in ways both literal and figurative, one of the oldest and most abiding stories in myth and literature.
Wednesday, May 25 2011
Bridesmaids and Broom Jumpers
This year's crop of wedding-centric romantic comedies offer up some things old, a few things new, and a lot of things borrowed (but not much blue).
Friday, May 20 2011
When Greed Is Good
The economic system has only one purpose, which is to create wealth. In the market’s language, this is the only “good". If evil exists, then it must be loss, which is the opposite of the good. For Gordon Gekko, this is the only morality which exists.
Tuesday, May 17 2011
You Only Go Around Once: Death and Nostalgia in the Films of Woody Allen
On the eve of the release of Woody Allen's newest film Midnight in Paris, opening May 20 in limited release, PopMatters examines the director's fondness for deftly employing nostalgia as a cinematic language throughout his career.
Friday, May 13 2011
Godard’s Invisible Cinema: The Neglected Genius of Late-Period Godard
By ignoring or outright dismissing Jean-Luc Godard's post-New Wave work, we’re denying the cinema the opportunity for advancement that he alone can provide.
Thursday, May 5 2011
Summer Movie Preview: August 2011
August brings us a clash between horror and sci-fi as vampires, demons, and super-intelligent apes battle the Grim Reaper and a beefy Barbarian for your last few popcorn coins.
Wednesday, May 4 2011
Summer Movie Preview: July 2011
If automatons are battling genetically altered soldiers, talking animals, extraterrestrials, and cowpokes for box office supremacy, it must be July.
Allen Ginsberg Didn’t Say That: A Conversation on the Film ‘Howl’
C.E. McAuley and friends get wordy about Allen Ginsberg, Howl, and the release of the film now on DVD.
Tuesday, May 3 2011
Summer Movie Preview: June 2011
The return of everyone's favorite mutants, the arrival of an intergalactic peacekeeper, and some guy with a bunch of birds marks June's idea of sunny Summer fun.
Monday, May 2 2011
Summer Movie Preview: May 2011
This month, the God of Thunder, the return of Captain Jack Sparrow, and the continuing adventures of the bachelor partying Wolf Pack mark the start of the Summer season.
Thursday, April 28 2011
On Truth and Lies and the Full Frame Film Festival 2011
What is the connection between cloned puppies and a 32-year-old sex in chains story? This and other questions raised at this year’s Full Frame Film Festival.
Wednesday, April 27 2011
Celebrity and the Celebration of Art: The Transformation of Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Cumberbatch’s body of work is impressive. So what has previously prevented his transformation from a highly talented, sought-after actor to bona fide international celebrity?
