In those days, the only way to see David Lynch’s early, short films was to start or join a film club, pool resources, and rent them from some place like Facets in Chicago. …more

Earlier this year, I made a case for Paranormal Activity 2 as an avant-garde film, …more

Perhaps the most enduring movies are those that tempt us into deep interpretation even as they resist all efforts to impose meaning on them. …more

This ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine Marnie, directed by Alfred Hitchcock (1964): …more

The trailer for Sleeping Beauty (directed by Julia Leigh, 2011) clocking in at just over one minute and 30 seconds, …more

On the evening of July 27 I interviewed Megan Boyle over gchat. Rather than prepare questions or focus on a specific topic, we used Wikipedia’s “random article” link to go to pages to generate content for our conversation. …more

Note: This is the final installment of a three-part series. Here are parts 1 and 2. …more

There is a moment in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart (1990) that cuts from Lula’s (Laura Dern’s) feet stomping in excitement on a bed to those same feet stomping in dance mode in a bar to the sound of the song “Slaughterhouse” by Powermad. …more

Nicholas Rombes’ piece, “Julia Kristeva’s Face,” was given a shout-out on Columbia University Press’ blog, with an excerpt that will surely make you want to read it, if you haven’t already. And thank you to Columbia University Press!

In the winter of 1989 I had finished my first semester of graduate studies in English at Penn State University and received, in my campus mailbox, the comments from my professors for the “Introduction to Graduate Studies” class. …more

On July 12, 1849, a man appeared at the offices, in Philadelphia, of the Quaker City, a newspaper. He was despondent and wearing only one shoe, and was seeking the editor and writer George Lippard. When he found him he said. “You are my last hope. If you fail me, I can do nothing but die.” …more

One of the enduring mysteries of American literature is a series of three letters drafted by Emily Dickinson to someone she called “Master.” …more

Beyond the Black Rainbow (Panos Cosmatos, 2011) has the feel of a slow march through a black swamp. There is a majesty and a tar-pit trap power in the wordless matching of moving images and music.

I am obliged to wonder what are the “penalties—very heavy penalties” mentioned in this trailer for Sleeping Beauty (Julia Leigh, 2011).

Here was the headline at the New York Times online the morning of May 3: …more

This ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine I Shot Andy Warhol, directed by Mary Harron (1996): …more

Not usually a fan of these mash-ups, but this one—the great museum sequence from Brian De Palma’s Dressed to Kill (1980) set to Brian Eno’s song “Third Uncle”—works just fine. Oh Angie! (The music kicks in at around 40 seconds.): …more

This ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine if…. directed by Lindsay Anderson (1968): …more

This ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine Alien, directed by Ridley Scott (1979): …more

In at least two of his novels, Thomas Pynchon mentions a Porky Pig cartoon from the 1930s.

Here is the reference from The Crying of Lot 49 (1965), as Oedipa Maas listens to an old man named Thoth, whose grandfather was an Indian killer: “Did you ever see the one about Porky Pig and the anarchist?” he asks her. “The anarchist is dressed in all black. In the dark you can only see his eyes. It dates from the 1930s. Porky Pig is a little boy.” …more

Before the fiasco of the “rock musical” Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Julie Taymor worked in smaller savageries, especially Titus (1999), her adaptation of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus.

The movie was a bit of an easy target. It was released after Richard III (1995) with Ian McKellan, and Romeo + Juliet (1996) directed by Baz Luhrmann, both of which scrambled time and place and tone in ways that seemed to reflect the shallow, ahistorical excesses of postmodernism. But Titus, beneath its flamboyance, was something else altogether: a deeply felt meditation on the wages of violence, as seen through the eyes of a young boy. …more

This ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine Gun Crazy, directed by Joseph K. Lewis (1949): …more

This ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine eXistenZ, directed by David Cronenberg (1999): …more

This ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine Moon, directed by Duncan Jones (2009): …more

This ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine Machine Gun McCain, directed by Giuliano Montaldo (1969): …more

This ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine Duel in the Sun, directed by King Vidor (1946): …more

This ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine the Pixies’ music video for “Velouria.” …more

This ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine Shadow of a Doubt, directed by Alfred Hitchcock (1943): …more

This ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine The Celebration (Festen), directed by Thomas Vinterberg (1998): …more

This ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine The Hitch-Hiker, directed by Ida Lupino (1953): …more

This ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine Them, directed by David Moreau and Xavier Palud (2006): …more

This ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1974, directed by Jullian Jerold. …more