Almost nine years have come and gone since that fateful Oscar night, when a craggy, faded movie star named Jack Nicholson cracked open one of those inimitable envelopes and fell back, shocked, gasping with disbelief that a movie nobody really liked had won the biggest prize in movies. “CRASH!” the man gasped, much to the jubilation of…Read more Film Review: Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Film Review: Breaking Dawn – Part II (2012)
Bill Condon is a long way from Gods and Monsters and Kinsey – the critically acclaimed, powerfully acted and thematically complicated pair of bio-pics that he made in the beginning of the 2000′s. Following 2006′s Dreamgirls, the agonizingly drawn out stage-musical adaptation, where Jennifer Hudson won an Oscar by magically convincing the world that she…Read more Film Review: Breaking Dawn – Part II (2012)
A Letter to Joe Soucheray aka Jumping Joe
About two weeks ago the infamous Joe Soucheray of the Pioneer Press wrote a repulsive article, which you can read here. I wanted to respond to him directly, but strangely his email doesn't seem to work. I sent in an abridged version of the letter to the editor of the Pioneer Press and I decided…Read more A Letter to Joe Soucheray aka Jumping Joe
“A Man Can Run Out of Things to Live For” – On the Ethos of Superhero Film Love Interests
Wolverine has always been a tormented soul, a social pariah damned by his stunted aging and propensity for berserker rage. He is a character with meat on his bones and certainly one of the richer creations in the X-Men pantheon. Of course, much of that complexity has never been effectively addressed in the various film…Read more “A Man Can Run Out of Things to Live For” – On the Ethos of Superhero Film Love Interests
Film Review: The Human Resources Manager (2010)
Road movies are a tricky business. There are few things in life that are quite as invigorating as uprooting yourself from the banal circumstances of “everyday” life and heading out to unexplored territory. Unfortunately, the process of converting this experience to a cinematic format is rarely successful. The Human Resources Manager is no exception to this trend,…Read more Film Review: The Human Resources Manager (2010)
Film Review: World War Z (2013)
In the recent adaptation of World War Z, Brad Pitt faces the most bloodless apocalypse ever seen on film. Violence is certainly depicted. Planes fall from the sky and entire cities are wiped off the map; yet we see little in the way of real human carnage. Even humanity's undead adversaries, who move with frenzied,…Read more Film Review: World War Z (2013)
Film Review: The Dark Knight Returns – Part I (2012)
Frank Miller’s 1986 mini-series, The Dark Knight Returns (DKR), is set in a dystopian future. Featuring an aging, alcoholic Bruce Wayne coming out of retirement to combat a rising tide of criminality, the series set off shock waves that are still being felt over two decades later. Often imitated yet rarely equaled, possible adaptations of DKR have been discussed for…Read more Film Review: The Dark Knight Returns – Part I (2012)
Film Review: Roll Out Cowboy (2010)
Balancing one’s creativity with one's finances is an arduous endeavor. Such is the case for the main subject of the new documentary Roll Out Cowboy, which is compassionately directed by Columbia College alum Elizabeth Lawrence. In Lawrence’s engaging film we follow a somewhat outrageous character named Chris Sand whose stage name is Sandman: The Rappin…Read more Film Review: Roll Out Cowboy (2010)
Rooting the Future Jargon of Clockworks and Dark Knights: Slang in Society
The dystopian universes of Anthony Burgess's novel A Clockwork Orange, and Frank Miller's seminal 1986 graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns, are marked by many thematic similarities. They both focus on pervasive corruption in society's political and social institutions. Additionally, both stories feature the distinctive presence of various subcultures, marked by not only an habitual…Read more Rooting the Future Jargon of Clockworks and Dark Knights: Slang in Society
Film Review: The Man Who Laughs (1928)
If one is to have an association with The Man Who Laughs it is probably due to Conrad Veidt’s freakish appearance enduring in popular memory as one of the dominant visual images to inspire the appearance of Bob Kane and Bill Finger’s The Joker. Still, all pop-culture connections aside Paul Leni’s evocative film adaptation of…Read more Film Review: The Man Who Laughs (1928)
Adam Mohrbacher 