Author Archive
Action Junkie: Hard Boiled
John Woo’s 1992 Hong Kong film Hard Boiled is to action films what Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West was to westerns. Leone’s epic was itself an ode to the western genre, from its plot to its locations to its camera placements.…
READ MOREFilm Review – Black Swan
In his latest film, director Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, and The Wrestler) creates a psychoactive, sexual thriller that, like his previous films, taps into the raw emotion of human obsession. Black Swan tells the story of Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman),…
READ MOREAction Junkie: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
George Miller’s third, and to date final, installment of the Mad Max series is a dueling oddity of a film, both as the closing chapter of a trilogy and as a movie standing on its own. From the film’s inception to its final frame, the…
READ MOREInterview – Danny Boyle – 127 Hours
When it comes to the whole of his body of work it is apparent that Danny Boyle’s career is one ripe with diversity. Never allowing his self to be pigeonholed as any sort of genre director all the while contributing influential movies to genre filmmaking,…
READ MOREFilm Review – 127 Hours
As a bass line throbs under a techno beat, quick cuts, bright colors, and extravagant camera angles quickly and immediately introduce us to Aron Ralston, played by James Franco. In a dash around his apartment he packs supplies for an outdoor adventure, camping trip. In…
READ MOREFilm Review – The Social Network (spoilers)
There are two films being released this year that deal with the current aspects of American prosperity and greed. While one of them appears to be outwardly critical, perhaps even slightly cynical, in its approach to addressing the modern day financial quandaries, the other is…
READ MOREM.I.F.F.F. 2010: Animation Shorts Review
The Maelstrom International Fantastic Film Festival (M.I.F.F.F.) takes place every year in Seattle, Washington and is dedicated to screening independent genre films from around the world. As their website states, “The event was created to offer exposure to films that traditionally are overlooked by the…
READ MOREAction Junkie: Mad Max 2 – The Road Warrior
The original title for director George Miller’s follow up to his International hit movie debut, Mad Max, was simply Mad Max 2 when it opened to Australian and Japanese theaters in 1981. Overseas in the United States it was re-titled for American audiences as The…
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