|Azra Thakur| Sometimes, I seem to feel a gravity rise from the depths of the ages throughout the world. In myself and in others, I notice a tendency to flee from new problems, to take refuge in churches or counter-churches, to rely on what has been achieved, to be complacent, to… Continue reading
|MH Rowe| Some documentary films feel more like a document than an act of documentation. They may set out to study this or that topic, but in the end, they seem themselves like objects to study. To put it another way, I am inadequate to judge the regional history and politics presented… Continue reading
|Zach Staads| See this film. If you take nothing else from this, please see this film. There may be things that don’t appeal to a contemporary palette, and it may be considered overly simplistic or overly artistic, depending on who you ask. However, the heart, the soul of… Continue reading
|Devin Bee| There’s a great gag in the show 30 Rock where we view the world through the eyes of Kenneth, the eternally cheerful and naïve NBC page played by Jack McBrayer. What Kenneth sees is not a world of flesh-and-blood creatures, but one populated entirely by muppets— Continue reading
|Hannah Baxter| How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1988) has a title reminiscent of a screwball comedy, maybe something starring Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. He’s a staid account executive and she’s a free-spirited graphic designer working at the same advertising agency. Forced to collaborate on a big account… Continue reading
|Dan Howard| When Bruce Robinson was living as a struggling artist in London, he drew inspiration directly from his own less-than-glamourous lifestyle for his first novel, and eventually first film. If an artist doesn’t come from money, it can be very difficult to climb their way out of poverty… Continue reading
|Penny Folger| “Fork it!” screamed actor Richard E. Grant, in the audition for what was to become his first role in a feature film: 1987’s Withnail and I. For Bruce Robinson, who was directing his first feature film, it was the way Grant delivered this line that sealed the deal… Continue reading
|Matt Clark| For the last 15 years, writer/director Christopher McQuarrie has essentially been in the Tom Cruise business. Eight of the ten pictures that list McQuarrie as a writer and the entirety of his directorial output (most of which now consists of Mission: Impossible films… Continue reading
|MH Rowe| Thank you for coming today. I want to say a few words about the strangeness of a film called The Usual Suspects, which was released in 1995 and over the course of the last 30 years has become a politely or even well-regarded classic of the “neo-noir” crime genre… Continue reading
|Chris Polley| Sometimes this place feels like a prison” is a sentiment I hear at least once every few years as a public school teacher—from students, yes, but also at least twice from fellow teachers. It’s also a haven for many kids who lack stability and routine at home. And yet it remains a source of so much stress and so… Continue reading
