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MacGuffin Spotlight
What We’re Watching – 6/8/11
Lately I’ve been trying to make sure I’m caught up on the big films of 2011. That means for this week’s column you’ll see an abundance of summer sequels. Some of these enhanced characters we had met before now continue their stories in new and…
READ MOREBird Watching – Hot Coffee – SIFF Film Review
I like a documentary that lets me realize how little I know about a subject. Hot Coffee, from director Susan Saladoff, makes that its goal. The film points out the ways certain areas can be information voids for most laypeople (even reasonably educated ones), without…
READ MOREAn Appreciation – The Silence of the Lambs
“It places the lotion in the basket.” – Buffalo Bill I once took a course in college named “Murder: The Psychology of The Serial Killer.” In it, we learned a brief history of some of the more notorious murderers in U.S. history. We studied their…
READ MOREIt Is What It Is: Part Three – Narrative and Originality in Predators
Predator is one of the best action films ever made. It’s got Schwarzenegger in his prime, a young and ambitious John McTeirnan at the helm, Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura and a seven-foot invisible monster. Boy, they don’t make them like that anymore… Firstly, you should…
READ MOREBird Watching – The Off Hours – SIFF Film Review
There’s a point in the film The Off Hours, from local writer and director Megan Griffiths, when our main character, Francine, answers a casual question about how long she’s worked as a waitress at a truck stop diner. An attractive and somewhat troubled woman, Francine…
READ MOREMacGuffin Roundtable #8 – A Simple Plan
The MacGuffin crew discuss A Simple Plan, from director Sam Raimi and starring Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton. This episode can be played online via the flash player below or it can be downloaded from here. It is available on iTunes, Zune, and Stitcher.
READ MOREWhat We’re Watching – 5/26/2011
Looking over some of the films I’ve recently seen, I’ve noticed that my taste in movies ranges dramatically. From a 1950s Italian comedy to a 1980s tense thriller to a 2011 movie with pirates and mermaids, it seems that there really isn’t a place in…
READ MOREBird Watching – Lynne Ramsay’s “Ratcatcher”
There are many films that rest on the premise that people are awful to each other. Sometimes these films can be difficult to watch. The most difficult ones, for me, are the ones that show how awful children and adolescents can be to each other.…
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