“What is so strange about the New Hollywood renaissance of the 70s is that it took place at a time of acute crisis for the business. It was a signal of the industry’s weakness that these cracks in the veneer were not only permitted but encouraged…”
“Under its brutal dissembling of anthropocentrism and customary moral divides, ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ points to the terror of a harsh and uncaring universe.”
Part Two of a Four-Part Disaster Movie Series by Bill Bria
“Though the polizieschi may seem far away from the quiet nobility of the Neorealist films, with all their sober-minded social critique, they are bound together by the privileging of the real world.”
“Whenever they exist, wherever they roam, with this continuation of personality and principle, it is often as if Peckinpah’s characters were simply picked up from the past and dropped into another time, a time where the Western — and western — spirit remains.”
“The cumulative effect of ‘Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore’ is one of openness and warmth.”
