Diatribe
On Sucking
If you are an artist of any consequence, you too will suck one day. Before I begin work on any creative or semi-creative project, first I have to extinguish the unquenchable fear that this is the one. The one that will suck. I mean, I’m sure I’ve created a lot of sucky things in my […]
Wag the Dogme
15 Years On, What We Should and Shouldn’t Learn from Dogme ’95 On March 22, 1995, a group of Danish filmmakers including Lars Von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg made a simple announcement, sparking a movement and an ideology which ripples throughout all filmmaking to this day. Their innovation: a new filmmaking structure called (excuse the Danish […]
Faking it for Real
A Mock-Doc/Horror Manifesto …Because it’s about damn time someone wrote one. Last night I went to see Daniel Stamm’s exciting new entry to the mock-documentary/horror genre, “The Last Exorcism.” Although I have my quibbles with the film (specifically the ending – which I will not spoil here), I found it smart, engaging, atmospheric, and mostly believable […]
Your Body is Not Your Body
What Truly Frightens Me About Horror Films (Part 1?) I recently found myself in a Facebook discussion with my Senior English teacher about horror and what draws me to the genre. She has never been a horror fan, finding much of its offerings disturbing or difficult to watch – specifically the attitude many of the […]
Best Worst Fanboys
Have We Gone From Loving Indie Film to Loving Hating it? I think I began to notice this trend with Christopher Guest‘s hilarious 1996 send-up of small-town theater and its unrequitable aspirations toward greatness, “Waiting for Guffman.” Even though when that film came out I was fully-invested in a small-town theater and had the kinds of […]
RIP Film, 1878-2010
In With a Horse, Out with a House Last night’s episode of Fox’s “House, MD” marked the conclusion of a long debate, “film vs. digital.” As a filmmaker, I have been a longstanding proponent of film. It has always been standard-bearer for moving image-makers. And HD, despite certain conveniences and an apparently lower price had […]
The Perils of Pageantry
Only So Much Wall Space in the Louvre It’s easy to write off the mediocrity that comprises the majority of culture’s creative output at any given time. I mean, how many crappy poems did Homer write before he got to The Iliad – only to sell out immediately and crank out a sequel? And I […]
S for Subversion
There’s a new film out right now called “Exit Through the Gift Shop” by notorious street art hipster Banksy. The movie is made from footage shot by French ex-pat Thierry Guetta (sorry, no link as any link would be a spoiler), following his cousin, the street artist known as “Space Invader.” That leads him to Obama icon-maker […]
