Category Archives: films

Lord of the Rings and the 1970s Fantasy Aesthetic

The kids and I started watching Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy this week, and they’re having a blast with it. When I saw the shot of the Ring Wraiths filing into the tavern in the Fellowship of the … Continue reading

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Le Trou: the Labor of Cinematic Love

When I was in graduate school I took a course about labor and cinema that had a wide range of post-war films coupled with readings from critical film studies, post-structuralist Marxism, etc. —you get the general late 1990s grad school … Continue reading

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Disneyland Dream (1956)

While doing research about The 7th Voyage of Sinbad for my last post I discovered, thanks to this 2008 post on Cartoon Brew, that in 2008 a home movie taken in 1956 at Disneyland titled “Disneyland Dream” was selected for … Continue reading

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“Hey, Nancy, no running in the hallways”

Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) remains one of the great films of the slasher genre, I actually taught it back in the Summer of 2000 as part of a discussion of recent Horror film cycles. Not only does it pick … Continue reading

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Once Upon A Time in the West – Opening Scene

The opening scene from Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) may very well be the greatest opening scene of any film ever. And I mean ever, I can’t even think of anything remotely close, save maybe … Continue reading

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Paris, Texas

Part 1: Part 2: While I am not a huge Wim Wenders fan, there are a number of scenes I could pick from Paris, Texas (1984), which I believe to be his one and only masterpiece. I could listen to … Continue reading

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Andrei Tarkovsky Talks about his favorite Directors

I love this video of Tarkovsky in his living room talking about his favorite directors. He seems so tortured and real at the same time, what a nut. I also love his analysis of Antonioni’s vision of “action” in his … Continue reading

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Ace in the Hole

The Media Funhouse just posted about the unbelievable classic film treasures that enjoy a short, but rich life on YouTube (kinda like the cicada in August). And the two collections he links to are filled with Western and Film Noir … Continue reading

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Dreaming in 3-D

I’m getting deeper and deeper into this issue of Filmfax, and I have to say it’s a gem. I just finished the first installment of Vincent Di Fate’s “3-D Cinema: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow” which gave a nice overview of … Continue reading

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Formative 10: Escape from New York

Well, I guess I gotta get going on my formative 10 because what has taken me almost eight months, has taken D’Arcy Norman all of three days. I find it interesting how much a formative 10 can tell you about … Continue reading

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