Reclaiming the Lost Art of Melodrama in Sidney Lumet’s Unsung Masterpiece: ‘Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead’
By Parrish Stikeleather I sent the script first to Philip, one of the finest actors in the country, and…
Screenwriting
“If You’re Going to Sell Your Soul to The Devil, the Consequences Are There for You to Suffer”: Ridley Scott and Cormac McCarthy’s ‘The Counselor’
By Tim Pelan Not much of a one for describing his work, author Cormac McCarthy bluntly describes The Counselor,…
‘DOES THIS LOOK LIKE A SICK MAN TO YOU?’: The Horror of Identity and the Identity of Horror in David Cronenberg’s ‘The Fly’
By Travis Woods TELEPOD 1: STATHIS He watches Her, trembling and nerve-twitched, eyes darting, lips pulled back over protruding…
“No One Is Just Anything”: In William Friedkin’s ‘Sorcerer’, Four Reduced Men Must Gamble with Life to Give It Value
By Tim Pelan The film became an obsession. It was to be my magnum opus, the one on which…
You’re Gonna Be Redeemed: The Jersey Noir and Western Fable of James Mangold’s ‘Cop Land’
By Travis Woods A rotating wire bookrack stands in a shaded corner of the used bookshop, its metal sleeves packed…
Slaughterhouse Twelve: Robert Aldrich’s ‘The Dirty Dozen’
By Tim Pelan In the mid-1960s, director Robert Aldrich was coming up for air after the thick stew melodramas…
‘Atlantic City’: Malle’s Nostalgic Juxtaposition of Deterioration and Renewal
By Koraljka Suton When acclaimed French New Wave director Louis Malle was approached by producer Alexandre Mnouchkine with the…
Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘Hard Eight’, AKA ‘Sydney’: “It’s Always Good to Meet a New Friend”
By Tim Pelan Paul Thomas Anderson’s debut film Hard Eight (working title Sydney, preferred by Anderson, thwarted by his…
Empire’s End: John Huston’s ‘The Man Who Would Be King’
By Tim Pelan On the occasion of John Huston’s The Man Who Would Be King screening at the Edinburgh…
‘L’Avventura’: Michelangelo Antonioni’s Visual Poetry and Its Impact on the World of Film
It was May 1960 when Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Avventura first introduced itself to the public’s eye. Today, this classic of European…