Still from Brazil Ben van Welzen explains how genre tropes, the tension between banality and absurdity, overwhelming production design, and more make Terry Gilliam’s 1985 masterwork so effective. It’s sure that the world is heading towards dystopia, the only question is when. George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four presumed it would be, well, in 1984. However, as… Read more »
Noni Ford writes about how Ray Bradbury finds empathy for the unknown, as exemplified by the 1950s sci-fi flick It Came from Outer Space, whose script is based on the author’s original film treatment “The Meteor.” My first introduction to the work of Ray Bradbury was the book Martian Chronicles, which was one of the… Read more »
A quintessential horror-comedy from the ’80s, Night of the Comet stars Catherine Mary Stewart and Kelli Maroney as sisters Reggie and Sam Belmont, two Valley Girls who must unleash their inner action heroine when they’re pursued by zombies and evil scientists after a comet vaporizes much of Los Angeles. Since its release, the film has… Read more »
From the visionary mind of writer/director Brandon Cronenberg (yes, son of David and, as Film School Rejects quipped, “a bloodied and bruised chip of flesh off the ol’ body horror block”), Possessor is about an elite corporate assassin (Andrea Riseborough) who uses brain-implant technology to take over other people’s bodies in order to execute high-profile… Read more »
This fall, IU Cinema presents Re:Made, a thrilling series that pairs an original film with its remake to articulate how filmmaking, film culture, and film impact evolves as the industry, audiences, and cultures change. To celebrate our first Re:Made pairing — Howard Hawks and Christian Nyby’s The Thing From Another World (1951) and John Carpenter’s… Read more »
This June, Establishing Shot will feature a miniseries we’re calling Here’s Looking at You, 2002 as we take a look back at films celebrating their 20th anniversary this year. Today, Noni Ford points out the merits of one of the most polarizing Star Wars flicks George Lucas ever made. What I’m about to write may divide… Read more »