August 2016
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I remember E.R. as a zeitgeist show, a conceit that strikes me as odd since I never watched it. Hospital procedurals were all the rage in the late 90’s/early 2000’s, but there was just something so off-putting about the entire concept to me. I hate spending time in real hospitals, so why would I want to spend an hour each week…
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Shortly after the release of her second feature, 2003’s LOST IN TRANSLATION, director Sofia Coppola capitalized on her rising profile by directing two more music videos that would further reinforce her street cred as a tastemaking filmmaker associated with the “cool” of alternative musical acts. KEVIN SHIELDS: “CITY GIRL” (2003) Much like she did for…
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Notable Festivals: Cannes (Palme d’Or), San Sebastian, Stockholm, New York Academy Award Win: Best Original Screenplay Independent Spirit Award Wins: Best Director, Best Feature, Best Male Lead, Best Screenplay Inducted into the National Film Registry: 2013 Director Quentin Tarantino made waves in international pop culture with his 1992 debut, RESEROVOIR DOGS. Suddenly, his explosive, unpredictable style was…
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This article is an excerpt from “A Bloody Breakout”, Part 1 of our video essay series on Quentin Tarantino. It is also included in our Quentin Tarantino: A Retrospective” e-book now available for Kindle! Notable Festivals: Sundance (Grand Jury Prize-Dramatic), Cannes, San Sebastian, Stockholm Independent Spirit Awards: Best Supporting Male In terms of American independent…
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Notable Festivals: Telluride Academy Award Wins: Best Original Screenplay I first saw director Sofia Coppola’s LOST IN TRANSLATION (2003) in college, and like several other films I saw at that time, the experience of watching had an immediate, profound effect on my own artistic development as a filmmaker. I tried on certain aspects of the…
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Few directors are as high profile and equally controversial than Quentin Tarantino. The man is a lightning rod for criticism and praise. Make no mistake, there is no middle ground here—you either love his work or are physically repulsed by it. However, one objective fact remains: he is syllabus-grade essential when it comes to the wider discussion of…
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Over the past decade, television has undergone rapid, major change—to the extent that many are calling it a new “Golden Age” of television. Up until very recently, television was referred to as the “boob tube” for very good reason—programming was cheap and disposable, the writing was lazy and clichéd, and the banality of reality television…
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Notable Festivals: Venice (Closing Night), Toronto, Stockholm (American Independents) Following the release of 1998’s THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO, director Whit Stillman promptly sold his Manhattan digs and relocated to Paris. The reasoning is unclear, but given his romanticism of European countries and a lengthy stay in Barcelona during his youth, I can’t say it’s entirely…
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Inducted into the Criterion Collection: 2009 With his previous two films, METROPOLITAN (1990) and BARCELONA (1994), director Whit Stillman had built up a reputation for sobering depictions of the urban/East Coast bourgeoisie. His themes and characters are a world onto themselves, often crossing over from one film to another seamlessly. As a result, Stillman found himself creating an informal…