Category: Uncategorized
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Perfect Movies: Dazed and Confused
Nostalgia is a powerful force. The sentimental longing for the past as it connects to personal and positive memories is the kind of feeling that, when brought up in conversation, makes older people unbearable to younger generations. Meanwhile, those who have gained a certain experience in life know that the callous youth that reject their nostalgic […]
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Great TV: The Addams Family
Let’s play a word association game. If I used the words creepy, kooky, mysterious, spooky, and ooky, my guess is that you would snap your fingers twice and say The Addams Family. And it’s amazing at just how deeply the TV show has permeated popular culture at this point: running from 1964 to 1966 and […]
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Cult Classics: The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
Upon its release, a movie about a rock star-surgeon-physicist-adventurer battling aliens from the 8th dimension, was a gigantic hit. Of course, that’s a lie: the rather insane film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension is a film with an extremely narrow built-in appeal. But its approach to sci-fi–creating an outrageous protagonist that lives […]
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Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later
This is a story about 1998 and an ode to the halcyon decade that year inhabited. I mean, the movie itself is about the murderous Michael Myers, his long-suffering sister, and the twentieth anniversary of his Halloween massacre that devastated her, but that’s beside the point to what might be a subtle nostalgic aspect of […]
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10 Great Weird Cult Films To Watch
Weird, bizarre, or just plain odd: many films have been made in history that push the boundaries of normalcy and present an utterly unique vision to audiences seeking outre cinema. But for every acclaimed Eraserhead or El Topo, there are dozens of films that slip through the cracks and fall into the often difficult-to-find realm […]
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The 10 Worst Movies of 2017
Here it is: the 10 worst films of 2017. It’s often difficult to judge what’s truly “good” or “bad” about film: after all, even universally disliked films have their fans. Instead, this list was put together based on expectation, budget, and the talent involved. While some films weren’t made for much money (and it often […]
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Cult Classics: Jesus’ Son
Over the course of a lifetime, you may often find yourself in the company of a strange coterie of people—weird frenemies and loose associates you don’t fully trust but often rely on for one thing or another. More so, your association with these people can find you in odd situations, ones you could have never […]
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Perfect Directors: David Cronenberg
Cerebral, dark, oddly humorous, and obsessed with the inextricable relationship between the body and the psyche, David Cronenberg’s work is difficult to describe. Is he a sci-fi director obsessed with body horror? A dramatist that uses horror as a way to externalize inner turmoil? Or are all of his films horror stories– whether they be […]
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Great TV: Introduction
Look. That’s all TV asks of its audience: just look. Watch. Turn it on and let the light and shadows pour over your eyes and sound fall upon your ears. There’s never been anything easier than to sit still and let the jumping box work its hypnotic unblinking gaze on your readily open psyche. It’s […]
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Totally 80’s: Teen Movies!
One of the most endearing–and culturally enduring–products of 1980s cinema, the “teen movie” genre was reinvented with 1982’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Although there have been plenty of movies about teenagers since the beginning of filmmaking, and the 1950’s and 60’s had plenty “teen movies,” none seemed to capture the spirit of being a […]
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Perfect Directors: Introduction
In our short lives, if we’re looking in the right places and have the want for such a search, we sometimes find perfect directors; that is, people who are still living and are actively working that make films that–for lack of better words or descriptors–have produced a series of perfect films. But that list narrows […]
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Perfect Movies: Goodfellas
“As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.” This wry confession comes from the narrator and protagonist of the film–who will soon be formally introduced as Henry Hill–hovering over a body in the trunk of his car, bathed in the red light of his brake lights in the darkness […]