The Dueling Cavalier: Proof of Premise in ‘Inside Out’
A Column by Max Bledstein
True Detective ‘Black Maps and Hotel Rooms’ (A Vague Visages Staff Recap)
A Conversation Between Vague Visages’ Q.V. Hough, Dylan Moses Griffin and Max Bledstein
Looking Wider: Hannibal ‘And the Woman Clothed with the Sun…’ (Recap)
“If last week’s “The Great Red Dragon” was centered around the two killers who now share the villainous duties on Hannibal, “And the Woman Clothed with the Sun…” has a broader focus.”
True Detective ‘Black Maps and Motel Rooms’ (A Vague Visages Staff Precap)
A Conversation Between Vague Visages’ Q.V. Hough, Dylan Moses Griffin and Max Bledstein
Review: Christopher McQuarrie’s ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’
“Matched by the acrobatic ferocity of Ferguson’s Faust, Cruise’s antics transform Rogue Nation into an explosive Cirque du Soleil performance on the grandest of scales.”
His Blazing Automatics: What the Release Date Push for Jeff Nichols’ ‘Midnight Special’ Means
A Column by Dylan Moses Griffin
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘Black Orpheus’ (Marcel Camus, 1959)
“‘Black Orpheus’ embraces sex as multiplicitous. This somehow makes the love more noble, because it is not confused with lust, and sex becomes a celebration rather than a symbol of it.”
The Dueling Cavalier: ‘Tangerine,’ ‘Toy Story’ and Technology in Storytelling
A Column by Max Bledstein
Review: Kris Swanberg’s ‘Unexpected’
“Throughout Unexpected, little is ever gained or lost, ultimately raising the question (albeit a rather absurd one when considering film): for whom was this made, and what is its intended purpose?”
Rogue Sequel: In Defence of John Woo’s ‘Mission: Impossible II’
“Fully asserting the series reboot mantra, M:I II eschews the original’s ethos in favour of half a Hitchcock riff (a lot of Notorious, with a pinch of To Catch a Thief) and half traditional, near self-parodic Woo bombast.”
Vaguebande: Three Steps to Figueres
Vaguebande 1
Back to the Beginning: John Cassavetes’ ‘Shadows’ (1959)
The Fifth and Final Installment of “Tightrope Cinema: John Cassavetes’ Highwire World” by Phuong Le
We Failed This Film: Lana and Andy Wachowski’s ‘Speed Racer’
A Series by Dylan Moses Griffin
Inside the Minds of Murderers: Hannibal ‘The Great Red Dragon’ (Recap)
“The sound of Hannibal has always been one of its strongest elements, thanks in large part to Brian Reitzell’s terrifying score, and the auditory depiction of Dolarhyde’s plight is no exception.”
Blue Balls in Your Heart: True Detective ‘Church in Ruins’ (A Vague Visages Staff Precap)
A Conversation Between Vague Visages’ Q.V. Hough, Dylan Moses Griffin and Max Bledstein
His Blazing Automatics: The Cinematic Connection of Chan-wook Park’s ‘Oldboy’ and Kihachi Okamoto’s ‘The Sword of Doom’
A Column by Dylan Moses Griffin
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘Mamma Roma’ (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1962)
“Pasolini suggests in ‘Mamma Roma’ that the spiritual beauty of humanity often emerges from vulgarity and contradiction.”
Gaslighting and Moral Blindness in Christian Petzold’s ‘Phoenix’
“Phoenix’s devastating final scene pretty much erases a need for the specifics of the moral blindness.”
Review: Jason Banker’s ‘Felt’
“In choosing to cover so much breadth of ground, Felt falls well short of any meaningful examination of the gender issues plaguing American and world culture.”
Transplanting Sympathies and Influence: Hannibal ‘Digestivo’ (Recap)
“Digestivo” feels almost like a bottle episode due to its concentration on Mason’s Muskrat Farm, and the close quarters are the perfect setting for seeing the characters play off one another.