‘Big John’: A 75-Minute Precious Exploration of John Carpenter’s Life, Work and Ways
By Sven Mikulec In France, I’m an auteur; in Germany, a filmmaker; in Britain, a genre film director; and…
Documentary
“It Ain’t Like It Used to Be. But It’ll Do:” How Sam Peckinpah’s ‘The Wild Bunch’ Became Both a Eulogy for a Mythic Past and a Template for a New Kind of Action
By Tim Pelan We wanted to show violence in real terms. Dying is not fun and games. Movies make…
Rats In the Attic: William Friedkin’s ‘The Exorcist’
By Tim Pelan Forty-five years after its powerful debut, and with all the attendant publicity, analysis and second-hand knowledge,…
‘Magnolia’: Paul Thomas Anderson’s Absorbing Mosaic of Compassion, Humanity and the Importance of Forgiveness
By Sven Mikulec In 1997, an ambitious 26-year-old called Paul Thomas Anderson made Boogie Nights, his sophomore directing effort…
“I’ll Be Bond”: Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Cameron’s Everything or Nothing Shot at the James Bond Title
By Tim Pelan James Cameron’s spy thriller/comedy True Lies (1994) came along at a time when the James Bond…
How ‘Once Upon a Time in America’ Became Sergio Leone’s Butchered Swan Song
By Koraljka Suton I am not fascinated, as you say, by the myth of the West, or by the…
Hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo’: The Unrelenting Male Gaze that Blurs the Lines Between Possession and Obsession
By Koraljka Suton It is no secret that the late Alfred Hitchcock was—and still is—not only one of the…
‘Point Blank’: John Boorman’s Amalgamation of American, British and French Filmmaking Styles
By Koraljka Suton British filmmaker John Boorman started out by making documentaries for the BBC before getting a chance…
Cleansing of the Soul for a Clean Slate: Guillermo del Toro’s ‘The Devil’s Backbone’
By Sven Mikulec Three decades ago, the now-renowned Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro was at the beginning of his…
Jean-Pierre Melville: Life and Work of a Groundbreaking Filmmaking Poet
By Sven Mikulec One of the very few filmmakers we deeply cherish above almost all others and whose work…