Joaquin Phoenix in Inherent Vice Ben van Welzen delves into the formal complexity and intentional haziness of Paul Thomas Anderson’s adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s sprawling novel. “We tell ourselves stories to live,” Joan Didion writes in her sprawling essay recounting the tumultuous times of the 1960s, “The White Album.” According to Didion, we collectively impose… Read more »
When Corky (Gina Gershon), fresh of out of prison, and Violet (Jennifer Tilly), the girlfriend of a mobster, meet, it’s love — or at least lust — at first sight. Soon, they’re planning on how to fleece $2 million from Violet’s violent and unpredictable worse-half, Caesar (Joe Pantoliano). As their affair and their plan get… Read more »
Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator II: Judgment Day Chris Forrester articulates how James Cameron films like Terminator II and Aliens work so well as sequels with established iconography and higher stakes than their predecessors. James Cameron has conquered quite a few things through his nearly 40 years in Hollywood — among them the blockbuster, the epic… Read more »
Eli Denson Noni Ford speaks with composer and Jon Vickers Scoring Award winner Eli Denson about his new score for the Gloria Swanson classic Queen Kelly, his advice for aspiring composers, and more. I had an opportunity to talk over Zoom with Eli Denson, the winner of the Jon Vickers Scoring Award who wrote a full… 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 »
Still from Whoregasm Underground Film Series curator Pragya Ghosh contextualizes the controversial and provocative work of filmmakers Nick Zedd and Charles Henri Ford. In the dark days of fall, when the veil between the real and the magical seems to be the perfect time to go back to the land of mythologies, I would like… Read more »