Reaction Shots

I wasn’t planning on reviewing television shows, but at the end of the day, why not? I don’t want to get bogged down in episode by episode recounting, but I do want to consider a series as a whole cinematic experience. There are sound reasons for this, I think. The primary reason is that so much of what’s available - on streaming services in particular - is just that: cinematic. The quality of production and the use of what is nothing less than remarkable cinematography alone make a strong argument for how Netflix and Amazon original productions can vie with theatrical releases. The second reason is that the storytelling and narrative arcs is so much deeper than what is available in many theatrical films. Sure, there’s a ton of dross out there, both on the small and large screens; however, when it’s good, it’s really good. I want to take a look at Amazon’s Stranger Things because on the surface of it, it appears to be a clever homage to Spielberg, Dante, Carpenter, e...

A perfect sentence Jonathan Glazer has directed two of my favorite films; “Sexy Beast” and “Under the Skin”, two films that couldn’t be more different. One is a relatively straightforward narrative about a retired thief (Ray Winstone) being reluctantly (very) recalled to active service by a near-demonic Ben Kingsley with some of the finest dialog ever put on screen. The other is a taciturn science fiction fable of an alien who assumes the form of Scarlett Johannsson, observing, stalking, and eventually, draining her male prey of their essences (or at least, their musculo-skeletal systems). His latest is a short film that has as its inspiration, a visit to Trump Era America. The most Glazer is saying about his most recent work you can find here at the Guardian . I will be making enough references to the article, but it’s worth a read nonetheless. It is a short few minutes of harrowing terror. That it encapsulates the past few years of a presidential term characterized by ...

All too often, we don’t get much chance to see many of the smaller works by accomplished directors. This is a shame, since some of the most important work a creator can produce may not be an epic novel of feature film. The short story, the novella and the short film are etudes that share as much of the author’s themes and concerns as their larger works. There are towering short form films that are required viewing and I most definitely want to share these. Many times, short works are discounted out of hand or overlooked, but that’s a huge mistake. There are also one-offs that bear viewing and discussion and we’ll be taking a look at those, too. And yes, there films by authors, painters and musicians that are formidable and substantive enough to merit exploration and I definitely want to get to those. To start off with this series, I’ll begin with a smallmasterpiece from this year .

In 1966, Adam West and Burt Ward set the standard for camp with the Batman TV show that ran for three seasons. A little over twenty years before, Lewis Wilson and Douglas Croft donned the capes and fought a Japanese master spy and his ring of domestic terrorists. The WWII Columbia serial is earnest and despite its racism, witty and no less of a hoot than it’s later, mid-twentieth century broadcast successor. That said, it’s not camp because the stakes are higher and the driving force behind the plot is more of the moment than the goofy, winking tales of the televised version. It's difficult to assess the general run of pop genre works like serials and other B-movies without considering who they were made for and who made them. The times dictated different approaches. There was "high art" like opera, theater, and the fine plastic arts of painting and sculpture by "the masters" and there were the "low arts" like the movies (particularly ...