No piece of art happens in a vacuum. Everything we produce as a culture is, whether we like it or not, influenced by what’s come before. Film is no exception to this, and practically since the dawn of the medium, film makers have been drawing influences from the classical arts, chief among them painting. In …
Released 75 years ago, Alfred Hitchcock’s Suspicion (1941), his fourth film to be made in the United States, was a departure from his previous films. Unlike The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The 39 Steps (1935), or The Lady Vanishes (1938), Suspicion eschews the globetrotting and spying that made those films so exhilarating. It’s …
Though a rare misstep for Alfred Hitchcock, it’s probably best to think of Jamaica Inn as more of a stepping stone, a small hurdle that took the great director from his generally superb British work to his phenomenal Hollywood career
It’s little wonder “Sullivan’s Travels” came in at number 61 on the American Film Institute’s 2007 list of the top 100 motion pictures. This is a great, great film.
Dogs rise up against their human masters in Kornél Mundruczó’s White God, a film that is part-political allegory and part-bloody genre piece. The opening sequence shows a girl riding her bicycle through the sunny but deserted streets of Budapest, looking anxiously around her as she passes abandoned cars and empty buildings. Suddenly, from around the corner, hundreds of dogs appear, running with purpose, chasing and overtaking her. At this point, it feels like an apocalyptic dream, but, when White God returns to the scene later on, it has been contextualised in a narrative of oppression and justified revolt.
It seems like David Fincher and Gillian Flynn will be making another movie together — except it won’t be that Gone Girl sequel everyone is looking for. Deadline reported on Tuesday that the team from Gone Girl (including Fincher, Flynn, and Ben Affleck) are set to remake the classic Alfred Hitchcock movie Strangers on a Train. …
The Cinematograph Films Act of 1927 was put into effect in the late 1920s in order to promote growth in the British film industry. Beginning in 1928 it imposed a quota on the amount of British films that needed to be exhibited and distributed. While on paper the system was a success, with most distributors …
For a while, Lady Gaga was one of the most fascinating music stars that had come in a while, primarily because of her unapologetic bombast. Too often, though, she may have been written off as “weird”, from her odd fashion decisions, her performance art appearances on TV, and, of course, her music videos. Gaga, née Stefani …
As we spend a month looking at the great Stanley Kubrick, we can also look at the filmmakers who were clearly influenced by Kubrick. “Kubrickian” films tend to exercise incredible control of the camera, are extremely ambitious, tend to deal with much weightier themes, and always maintain a sense of mystery, like a there’s an …
With the filmmaker’s customary humor, characterizations, staging, editing tricks, and a variety of camera effects, “Foreign Correspondent” is quintessentially, and unmistakably, a classic Hitchcock movie.
Directed by Alain Guiraudie and photographed beautifully by Claire Mathon, Stranger by the Lake has drawn comparisons to the thrillers of Alfred Hitchcock, and rightly so. The atmosphere is one of chilling tension and highly controlled camera work, with point-of-view shots being used to draw attention to the role of both the cruising space and …
“‘Frenzy’ and ‘Family Plot,’ admittedly slight works in Hitchcock’s career, are nevertheless valuable entries in the filmmaker’s cannon, with scenes, shots, and moments of unmistakably Hitchcockian bravura”
After more than 50 years since first shocking the film industry and audiences’ psychological inadequacies, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is still marveled as being the archetypal foundation for modern-day horror films, as well as the driving force behind today’s censorship standards. Since its release in 1960, Psycho’s mass appeal undoubtedly comes from its atypical iconic elements. …
The etymologic history of the giallo sub-genre is well-documented by now. Giallo, Italian for yellow, refers to the cheap mystery books that at least partially inspired a cross-section of gruesome murder films from the likes of Mario Bava, Dario Argento, and Lucio Fulci. Bava’s The Girl Who Knew Too Much from 1963 is commonly referenced …
Now that Alfonso Cuaron’s long-in-the-making sci-fi spectacle Gravity has smashed its way through Venice and TIFF (it’s astounding), its detractors have raised two major objections: first, that its spectacle comes at the expense of its emotional content; second, that its lengthy, whirling camera movements are self-conscious and barely motivated, summarized by Nick McCarthy for Slant …
Marko Manev’s Blade Runner print is to be released for sales on Tuesday, August 20th at www.BottleneckGallery.com at around 12pm eastern. The Giclee print from Marko, titled Mother, and inspired by the Alfred Hitchcock movie Psycho, also goes on sale at the same time.
There’s a current trend in critical circles that’s been taking the internet by storm in the last few weeks, creating the sort of clicks-driven feedback loop these things tend to when they catch on. The term “vulgar auteurism” is coming into vogue (you can read one very good piece on it here, and by clicking …
Bates Motel Season 1, Episode 8 “A Boy and His Dog” Directed by Ed Bianchi Written by Bill Balas Airs Monday nights at 10pm ET on A&E As we close in on the end of the first season of Bates Motel, its apparent that the series is trying its best to develop a few new plot …
The Grandmother Written by David Lynch Directed by David Lynch USA, 1970 Mrs Bates lived on inside Norman’s fractured psyche. Her continued residence compensated for the guilt her son felt following her murder. Ever present, her spectral presence kept watch in the guise of a maternal superego overlooking the Bates motel from close quarters. Psycho …
One narrative mechanism that offers the potential for the audience to feel truly transported into another world, familiar or unfamiliar as it may be, is having someone in the story to represent our perspective. This is an old trick of fiction: insert a Nick Carraway-type person for other characters to confide in, and through these …
Birdemic: Shock and Terror Written by James Nguyen Directed by James Nguyen USA, 2008 You have to respect an artist with a vision. Sometimes they make Dances With Wolves or The Passion of the Christ and are rewarded critically and commercially for their risky works of passion. Other times you get James Nguyen’s notorious 2008 film …
Parkas, mittens and earmuffs can only do so much to starve off the imposing weight of winter. Many of us suffer, in some form or another, from seasonable depression and it’s easy to stay in bed all day instead of facing the dark and cold that comes during the winter months. Not all of us …
Hitchcock Directed by Sacha Gervasi Written by John J. McLaughlin USA, 2012 It is, perhaps, odd to consider the thought of Alfred Hitchcock in love. Lusting after women, blondes especially, was one of his specialties, as expressed in such classics as Vertigo and To Catch a Thief, though the desire was expressed by far more …