Three years before D.W. Griffith would be immortalized with his epic Birth of a Nation, and a year later, Intolerance, he directed a one-reel curiosity named The Musketeers of Pig Alley. It may not depict the “birth of a nation,” but it is, rather, the birth of the gangster film. The Musketeers of Pig Alley… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Film
Hitchcock’s Suspense and Surprise
In a famous interview with film critic and director Francois Truffaut, Alfred Hitchcock described the difference between suspense and surprise: “We are now having a very innocent little chat. Let us suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, “Boom!” There is an explosion. The… Continue Reading
Non Traditional Easter Movies
In honour of the upcoming Easter holidays, here’s a short list of movies to help celebrate. While most of these movies are not directly Biblical (I left out the obvious choices, like The Passion of the Christ), they are all either allegorical, make strong references to the life and characters of Jesus, or otherwise explore… Continue Reading
Dead Man Walking: The Way Film Speaks
Little drives me up the wall faster than the argument about which “kind” of art is better, or superior, to others. This usually comes in the form of “the book is always better.” Yet, we have this bizarre need to legitimize one artistic medium by comparing it to another: for example, when a video game… Continue Reading
Movies for St. Patrick’s Day
St. Patrick’s Day is upon us again and I thought I’d put together a list of movies in case pub crawling has gotten old (or, like me, it’s the 9th circle of hell). I’ve split this list into categories covering different aspects of Irish history and culture. This is by no means an exhaustive list,… Continue Reading
Kingsman: The Second Best Secret Agent In the Whole Wide World
For a satire to be effective it needs two things: first, it must understand the staples, patterns, and clichés of the genre and find a way to subvert them without making them unrecognisable; and second, it must also understand the genre’s purpose. And even though it may subvert, poke fun at, or even insult every superficial… Continue Reading
Equilibrium: Noticing the World
I really love Equilibrium. It’s certainly not in danger of being called perfect, and there is a surprising amount of nastiness towards it on its imdb forum, but it does something very few other action movies do: it not only notices, but appreciates, the ordinary. Equilibrium takes place in the fictional city of Libria, a fascist state founded… Continue Reading
Movies for New Year’s Eve
Who needs Times Square, Waterford Crystal or a fancy cocktail party. Here are some of the best New Year’s Eve movies, in case you’re planning on staying in. None of them will help you make it to the gym on the 1st, however. The Gold Rush (1925) If you’ve never seen a Charlie Chaplin movie,… Continue Reading
Non Traditional Christmas Movies
If Rudolph and kids with BB guns have got you down, or you just have one of those families, here’s a list of unconventional Christmas themed movies that won’t judge you for feeling down during December or burning the turkey… And a few that won’t mind if you burn the whole house down. “A Pinky and… Continue Reading