Category: History
Does The Power of the Dog’s 12 Oscar Nominations Indicate Best Picture Advantage Over CODA’s 3?
Imagine a world where we determine our Oscar predictions by which film has the most nominations. Perhaps not the defining factor, but one which sways…
Aaron Sorkin is Changing History
‘Tis the season of Sorkin. Writing mastermind behind pillars like The Newsroom and Steve Jobs (and The Social Network, I guess), the American screenwriter is…
In Praise of James Whale
It wouldn’t be the most glorious month of autumn without a little appreciation for the artistic genius of James Whale. A master of theater directing,…
A Personal Journey Through Horror Movies – Part III
Another impactful motion picture from the 2000s was Pan’s Labyrinth. In 2006, Guillermo del Toro, another name growing in infamy, wrote and directed this masterpiece…
A Personal Journey Through Horror Movies – Part II
Staying in the 1970’s, the next film definitely worthy of a mention is The Hills Have Eyes. I hated this movie. Genuinely, hated this movie….
A Personal Journey Through Horror Movies – Part I
When thinking of Halloween, the mind automatically turns to guts, grim and gore galore. Probably thanks to the array of cinema productions we have at…
The Long Cinematic Path of Folk Horror
Perhaps no two words better sum up the genre of folk horror than “old” and “weird”. When Sight & Sound dedicated their August issue to…
Rewriting Cannes Film Festival History – Here Are The Results For All 72 Events
As you may have seen on Twitter yesterday, I started posting the results of the Rewriting Cannes Film Festival History poll we ran. A huge…
Mary Pickford: The Heart of the Movies in 50 Beats
So iconic, wonderful, inspiring, a treasure for all film-lovers, Mary Pickford might well be the most important woman in the history of cinema. So varied,…
How Robert Altman Drove the Cinema Bus into Seventies Glory and Beyond
The musical became Nashville, the private dick, The Long Goodbye, and the psychodrama, Images. Thieves Like Us was the deglamorized gangster flick, California Split the chaotically atmospheric gambling pic. The language of American film had begun to evolve again, after a very long nap.
Star 80 (1983) – Bob Fosse's Last Roar
Bob Fosse directed only five films and this, the one with the odd licence plate title, was his last. The dancer/choreographer/screenwriter/director had a penchant for…
Robert Altman’s Streamers (1983) – Deployment into Oblivion
Streamers was a far cry from ’83 box office hits like Jennifer Beals, lady welder/dancer, seeking respect by getting buckets of water dumped on her in Flashdance or the Star Wars version of Teddy Bears’ Picnic, Return of the Jedi, but I’m certain that was precisely the way Robert Altman wanted it.
Nasty nasty Videos: Exploring the moral panic that led to the video nasty ban
In 1984 (yes, really in 1984 of all years, the irony would not be lost of George Orwell), the British government drew up a list…
Hopping Mad: Just who was the ''real'' Dennis Hopper?
May 17th is Dennis Hopper’s birthday, if he was still alive today (he passed away in 2010) he would be 82, but it was a…
