Silent Screen Diva Marion Davies’ Enjoyable Nonsense
Silent screen star Marion Davies makes these two restored films by directors George Hill and Sidney Franklin irresistibly delightful.
comedy
‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’: Queer Acceptance at the Edge of Oblivion
Balancing its serious side with silliness and sincerity, queer-positive Everything Everywhere All At Once speaks to a communal determination to press forward, even when it seems the whole world is pressing back.
Neorealism Meets Fairy Tale in Vittorio De Sica’s ‘Miracle in Milan’
If the escapism in Vittorio De Sica’s Miracle in Milan seems simple-minded, even simpler is the cure to society’s ills.
Comedy/Drama ‘Somebody Somewhere’ Won’t Let Kansas Be the Joke
Set in America’s “flyover country”, HBO comedy/drama Somebody Somewhere, starring Bridget Everett, defies small-town America stereotyping.
Writer/Comedian Amy Silverberg Wants Freedom on Stage and on the Page
Amy Silverberg’s comedy is at once wry, playful, and at times beautifully filthy, like the trash-riddled Santa Monica Pier during a pink-tangerine sunset.
Tied and Noosed ‘Dancing Pirate’ Waltzes into Technicolor
Restored 1936 Technicolor film Dancing Pirate crosses the early talkies’ vogue for absurd musicals with its other vogue for Hollywood Mexicana.
Director Jacques Audiard on the Dilemma in Cinema
Director Jacques Audiard talks with PopMatters about straddling the divide between art and commercial cinema with his comedy/romance, Paris, 13th District.
SXSW 2022: ‘Linoleum’ Director Colin West on the Mirrors in His Film and His Mind
Director Colin West talks with PopMatters at the SXSW world premiere of Linoleum about how the film’s chaotic tall tales and morals are a mirror image of his own mind.
Barry Levinson’s 1982 ‘Diner’ Is a Film About Nothing That Still Means Something
Would Larry David’s “show about nothing”, Seinfeld, have been created if Barry Levinson’s film about nothing, Diner, hadn’t preceded it?
The Arrested Patriarch: Euphoria’s Cal Jacobs and Bad Education’s Frank Tassone
Euphoria’s Cal Jacobs and Bad Education’s Frank Tassone deliberately thwart redemption, lending a flair for the tragic to these otherwise villainous characters.
Before and After Hitler: Two Films by German Director Robert Siodmak
German director Robert Siodmak‘s 1930 comedy Farewell is a far cry from 1957’s Nazi-influenced crime thriller, The Devil Strikes at Night.