Articles
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Few films have cast a longer shadow throughout cinematic history than Orson Welles’ monumental CITIZEN KANE (1941). Hailed by critics and cinephiles for decades as “the greatest film ever made”, Welles’ mythical, monumental masterpiece has always had a complicated relationship with both its audience and its industry. When it comes to the real drama behind…
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The past ten years or so have seen an explosion in the popularity of the true crime genre. From the runaway success of the SERIAL podcast to lurid streaming serials like Netflix’s MAKING A MURDERER, this particular milieu has captured the minds of a generation of young adults. Just recently, Netflix revealed its Ryan Murphy-led…
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The special partnership enjoyed by director Paul Thomas Anderson and throwback rock band Haim feeds off the ample trading of creative inspiration. Whereas Anderson finds visual impetus in Haim’s unique grooves, the three sisters also draw songwriting ideas from his inimitable approach to storytelling. Case in point: the emergence of “Lost Track”, a plodding, subdued…
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For a myriad number of reasons, nostalgia has come to play an increasingly large role in the ever-homogenizing landscape of American entertainment. The pleasures of nostalgia are apparent enough; they can be a comfort or distraction from an uncertain present, reminding audiences of simpler times or the glory days of their youth. For those disinclined…
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Since 2014’s somewhat-impromptu production of the short performance piece VALENTINE, director Paul Thomas Anderson and the all-female rock band Haim have forged a unique and ever-unpredictable creative partnership. The pairing has produced a half-dozen music videos, each more idiosyncratic and surprising than the last. As a result, Anderson has become enmeshed in Haim’s music far…
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Notable Festivals: New York Film Festival For twenty years, director Sofia Coppola has endeavored to assert her artistic voice out from under the monolithic shadow cast by her father, revered New Hollywood figurehead Francis Ford Coppola. She has largely succeeded, crafting her own distinct legacy through a collection of assured and distinctive feature films. While…
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Though he was producing for the corporate behemoth Amazon, one could scarcely label director Barry Jenkins’ involvement with THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD as a “work-for-hire”. The existence of 2021’s THE GAZE is proof-positive of that: a 50 minute concept piece compiled and released by Jenkins himself, THE GAZE throws his artistic intentions with THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD…
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“Our color shall not be undone”. These words, delivered by a Black winemaker and property owner named Valentine during the climactic moments of 2021’s THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, hang heavy over the entirety of the Emmy Award-nominated streaming series. The same sentiment could be applied to the larger filmography of its producer/writer/director, Barry Jenkins— his artistic…
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Notable Festivals: Toronto, New York The mid-budget adult drama is all but extinct in contemporary Hollywood, relegated to the realm of streaming platforms after having been squeezed out of theaters by bloated franchise spectacles. In the vanishingly rare instance that such a film does make it to cinema screens, there’s usually an angle, and oftentimes,…
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The reviews section on any given IMDB page is a great platform for people to unwittingly tell on themselves. If we truly live in an age of unprecedented media illiteracy, then the vindictive one-star reviews that litter the website might just be Exhibit A. Everyone’s entitled to their own tastes, but like a vengeful Yelp…
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Notable Festivals: Venice Like the recording industry before it, the film industry has sustained a seismic shift over the past decade and change— both in small movements made gradually and in giant, abrupt leaps. While experts and armchair analysts alike feared that the advent of home video in the 1970’s and 80’s would result in…
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Academy Award Wins: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor Notable Festivals: Telluride, New York, BFI London It’s rare that the winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture is actually awarded to a film that truly merits the honor. Just as we look to box office dominance as a major (if mistaken) barometer…