Features
Sure, we’ve all heard the rumours: topping the critics’ pick of the flicks for this century, hell, this millennium so far, is David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive. But what exactly happened up in the darkness of those famous hills, on those enticing yet savage switchbacks?
Film is one of the best artistic mediums because it’s always growing; it speaks every language, and every place in the world has their iteration as to what’s scary, twisted, weird or just downright bizarre. Different countries offer different interpretations of horror, from China where vampires hop to Korean Shaman. They don’t wave crosses, nor do they compel the power of Christ upon anyone, but just don’t fall in love with Isabelle Adjani.
Halloween – the season of ghouls, screams and tricks or treats. It’s the time of year when scares of all kinds are acceptable and even welcomed. We become the creatures of the night, in search for something to satisfy our yearly holiday craving.
Belgian firm Barco recently made a move to present a new large-format viewing experience, alongside theater-chain in-house offerings, like Regal’s RPX premium experience, AMC Prime, Cinemark XD, and industry stalwarts like IMAX and RealD 3D. The Escape format uses three screens, with a center screen flat and straight ahead, like any conventional theater – the twist is the two side screens, angled, creating a viewing experience that gives the appearance of wrapping around the audience – a 270 degree panorama. With VR emerging on the scene right now, exhibitors will be looking for ways to provide new and different immersive viewing experiences.
Six foot plus, Nick DeRuve looks a movie star. And although he’s done some acting, it’s on the other side of camera, as a screenwriter and director, that the young filmmaker is intent on making his mark. It’s been a long road for DeRuve, from Schenectady, in upstate New York, to LA, and longer still to Toronto, where his movie The Runaway was recently screened.
There is one movement cinephiles can thank for heroin addicts sinking into carpets and rose petals exploding from cheerleader’s chests: Surrealism. Not only has the movement influenced some of the most iconic films to date like Trainspotting and American Beauty, throughout the last century surrealism has completely turned cinema on its head; creating a new wave of film that drags reality into the world of insanity.
When we think about viruses in cinema, we usually think about them in conjunction with turning us into the undead. Indeed, the stunning alacrity and volume at which Hollywood churns out zombie epidemic films begs us to wonder if we have truly exhausted the “what if?” nature of this particular vein of horror.
Religious figures and various saints have been on film since the birth of the medium. It can be tricky for a director to present the story of a venerated character, as they can mean many things to different people. In both Carl Theodor Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc and the Martin Scorsese picture The Last Temptation of Christ, the directors brought their own religious visions to screen, although not without controversy.
Over at our official Facebook page, we are currently posting daily film recommendations with each week being a different theme. This is a collection of those recommendations! This week’s theme is action films directed by women.
News of DC’s Wonder Woman writers abandoning her bisexual identity in favour of a completely heterosexual romance with Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor came as Gal Gadot confirmed in a recent interview that this aspect of Wonder Woman’s comic book identity will not be featured in next year’s blockbuster. DC comic writer Greg Rucka confirmed earlier this year that Wonder Woman had “obviously” been in relationships with other women as she lived much of her life on an all-female island and so “it makes no logical sense otherwise” for her to have not had same-sex relationships in the past. The decision by the film’s writers to maintain a heterosexual veneer over an originally LGBT superhero is not really a surprising one.
You would be hard-pressed not to find a panel discussion on the topic of ‘Women In Film’ at most leading global film festivals at present, given it’s an issue that has come into increasing focus in recent years. In the Hindi film industry particularly, matters of the portrayal of women and the disparate treatment of actresses have similarly become popular talking points. In its on-screen portrayal of women, Hindi cinema’s approach has historically been quite dire, with women traditionally being depicted as subservient and submissive, with their entire role predominantly being about the male lead.
Dinner with Dames Case File Who: Jessica Sharzer, writer of Nerve and American Horror Story, with Cinefemme board, fiscal sponsorees, and referrals – Ritza Bloom, Shenee Howard, Katy Kavanaugh, Jen Mostow, Katrina Parks, Jenna Payne, and myself, Rory Gory What: Dinner 1.
It’s 1993. Ethan Hawke is in a theatrical production of Jonathan Marc Sherman’s “Sophistry”, co-starring with Anthony Rapp, who has just finished filming Dazed and Confused. Rapp has invited Hawke to an early preview screening of Dazed, which Hawke has claimed to have ‘flipped out’ over.
Anthology films are generally regarded as being uneven, and even ones that are respected are sometimes not perfect through every single segment. I wanted to explore anthology films by looking at some with mostly negative reviews, hoping to find something great hidden within. Some of the films I watched in preparation were bad, with no moments of relief to help make it through their running times, while others were enjoyable with slight problems.
Director Lee Kirk is just about to release his sophomore effort, Ordinary World. The film is about an former rockstar, played by Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, reflecting on the “path not taken”- of committing to his rock-god dreams, instead of settling down in the suburbs and raising a family. Alistair Ryder spoke to the filmmaker about the autobiographical nature of the film and how his love of music helped bring the screenplay to life.