The Shrunken Cinema
What it's all about.
"There is a good and bad side to Short Attention Span Home Theatre,
and both sides are exactly the same. (Sort of Zen, isn't it?)"
Hollywood Into Darkness
What we can unexpectedly learn from JJ Abrams.
"To what extent does the filmmaker have an obligation to make Art,
and to what extent does she have an obligation to make a film that will actually sell?"
Heavy Bondage
More 007 than you may have ever wanted.
"His job is to poke people, irritate them, cause trouble and massive explosions.
His job is to make a mess and see what happens."
The Turn
And hopefully not the screw.
"I'm sure it's fun for a filmmaker to pull the rug out from under the audience
and watch them squirm, but it's not so much fun for the audience."
Dark Victory
A tale of two cities, one of them Dark.
"Our collective impression, when we'd finished watching the film,
is that we had been cheated by bad promotion and/or bad buzz:
We both wished we had seen it in a theatre in 1998."
Kiss Kiss Squirm Squirm
What's become of the screwball comedy?
But there is a line, and that line is drawn at the exact point where
the audience is told to laugh at someone being made to look the fool.
Canon Fodder (Part One)
All definitive lists are spurious.
"Note that 'most significant' does not mean 'best' or 'most popular'
or even 'most influential.' Some of the films may be all three of these,
but not all of them are - indeed, some aren't objectively very good."
My Heroes Have Not Always Been Cowboys
But sometimes I wish they still were.
"For any audience that is not masochistic, there is simply no incentive to plunk down
good money to see a film consisting entirely of wholly detestable people."
Film Critics (Guilty Pleasures)
Early thoughts on a skewed view.
"How do you win that particular lottery? And what kind of hubris does it take
to assume that other people are interested in hearing what you think ...?"
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