Equiano in Africa (Young, 2008)
It is an eleven minute short film with Equiano's text read over images of contemporary life in Benin
Author: kenmorefield
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Lake of Fire (Kaye, 2006)
To call Lake of Fire uncompromisingly sober is to call a roundhouse kick to the kidney bracing.
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Buffy The Vampire Slayer
The main reason I'm posting about the show, however, is that noted scholar and Buffy enthusiast Elizabeth Rambo has begun a blog project rewatching the show and blogging individual episodes at The Painful Nowning Process. Dr. Rambo is one of the co-editors of Buffy Goes Dark, and she brings a broad foundation of literary knowledge and cultural insight into her writing. If you've ever wanted to try out the show or think more deeply about quality television, consider this a master class with an individual tutor and--here's the best part--no tuition!
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Julie & Julia (Ephron, 2009)
In fact, there may be the tiniest hint of feminine fantasy in the film's stew of supportive masculinity--made all the more suspect by the knowledge that Powell's second memoir (forthcoming) chronicles her extra-marital affair.
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John Huston
Huston said of directing: "[...] I try to direct as little as possible. The more one directs, the more there is a tendency to monotony. If one is telling each person what to do, one ends up with a host of little replicas of oneself" (260).
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Forgiving Dr. Mengele (Hercules, 2006)
The act of reviewing carries with it a strain of judgment, and when reviewing a documentary it is hard not to feel as though one is judging the subject and not just the artists' presentation of him or her. Which of us would dare judge Eva Moses Kor?
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Waltz With Bashir (Folman, 2008)
Several times while watching Waltz With Bashir I thought about the notion that by the measure we judge we shall be weighed, and I don't doubt that contributed to my dissatisfaction with the film.
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The Informer (Ford, 1935)
In an interview republished in the anthology Interviews With Film Directors, Jean Mitry cites John Ford's desire to balance innovation and aesthetics with populist appeal. "Directing is craft," Ford is quoted as saying, "If a director's films do not make money, he cannot expect to retain the confidence and good will of the men who put up the wherewithal" (195).
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Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein, 1925)
One problem, of course, with a great books (or great films) curriculum is that we get students to equate "classic" with dull, uninteresting, or obsolete.
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Bigger Than Life (Ray, 1956)
The moment that caught my attention in Nicholas Ray's 1956 melodrama Bigger Than Life is when Ed Avery (James Mason) walks in on his son watching television. At first he appears to have a slight, almost sociological interest, then asks the boy, "Doesn't that bore you?" Followed by, almost to himself, "It's always the same story."