Why Criticism: Dismantling the Boys’ Club in Horror
“The main reason I write about horror movies, aside from having a deep and abiding love for them, is that I have a perspective unique to me. But, for certain men, that’s not enough.”
Local Heroes: Ben Flanagan on Odeon Chelmsford
“Local Heroes” is a Vague Visages column dedicated to movie theater memories and the theatrical experience.
The Code Complex: Robert De Niro, Jake LaMotta and ‘Raging Bull’
“‘Raging Bull’ — a complex character study about methods and codes of conduct — all too often gets reductively tagged as Scorsese’s toxic masculinity sports movie that allowed De Niro to lose (and gain) weight in pursuit of an Oscar.”
Martin Scorsese, ‘Mean Streets’ and Caravaggio’s Moment of Illumination
“In Caravaggio and Scorsese’s art, the silent actions of male and female characters speak louder than words. We don’t need to hear Holofernes scream to understand what Judith has taken.”
Album Review: Phoebe Bridgers ‘Punisher’
“Bridgers, like all her millennial contemporaries, contains multitudes as yet unseen. She is living any number of lives all at once — but, at the core of it all, there’s still a vulnerable child of the 90s adrift in a merciless world…”
A Stone-Dumb Genius: On Charles Grodin’s Performance in ‘The Heartbreak Kid’
“Under May’s stare in ‘The Heartbreak Kid,’ and through the provocations of scene partners, Grodin creates a character of rare stature: a horrifying, stone-dumb genius.”
Tearing Down the Monument: Sean Connery’s 1970s
“In my hatred for the Bond franchise, I feel I may have done a disservice to its star. I have always had a tendency to discount Sean Connery as an exquisitely sculpted statue, capable of filling out a tuxedo very nicely but little else.”
Collecting Movies with Brady Daley
Greg Carlson Interviews Brady Daley About Movie Collecting
World Cinema Project: Behind Closed Doors – ‘The Housemaid’ and ‘Insiang’
“One of the great joys in viewing the films amassed under the World Cinema Project banner is discovering the richness of a nation’s cultural and scenic backdrop.”
Review: Spike Lee’s ‘Da 5 Bloods’ Matters
“As always, Spike Lee asks all the right questions, and it’s up to us to recognize that even though the answers may not be ones we want to hear, we need to grapple with them all the same.”
Album Review: Jehnny Beth ‘To Love Is to Live’
“Unafraid of what makes her difficult, idiosyncratic or complex, Jehnny Beth ties a bow on this project with an impressive clarity that serves to reinforce her already-established and considerable talents while boldly traversing new, untested, innately personal ground with aplomb.”
12 Angry Films: Sidney Lumet on Justice #12 – ‘Find Me Guilty’
“The accumulated effect of ‘Find Me Guilty,’ with its litany of absurdities, is that it is better to deliver the accused from continued subjugation than to maintain faith in a system that has lost all claim to its moral authority.”
Review: The Shakespeare Sisters’ ‘Soundtrack to Sixteen’
“The Shakespeare Sisters boldly attempt to capture a young romance, but the film occasionally loses momentum with its loose script and clunky editing.”
Review: Abel Ferrara’s ‘Tommaso’
“‘Tommaso’ shows Ferrara taking his career in a new direction, and it’s nice to see someone of his stature still making innovative, daring films.”
Interview: Jeremy Gardner, Christian Stella and Justin Benson on ‘After Midnight’
Leslie Hatton Interviews ‘After Midnight’ Filmmakers Jeremy Gardner, Christian Stella and Justin Benson
The Disaster Area: From ‘Airport’ to ‘Airplane!’ – Part Three
Part Three of a Four-Part Disaster Movie Series by Bill Bria
Review: Laurent Bouzereau’s ‘Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind’
“Trying to free Wood from the enormous shadow cast by her death is no small feat. ‘Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind’ doesn’t quite manage the task…”
Album Review: Run the Jewels ‘RTJ4’
“The verbal gymnastics and musical dynamism on display serve as an exacting call to attention, turning listeners’ eyes and ears onto a reality long disregarded by the privileged.”
Why Criticism: Nichols / Soderbergh
“In their conversations, Soderbergh and Nichols work together to dismantle the artificial dividing line between art and criticism, neatly moving between the two…”
Review: Christian Sparkes’ ‘Hammer’
“Hammer’s short length may feel like a detriment to some and seem too sparse, with its brevity making for some awkward moments. That said, it’s a refreshing change from the sprawling crime sagas of late…”