Capture or Kill: Zero Dark Thirty
There are forces working for and against Kathryn Bigelow’s newest film, Zero Dark Thirty. For: The built-in emotional gravity that comes with a story surrounding the events of September 11th; Bigelow’s past success in a familiar Middle Eastern locale (a literal sandbox for her, to use a cheeky metaphor); her execution of the ideal action-thriller […]
The Master of All Things: Paul Thomas Anderson’s Latest
In Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master, there is no talk of higher powers, no lingering on words handed down by deities. The religious leader here is “a man—a hopelessly inquisitive man,” Lancaster Dodd, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, and his followers are those who have strayed from the path. Strays are guided back through time […]
Prometheus’ Memory/What It Is To Be a Kid
I’m reminded of a previous time. What it was once like to be a kid dreaming of movies promised by trailers. Where summer guaranteed maybe not the award winners of the year, but quite possibly the most entertaining, most awe inspiring, most rewarding moments of time a young mind could soak up. A time when […]
Nicolas Winding Refn: The Death of the Black Suitcase – Part 1
I. The Black Suitcase Full of Cash The Russian writer Viktor Pelevin once suggested that the real protagonist of western culture as a black briefcase full of money. Pelevin’s metaphor is one of those ostensibly off-the-cuff, Zizek-esque film-studies truisms that gnaws at you, prompting you to poke around your personal collection for counter-examples and leaving […]
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