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Targets
“The terms amok, a Malayan word, and berserk, a Norse word, have been used to describe individuals going on killing sprees,” says Grant Duwe, author of Mass Murder in the United States: A History. “Both terms have been around for centuries, which reflects the fact that mass murder is neither a modern nor a uniquely…
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Exodus: Gods and Kings
If you are anything like me, you’ve seen a variety of big screen portrayals of the Exodus story but the most compelling is still Cecil B DeMille’s The Ten Commandments. Even though I am very well versed in the biblical narrative and culture of this incredible event, my mental image of Moses is still a…
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Adaptation
Deadlines. Creativity. Beauty. Truth. None of these are grammatically correct sentences. I can tell because of the green squiggling line underneath that short section in my Word document. The importance is the emphasis of separating these words from the traditional Subject-Verb-Object structure and leaving them to stand alone as complete ideas. This hints at something…
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Straight Outta Compton
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Pan’s Labyrinth
From director Guillermo del Toro comes a work of fantasy between two conflicting myths: the modern myth of might and materialism and the pagan world of wonder, humility, and sacrifice. The film centers around the young girl Ofelia who travels with her expecting mother to a rural Spanish army base which her father, the Captain,…
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Selma
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Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
There are few actors as polarizing as Tom Cruise. Bring his name up in a crowd and you get a reaction smorgasbord. Some love him. Others shrug. And there’s always one who hates him for reasons they can’t quite put into words. Personally, I don’t think there’s much to debate. Sure, he believes in Xenu…
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Inside Out
While Hollywood relentlessly seeks its next billion dollar tentpole – a Ghostbusters UNIVERSE? – maybe MIB meets 21 Jump Street? Oh, so Wasp is in Phase 3? – Pixar’s approach and process can now be deemed innovation: meticulously crafting films, characters, and stories on an aggressively slow timeline, collaboratively, with a widely-shared and admired approach…
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Prelude to a Kiss
It’s been a decade since I graduated from film school, so maybe I’m forgetting, but I don’t remember studying the opening shot of Prelude to a Kiss. Yet it calls to be studied, much like the common basilisk lizard. You know, the one that walks on water. The camera begins by gazing at an upside-down…
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Moulin Rouge
Moulin Rouge is the most spectacular and visually overwhelming musical I have ever seen. Somehow, Baz Lurhman, the writer and director, has crafted a sensory overloaded musical, filled with mash-ups and covers about of all things love, and yet it avoids a trite, sappy feel, mainly by ending up as a tragedy. Here lies the…
