‘The Power of the Dog’ Messages the Urgent Need for Civic Education
Thomas Savage’s novel and Jane Campion’s film adaptation of The Power of the Dog depict the danger in Americans’ distrust of civic institutions.
western
Does a Fantasy or a Western a Film Noir Make?
Alfred Werker’s fantasy-dabbling Repeat Performance and John Sturges not-your-typical western The Capture may – or may not – be actual film noir.
How Masculinity Fails in Jane Campion’s ‘The Power of the Dog’
Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog undermines “toxic masculinity” – a term that evokes the existence of alternative masculinities.
John Ford Silent Westerns ‘Straight Shooting’ and ‘Hell Bent’ Raise a Ruckus
We're treated to many eye-catching examples of John Ford's talents in Universal's 4K restoration of silent westerns Straight Shooting and Hell Bent, now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber.
The Threat of Violence in George Marshall’s Western Comedy, ‘Destry Rides Again’
George Marshall's western spoof, Destry Rides Again, has a serious central premise; can society function without the threat of violence?
‘The Lost Tapes’ of Ian and Sylvia and the Great Speckled Bird
Stony Plain Records rounds up lost tapes from Canadian country/folk legends Ian and Sylvia Tyson performing as Great Speckled Bird in 1969. It was a very good discovery, indeed.
FrightFest 2019: Emma Tammi’s ‘The Wind’
The Wind (2018) is a quietly impressive film, an example of genre cinema that shows thoughtfulness and an interest in ideas.
Three Stylish British Silent Films by Anthony Asquith and Arthur Robison
While Anthony Asquith’s Shooting Stars and Underground look excellent on Kino Lorber’s digital restoration, Arthur Robison’s The Informer looks most spectacular.
Wild Women, Forty Pricks, and Western Noir
Samuel Fuller's Forty Guns serves as a remarkable film that fuses the Western with film noir and provides ample space, at least during its first half, for Barbara Stanwyck to provide a commanding performance that hints at what a Western female heroine might look like.
The Coen Brothers Tackle Short Story in Film Again with ‘The Ballad of Buster Scruggs ‘
Not their first foray into bringing the short story form to cinema, the Coen Brothers' The Ballad of Buster Scruggs affirms, sadly, that in this regard, cinema is the lesser storytelling form.
The Improbability of Communication in ‘The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez’
The inability to communicate truthfully and accurately runs like a red thread through the course of Robert M. Young's western, The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez.
The Coen Brothers’ ‘The Ballad of Buster Scruggs’ Is American Myth in Vignette
In the Coen Brothers' The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, there's something altogether new about having revisionist western ideas filtered through their rich sense of character, black comedy, and their penetrating awareness of humanity's fatal imperfections.
