|Ryan Sanderson| When The Master came out in 2012, a lot of the conversation centered around Scientology–which made sense, at least at first. “Auteur Wunderkind Attacks World’s Most Litigious Religion!” makes for a pretty compelling headline. “Auteur Wunderkind Explores Identity… Continue reading
|David Potvin| Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1999 magnum opus Magnolia is sonically chaotic. There’s no two ways about it. Within the first eleven minutes we meet no less than nine members of the film’s ensemble cast amidst a cacophony of these characters’ morning routines… Continue reading
|Allison Vincent| Why Magnolia So Fully Captures the Ennui of the End of the 20th Century | I need to start this post by explicitly stating that I am a millennial. Trust me, it’s important. Technically, because I was born in 1987, I’m an “elder” millennial or geriatric millennial if you’re… Continue reading
|Nicole Rojas-Oltmanns| Geena Davis, who plays Thelma, remarked, “After Thelma and Louise (1991, directed by Ridley Scott), people said things would improve for women in film. They didn’t.”¹ So, in 2004 she created The Geena Davis Institute to better understand disparities… Continue reading
|Brogan Earney| “I have seen the new Quentin Tarantino, and his name is Paul Thomas Anderson,” wrote Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Gleiberman after watching the premiere of Boogie Nights at the 1997 Toronto International Film Festival. A line that recognizes the achievement… Continue reading
|Patrick Clifford| This isn’t going to be easy to write. Writing about drinking is hard. And The Lost Weekend isn’t just a movie about drinking. It’s a movie about writing about drinking. Writing and drinking have always been joined at the hip. Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker, Stephen King— Continue reading
|Phil Kolas| I’ve been writing haikus, lately. There’s something so completely stupid and perfect about every single one of them. They are utterly impossible to do incorrectly, as long as you can count to 17. It is an unmissable endeavor. It is a great gift granted to every human being that… Continue reading
|Jackson Stern| Like many self-described “film nerds”, I grew up with a great admiration for the work of Billy Wilder. Around the time I was thirteen or fourteen, I was watching Sunset Boulevard monthly, completely enraptured by the witty dialogue, the strangeness of it… Continue reading
|Patrick Clifford| The first frames of Steven Spielberg’s first film, Duel, are black. Total darkness. Before we see anything, we hear footsteps, a car door opening, and a car starting. I love this movie. It’s a great ride. Released in 1971, it has everything that made the 70s, Hollywood’s greatest… Continue reading
|John Moret| A regular at the theater recently asked me to describe the short films of Tony Ganz and Rhody Streeter. I took a moment and realized I wasn’t quite sure how. Perhaps we could compare it to the early work of Errol Morris, but comparisons to things you like never… Continue reading
