Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity In this appreciation of the femme fatale, Michaela Owens looks at two of cinema’s coolest and most indelible, Phyllis Dietrichson and Matty Walker. In a blackened office, Fred MacMurray bitterly recounts his story of lust and crime into a Dictaphone as he slowly bleeds out, a consequence any man deserves… Read more »
In this primer for this fall’s Sirens and Spitfires: Liberated Ladies of Pre-Code Cinema series, co-curator Michaela Owens explains why you shouldn’t sleep on this fierce line-up. What does pre-Code mean? To keep it brief, in the 1920s, Hollywood had so many scandals that, to avoid repercussions from political and religious groups, the major movie… Read more »
Douglas Sirk melodramas are known for tackling big themes with style and intelligence, and his 1956 Fred MacMurray-Barbara Stanwyck romance is no different, as explained by Establishing Shot‘s newest regular contributor Chris Forrester. In the midst of the exceptional run of films Douglas Sirk directed in the 1950s, and nestled directly between two of his… Read more »
You know Home Alone and Miracle on 34th Street and Love Actually and White Christmas, Elf and A Christmas Story and Die Hard and Christmas Vacation. But do you recall the most underrated holiday films of all? Okay, so saying they’re “the most underrated” might be a bit of an exaggeration. But the following eight titles… Read more »
I love being from Indiana. That’s not necessarily a popular opinion, but the fact is I enjoy my Midwestern roots. I think that’s why I find it so exciting when TV shows like Parks and Recreation and The Middle and various films decide to set their stories in my home state. Two prime examples are… Read more »
This past semester, the IU Cinema has shown a number of films depicting strong females. On Thursday, February 23, it screened A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014), the first feature film by Ana Lily Amirpour. In preparation for this screening I co-wrote a blog post celebrating Amirpour’s work and her visit to… Read more »