Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett in Carol Jesse Pasternack describes why Todd Haynes’s 2015 classic is a paragon of the filmmaker’s work with period pieces. When I first saw Carol, I thought it would be a perfect film to watch on TCM in a few decades. Everything about that film’s technical style felt like it… Read more »
Still from Damned If You Don’t Underground Film Series curator Justin Bonthuys gives a brief introduction to the three shorts by Su Friedrich and Paula Gauthier that comprise the upcoming program Catechism-ically Flawed. Catechism-ically Flawed explores two different approaches to how cinema can be used to explore and express queer experiences and identities. Su Friedrich… Read more »
Original poster for Death Becomes Her Jesse Pasternack explains how Robert Zemeckis’s cult comedy achieves its laughs and special effects. Death Becomes Her (1992) is one of Robert Zemeckis’s best films because it expertly melds two of the most famous sides of himself as a director. They are, respectively, his exceptional ability to use film… Read more »
Original poster for The Raid: Redemption (2011) Jesse Pasternack looks at what makes The Raid: Redemption such a jaw-dropping action spectacle. I have followed the same routine when I watch a movie so I can write about it since I was in high school. I get a journal and something to write with (sometimes a… Read more »
Inside Vulture Video In honor of Video Store Day on October 19, Anna Rose Stamm rhapsodizes about physical media and the irreplaceability of video stores like Bloomington’s own Vulture Video. The very first Christmas gift I can remember receiving was a VHS tape of A Bug’s Life. I still remember the way those tapes sound… Read more »
Still from In the Mouth of Madness Guest writer April Ridge gives a quick introduction to the John Carpenter classic. “You’ll go mad with fear!” The Carpenters’ “We’ve Only Just Begun” pipes into the insane asylum as John Trent (played by the wonderfully terrified and terrifying Sam Neill) is freshly admitted into his padded cell…. Read more »