Film & Television
Unstable Lovers in an Unstable World
In To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus Finch memorably says, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—until you climb into his skin and...
Other Post
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Saint Fred
April 10, 2013 -
The Last Exorcism
April 08, 2013 -
A Garden of Sacramental "Wonder"
March 29, 2013 -
Blood & Belief
March 20, 2013 -
Life of an Animator
March 12, 2013 -
The Maker of Mulan’s Mushu Speaks
March 11, 2013 -
Don't Shoot, Part Two
March 08, 2013
Meta-Mocks
Donald Kaufman reminded us, "There hasn't been a new film genre since Fellini invented the mockumentary." But we need an addendum to that scene of Adaptation. In the past year, two movies were released that blurred the lines between documentary and mockumentary. The more popular was I'm Still Here, the "hoax" film about Joaquin Phoenix's downward spiral out of show-business. The more interesting film was Blood Into W...
Mattie Ross and the Golden Age of Feminine Aplomb
The magic of the Coen Brothers' 2010 True Grit adaptation is that they get 14-year-old female spunk exactly right. Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) possesses intellect, courage, and idealism that brought to mind Mary Pipher's 1994 book Reviving Ophelia, which argues that before puberty girls are the most confident humans on the planet. Fourteen is a golden age of feminine aplomb, and Joel and Ethan Coen have a track ...
Tiny Furniture and Tiny Milestones
In Tiny Furniture, Aura (Lena Dunham), a recently single college grad returns home to her mother’s TriBeCa loft with no idea what comes next. While her mother and over achieving younger sister are off touring colleges, Aura takes in Jed (Alex Karpovsky), a broke, YouTube comic ‘celebrity’ on a so-called business trip. Aura is too busy with her own self-pity to mind Jed leeching off of her kindness, nor does s...
The Failure of the Dawn Treader
There are many different ways to analyze a film based on a book. It can be assessed simply as a movie without reference to the book; or on its success in translating all the details of plot, character, dialogue, and description from the page to the screen; or as an expression of the original author’s worldview. Unfortunately, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader fails on all of these grounds. ...
A Valediction to the Harry Potter Film Franchise (Part 1), or How the Books are Really to Blame
There are two main camps in the Harry Potter movie-book dispute. On one side are those who’ve read all the books. They routinely talk about having grown old with the characters, referring to bit characters fondly as if they are actually friends. As a result, the films do not agree with them. They’ve never found any adaptation to be particularly satisfying, and each one is fervently picked to pieces for having cha...
Insecurity, Creativity, and Superiority
At the end of The Social Network, David Fincher’s film chronicling the creation of the social networking site Facebook, I found myself asking the question, What motivates my own creativity? Why do I feel the need to make or say something meaningful? I know the answer isn’t all benign. Mixed with the joy of creating and communicating are feelings of insecurity and the need to prove my worth. In the film, ingenuity...
The Prophecy of Network
I have noted with some delight that the movie Network has made its way back into the contemporary conversation, so I happily gave myself the task of revisiting this 1976 satire with a couple of friends and relating it to our current situation. It turns out I gave myself a more difficult assignment than I was expecting. When I began, I thought I might find it easy to focus on the character of Howard Beale. Beal...
Last Summer at Coney Island: An Interview with J.L. Aronson
J.L. Aronson's new film, Last Summer At Coney Island, documents the recent turmoil and transformation along the historic boardwalk. Worn down over time, Coney Island isn't how most people might imagine it-- its past splendor hidden behind broken signs and cheap plastic prizes-- but rebuilding isn't as easy as you would assume. City officials, real estate developers, old time amusement employees and residents cl...
