Nov
14
It’s a good week for lush, exquisite cinematography and vividly stylized worlds; maybe not so good a week for compelling narratives. In IMMORTALS, director Tarsem Singh Dhandwar uses Greek mythology as the raw material upon which to invest his skill with staging beautiful, beautiful actors in elaborate tableaux, all in the service of the tale …
Nov
09
I’m a lucky guy. I’ve wanted a reason to break out of my cramped, unkempt studio and check out Carsten Höller: Experience, the new exhibit at the New Museum that provides a comprehensive survey of the German-born artist known for his immersive, sensory-confounding — and sometimes adrenaline-pumping — installations, and along comes Air France to …
Oct
27
Lest we forget that Jim Henson was about more than Kermit and Big Bird (ahem, DARK CRYSTAL, THE STORYTELLER, and on, and on…), this year’s New York Comic Con staged a panel in which Henson archivist Karen Falk and Archaia Editor-in-Chief Stephen Christy exhibited footage from the Muppet-master’s experimental short films, commercials, and TV plays, …
Oct
05
I won’t hide it: I’m New York City born-and-bred. Concrete was my cradle, and carbon-monoxide-tinged air my mother’s milk (a strained analogy, but apt). Which is to say that I know squat about life on the farm. Don’t know how reap, don’t know how to herd, don’t even think of approaching me about animal husbandry. …
Jun
24
I tend to lose patience with people who go the “words cannot describe…” route when they’re talking about something. There are always words, if you know how to use them. I gotta admit, though, GENERAL ORDERS NO. 9, the enigmatic debut work of filmmaker Robert Persons (no relation), is something of a challenge. A meditation …
Feb
21
Columbus did not land in Bolivia. But a Spanish film crew has chosen that country to shoot their historic recreation of that event — and how some priests fought against the subsequent enslavement of the natives — because, well, it’s cheaper. That initial bit of convenient exploitation is only the start of the parallels in …
Oct
25
Big show this week, chock-a-block full of genre film goodness! First, Dan Persons sits down with director Gareth Edwards to talk about his uncommonly soulful and sharply observed alien infestation film, MONSTERS. Then, we’ll take a journey into the HEREAFTER, as special guest John W. Morehead, of Theofantastique, joins Dan, Lawrence French, and Steve Biodrowski …
Jun
05
It’s getting to be that my fortitude is being tested on a weekly basis. I’ve witnessed the psychotic outrages of THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE (and liked it), the moral confrontation that is THE KILLER INSIDE ME (liked it), and the let’s-put-The-Rock-in-a-tutu TOOTH FAIRY (you’re kidding, right?). But all that was make-believe stuff. LIVING IN EMERGENCY is …
May
07
Sorta weird how this became the globe-trotter episode. I’d seen BABIES a few weeks ago and was going to go with it as the sole focus of the show, then late last week I stumbled onto BEETLE QUEEN CONQUERS TOKYO and — despite the little voice whispering ever so delicately in the back of my …
Mar
19
I’m not sure when I first heard of THE SECRET OF KELLS. Probably last year, likely through AICN, definitely way before it wound up on the Oscar nominee list for animated feature (and everybody started going, “The what of who?”). At that time, the buzz was growing around this small, exquisitely designed film out of …
