Dennis Hopper’s Cinema of Loneliness
This essay examines Dennis Hopper’s portrayal of isolated, violent, and troubled male characters, reflecting a broader cultural crisis of masculinity in post-WWII America.
Film Essay
Retrospective – High and Low (1963) | dir: Akira Kurosawa
High and Low is a Japanese crime drama directed by Akira Kurosawa in 1963.
Exploring the Hyper-Violence and Societal Manipulation of Gamer
While glazed over with gratuitous amounts of gore, brutality, and overt sexuality, the 2009 science fiction film Gamer’s surface-level thrills house a time capsule—a message from the past that is even more relevant now than it was over ten years ago when the movie was released.
The Flavorful Union of Food and Sex in Tampopo (1985)
Director Jûzô Itami’s 1985 comedy Tampopo draws parallels between two inherent human needs: the consumption of food and the consummation of relationships between people.
Film Analysis: Scream (1996)
After a string of shitty '80s stalk and slash films, Scream revamped the dying genre by pastiching the horror subgenre and redefining its trite formulaic structure.
Elements of Universal Unity in Cloud Atlas
“What is an ocean but a multitude of drops?” is the question posed by the character of Adam Ewing in the 2012 science fiction drama Cloud Atlas. The film keeps this sentiment in mind as its elaborate plot unfolds, connecting...
Blade Runner 2049 – How Do We Measure Its Success?
The sequel to Ridley Scott’s timeless sci-fi masterpiece sparked a viral fervor, with fans of the original tweeting, sharing and...
Is Fritz Lang’s M Direct Cinema?
In his book “The Sixties: 1960-1969”, a fascinating meditation of the cultural and technical changes the American film industry saw...
Fear of the Woods: The Witch & It Comes at Night
Through all of our advancements within society, we still can’t shake fearing the unknown. That dark corner of the room that makes our senses heighten in the possibility of something surprising us when we let our guard down. It doesn’t...
Do Live Action Disney Remakes Measure Up to the Classic Animations?
It’s a tale as old as time—not just of Beauty and the Beast, but the whole global enterprise Disney has...
Stardust Memories – Existentialism, Bergman & Romantic Nostalgia
Anytime I’ve heard a discussion on Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories, Federico Fellini is brought up almost immediately. Another director comes...
Capturing the Cinematic Fairytale of Donkey Skin
“Our tale is perhaps difficult to believe, but as long as there are children, and mothers and grandmothers, it will live on in memory,” states the narrator of director Jacques Demy’s 1970 French romantic musical, Donkey Skin. With this forewarning...
Ethics in Rural America: The Unlikely Marriage Between the Western and Film Noir Genres During Times of Uncertainty
The Western genre has been largely associated with American cinema and culture. While many other filmmakers from different regions and...
Film Analysis: Mulholland Dr. | dir: David Lynch
The quintessential Lynch film encompasses so many of his fundamentals that you can learn nearly everything you want about his methodology from this film alone.
Laughing Through the Pain: A Look into Life is Beautiful
Tragic events rooted in historical fact are not often laughing matters within the realm of film and storytelling. There aren’t many descriptions or artists who share stories of war or famine or genocide that elicit an audience to smile or...