Being Film #5 for Hooptober 2023 Consider this a public service. I am going to waste as few words as possible on the dreck that is Dracula 3000, a quickie straight to cable cash grab that is exactly what you think it is: Dracula in space. The actual Dracula, he with the goth cape and frilly shirt. In space. In the year 3000. Fighting Casper … Continue reading Hooptober 10.0 – Dracula 3000 (2004)
When it comes to compiling “Best _ of All Time” lists, I generally find the process more interesting than the final lists themselves. For me personally, I obsess for hours over the internal debates and criteria which only make sense to me. Once those decisions are made, all that is left to do is record it somewhere and throw it into the void of whoever reads it. For the Sight and Sound list, I find it fascinating how the simple passage of ten years along with structural changes result in movies being added, removed, or changed in ranking. Do I have a lot invested in how any particular movie is ranked on the Sight and Sound list? Aside from Seventh Seal, no. Do I think it’s cool that recent movies like Portrait of a Lady on Fire or Moonlight got onto the list? Absolutely. I’ll be absolutely curious how those movies mature in stature for the 2032 list. That’s why I mostly don’t get too hung up on particular rankings, because these “Best _ of All Time” lists don’t establish some kind of eternal metaphysical truth, but ironically mark a very specific moment in time for the people involved.
Continue reading “Lost in the Mail: Jon’s 2022 Sight And Sound Ballot”
What’s in a list, anyway?
It’s something I’ve struggled with throughout my time as an online writer. But when you’re considering a set list of, as the BFI so brazenly puts it, the greatest films of all time, it becomes apparent that a list – any list – must encompass both a sense of inflexibility as well as transience. That’s what makes the Sight and Sound list so important, both in its cadence (the poll is only held once a decade) and its content. Our first episode of the new year has Jon and I catching up on our blind spots based on the most recent results, and it raised an important point about the nature of the list. Moreso than a canon of the greatest films ever made, it’s a sign o’ the times, to quote another legend who had their pulse on the shape of an art form over multiple decades. The changes in this year’s list reflects a broadening of critics who bring a level of diversity that reveals shifting viewpoints in cinema, and acts to push against the walls of an establishment that has held them back for decades. It’s a welcome shakeup to my mind, and it’s helped me to reconsider my own personal canon and question the biases that informed its creation.
Continue reading “Lost in the Mail: Chris’s 2022 Sight and Sound Ballot”
Imagine you are a filmmaker coming off the most well regarded film of your career. It’s the film that maybe you don’t realize now but will become what you’re best known. Regardless, the question that will be asked of you is “What’s next?” There’s two paths you can take. Do what’s expected of you, or continue to follow your muse? This was the position Claire … Continue reading The Films of Claire Denis: Trouble Every Day (2001)
About a third of the way through Seed of Chucky, Glen (occasionally Glenda) sees their parents, murderous dolls Chucky and Tiffany, brutally murder someone. Later that night, they asks their parents why do they kill. The two dolls look at each other flabbergasted. It’s framed as the awkward question a parent isn’t ready to explain to their child. However, it also seems like a question … Continue reading Hooptober 2022 #27: Seed of Chucky (2004)
A friend and I earlier this year lamented that Yoshiaki Kawajiri hadn’t directed a movie since a 2006 animated Highlander movie. If Japanese animation, or anime, hooked you in the 90s, that disappointment is palpable. Kawajiri’s work on the surface displays every cliche about anime from the 90s. His work tends to be both ultra violent, and aggressively sexual. There’s an exploitation film/grindhouse quality to … Continue reading Hooptober 2022 #24: Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000)
Cinema Dual (TEST SITE) 