Rats In the Attic: William Friedkin’s ‘The Exorcist’
Forty-five years after its powerful debut, and with all the attendant publicity, analysis and second-hand knowledge, from satire to theological debate that has existed around…
Documentary
‘The New World’: Terrence Malick’s Magic Portrayal of America’s Original Sin
After a much-discussed hiatus that lasted for two decades, Terrence Malick returned to filmmaking with the highly praised anti-war epic called The Thin Red Line,…
‘Peeping Tom’: The Road from Disgust to Recognition for Michael Powell’s Brilliant Take on Filmmaking
Michael Powell, one of the most distinguished British filmmakers of the 1940s and 1950s, basically ended his career when he made Peeping Tom in 1959….
‘2001: A Space Odyssey’: Kubrick’s Pioneering Achievement As One of the Most Significant Films Ever Made
Considering the fact we’re discussing a wondrous work of art continuously labeled as one the most significant and influential films ever made, it seems only…
Approaching Menace: The American Pathology of Martin Scorsese’s ‘Taxi Driver’
Many rightly attribute Taxi Driver’s success to screenwriter Paul Schrader, director Martin Scorsese, and method leading man Robert De Niro—together they forge a Holy Trinity…
A Carpenter of Death and His Four Horsemen: Samuel Fuller’s ‘The Big Red One’
In Hollywood, personal films can often become bloated vanity projects. With Samuel Fuller’s semi-autobiographical WWII memoir, The Big Red One, there is nothing vain or…
Alan Parker’s ‘Angel Heart’ Is Astonishing as Hell
English film director Alan Parker was first introduced to William Hjortsberg’s novel ‘Falling Angel’ almost immediately after its publication in 1978, but it took another…
‘Eyes Wide Shut’: A Tense, Nightmarish Exploration of Marriage and Sexuality in Kubrick’s Ultimate Film
Almost a decade passed since Full Metal Jacket hit the theaters, and Stanley Kubrick lived a sort of a reclusive life in London, distanced from…
A Conversation with François Truffaut: A Window into the Mind and Practices of the Pillar of the French New Wave
The notorious enfant terrible of film criticism, feeling no restraint as he butchers trends and practices in contemporary filmmaking that he feels devalue the noble…
‘The Magnificent Ambersons’: The Fascinating Story of Orson Welles’ Studio-Tainted Masterpiece
It was sometime in 1980 when Orson Welles finally sat down and agreed to watch The Magnificent Ambersons, giving in to his persuasive colleague and…