A Woman’s Equipment: Barbara Stanwyck’s Anklet In “Double Indemnity”
One detail of a film—say, the anklet worn by Barbara Stanwyck in “Double Indemnity”—can tell us more than you might think.
Features
“The Walking Dead” and the Return of Event TV
AMC has recaptured the idea of event TV, shows you have to watch when they air. How did they do that?
Thumbnails 10/08/2013
Patrice Chereau, 1944-2013; how Wes Anderson Made ‘The Royal Tenebaums’: Errol Morris on the Zapruder film; Francis Coppola’s “Twixt” Reconsidered; Starbucks cup label fails; Disney’s first Black animator
Visual Pleasure and Voodoo Demographics: A Reflection on Women and Film
Critic Carrie Rickey traces the evolution of women on film and behind the camera over the course of her career writing about film.
Traditions of Quality: Mark Cousins’ “The Story of Film: An Odyssey”
Brian Doan wonders if Mark Cousins’ “The Story of Film,” showing over 15 weeks on TCM this fall, deserves all the praise it has received.
Thumbnails 10/14/2013
Alice Walker to release her journals; Captain Phillips’ real crew doesn’t love the movie (or the man); Charlie Hunnam drops out of “Fifty Shades of Grey”; Graydon Carter speaks; a real-life zombie drug on the rise.
Thumbnails 10/10/2013
Alice Munro wins Nobel Prize in literature; film critic Stanley Kauffmann dies at 97; SF Film Society director Ted Hope steps down; documentary oversaturation; Will Self on the changing role of the critic.
Thumbnails 10/9/2013
Fiona Apple fumes; defending “The Story of Film”; bringing “Gravity” lovers back to earth; inside the Tenenbaum house; David Byrne on how the 1% Are Ruining New York.
Thumbnails 10/7/2013
James Grey on making “The Immigrant”; a 1945 Hollywood set decorators strike; how “Gravity” reveals CGI’s limitations;
“The Wicker Man”: The cut may be final, but the film is still incomplete
Bob Calhoun muses on the deleted scenes from “The Wicker Man,” now restored in a new version.
Big Change for Moneypenny
Rumors suggest the next Bond film will put Moneypenny in the field with James. Bond expert Jeffrey Westhoff has some thoughts on that.
“Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight” Lacks Passion of Its Subject
This HBO drama about Muhammad Ali’s court case over his conscientious objector status is surprisingly inert.
Translating for My Mother
For Michał Oleszczyk, translating for his mom makes for a more active engagement with the movie.
Thumbnails 10/01/2013
How social media turn teens into “friends without benefits”; A.O. Scott suggests some reasons why the centuries-old “conversation about race” keeps surprising everyone and not really leading where it should; Bruce Dern gets the best part of his 77-year life.
Gliding Over All: The Cinematography of Breaking Bad, Season 5, Part 2
In the final installment of his video essay series, Dave Bunting analyzes the visual style of the second half of the final season of “Breaking Bad.” Scott Eric Kaufman provides a written commentary.
Book Excerpt: Superheroes!: Capes, Cowls, and the Creation of Comic Book Culture.
In this excerpt from the book “Superheroes!: ” Laurence Maslon and Michael Kantor discuss the transformation of comic books that started with new creators in the 1970s and led to Hollywood blockbusters.
Thumbnails 10/4/2013
A defense of “Boardwalk Empire”; Wes Anderson and manic pixie dream girls; Phillip Garrel’s “Jealousy”; seconds on “Seconds”; a real-life Gustavo Fring?
Thumbnails 10/3/2013
Searching for David Chappelle; Susan Faludi on “lean in” feminism; Jonathan Franzen’s cranky nonfiction; Judging TV on its own merits; David Bordwell on the changing VIFF.
Thumbnails 10/2/2013
Shutdown blues; “El Paso” in the “Breaking Bad” finale; reconsidering Ron Howard; All Female Directors for “Call the Midwife”; reconsidering films is part of growing up. Plus: Senator Elizabeth Warren is as awesome as ever.
Thumbnails 9/30/2013
“Breaking Bad” ends with closure, sort of; “Muscle Shoals” and the GOP’s queasy quest for purity; Eddie Izard was the victim of hate crimes in both London and New York; more “Chucky” for Jennifer Tilly; “dinotoys” in space.
