Thumbnails 10/30/2013
On writing for free (don’t do it!); the aftermath of “12 Years a Slave”; erasing John Wayne; Halloween spell-ings; bad writer, bad person?
Features
Thumbnails 10/28/2013
Lou Reed dead at 71; more “Blue Is the Warmest” controversies; a survey of Orson Welles biographies; is consensus ruining criticism?; the cultural crater of “12 Years a Slave.”
Double Vision: Tony Scott’s spirit possesses Ridley Scott’s “The Counselor”
Ridley Scott’s new film, whose production was interrupted by the suicide of the director’s brother Tony, is a weird melding of their styles, concerns and temperaments.
“Dark Blood”: Death and the Maiden
Twenty years ago, promising actor River Phoenix died at 23. His last, unfinished film was “reconstructed” and shown at festivals earlier this year. The making of that film was already difficult before his death.
NBC Struggles to Find Life in Reboot of “Dracula”
The title of the second episode of NBC’s “Dracula” may be called “A
Whiff of Sulfur” but the program has a different, stale odor, feeling
like the product of inevitability more than creative spark.
The Trouble with “Carrie”: Strong Female Characters and Onscreen Violence
“Carrie” is unusual because Carrie’s turn to violence is not in service of others, unlike many “strong female characters” in recent films.
Meet the Writers: Susan Wloszczyna
Writer Susan Wloszczyna responds to our Movie Love Questionnaire.
Thumbnails 10/25/2013
American education is uneven rather than simply mediocre; what NYC sounded like in the 1920s; X bassist John Doe speaks; director Jeff Tremaine on pranking people; lousy films with great soundtracks.
Thumbnails 10/24/2013
Female Pleasure Is the Real TV Taboo; Blue Is the Warmest Controversy; Condescending to Vincent Price; Why Journalists Should Learn to Code; an MFA writing workshop for the Bible.
Thumbnails 10/23/2013
The legend of Harvey Scissorhands; the controversial twist of “Homeland”; a “Lucking Out” review; the sad misogyny of “Xanth”; the NSA galls the spy-crazy French.
Thumbnails 10/22/2013
A brief history of movie blood; a brief history of American independent cinema; new scholarship for women filmmakers from African and the Middle East; Fox News sock puppetry; “American Psycho” typo; cinema in 270 degrees.
Thumbnails 10/21/2013
The aesthetic politics of filming black skin; saving Memphis; a Richard Linklater retrospective; “Fisher King” commentary; bankrupting emergency care.
Acting right around White folks: on “12 Years a Slave” and “respectability politics”
“12 Years a Slave” and “The Butler” are part of a valuable subgenre of American film that dramatizes the fallacy of “Black respectability”—the notion that if African-Americans will only speak, dress and behave in a certain way, discrimination won’t affect them, and they’ll reap the American dream.
The Cybermob Rules: It’s Not Videogame Culture That’s Sexist, it’s Culture, Period
Is videogame culture sexist? Sure. But only because the culture itself is sexist. Rowan Kaiser explains.
Cable’s Number One Sitcom?: “Real Husbands of Hollywood”
Why isn’t “Real Husbands of Hollywood” getting the media attention its ratings merit?
Thumbnails 10/18/2013
The love and sex Gore Vidal dared not speak; critic Sam Adams is a (James) Franco-phile; the national conversation about sexual assault; a brilliant pop culture quiz; eleven Colorado counties angling to secede.
Thumbnails 10/17/2013
Aranofsky, Paramount spar over “Noah”; parsing “Chungking Express”; why impassioned female leaders get a bad rap; Oliver Stone, Jamie Foxx to collaborate on MLK biopic; oh, and online we’re all awful.
Thumbnails 10/15/2013
Forgotten silent star Wallace Reid; Helena Bonham Carter defends ‘The Lone Ranger’; Harry Belafonte sues the King estate; the trouble with Kenan Thompson
Thumbnails 10/16/2013
“She’s So Unusual” turns 30; how Shel Silverstein’s literary estate is a book-blocker; the body positivity of “Rocky Horror”; if Thomas Friedman wrote breakfast menus; sexual harassment at comic-cons
Legendary Celebrity Couple Captured in BBC America’s ‘Burton and Taylor’
With excellent performances from Dominic West and Helena
Bonham Carter, “Burton and Taylor” gets to the core of the dynamic
between two Hollywood greats.
