Do you ever have trouble falling asleep because your mind is racing or you feel too wired from the day? Some nights when sleep evades me, I’ve found comfort and calm in an unusual source – leaving an old movie playing softly in the background. It started with 39 Steps, an old Hitchcock movie. There’s…
Category: Film
Why Jackie Brown is Tarantino’s Best Film
With his unique style and over-the-top violence, Quentin Tarantino has crafted some incredible films over the years. But in my opinion, his most nuanced and compelling work is 1997’s Jackie Brown. Now available to watch on Amazon Prime, Jackie Brown stands out for its restraint and subtlety compared to Tarantino’s other films. I’ve always liked…
Emotional Directorial Debuts from Female Filmmakers’ Personal Stories
I recently watched two poignant films that pulled me into their intimate worlds and left me emotionally drained (in a good way) – Past Lives and Aftersun. Both movies derive from the personal histories of their talented first-time female directors, Celine Song and Charlotte Wells respectively. It’s remarkable, arguably the best movies of the last…
The Man Who Hates Good Movies: Armond White
Among the most infamous contrarian film critics is Armond White, who seems to take particular pleasure in defying critical consensus and panning beloved movies. White pulls no punches when reviewing Oscar contenders and box office smashes alike.
Neill Blomkamp: The Director who Disappeared. (But he’s back)
I first discovered the work of director Neill Blomkamp back in 2005 when his sci-fi short film Alive in Joburg took the internet by storm. This was pre-iPhone and just at the inception of YouTube. Even today, over 15 years later, I still remember being utterly captivated by that 6-minute short. The innovative CGI, the…
“The Most Important Thing That’s Ever Happened”: Unpacking the Mythology of Oppenheimer
“How do you try to save the world when there are folks who just wanna watch it burn?” asked Michael Caine in The Dark Knight. That question from The Dark Knight captures the contradictions of Christopher Nolan’s latest complicated protagonist – J. Robert Oppenheimer. He helped invent the atomic bomb to end WWII but caused…
Finding My Filmmaking Roots in Vermont
It’s been a while since I moved to Vermont, I was excited to join the Vermont Production Collective, a community of creative professionals working together to produce films and other media projects in the state. As someone who has dabbled in filmmaking over the years, I’m looking forward to collaborating with other local artists and…
The Fog of War: McNamara, Oppenheimer, and the Perils of Power
Two of the most influential yet controversial defense intellectuals of the 20th century were Robert S. McNamara and J. Robert Oppenheimer. Though coming from very different backgrounds, both men rose to positions of enormous authority over the US military establishment, especially concerning nuclear weapons. And both left incredibly complex legacies that historians still debate today….
Bringing the Surreal World of David Lynch to Life with AI with Video
David Lynch is known for his surreal, dreamlike films that take viewers into strange and mysterious worlds. As an avid Lynch fan, I wanted to try capturing his in this MidJourney test. With the help of AI art generation and some creative editing, I was able to make a Lynchian animated video using just still…
Uncovering Hidden Worlds: Connecting Blue Velvet and Under the Silver Lake
Blue Velvet (1986) and Under the Silver Lake (2019) may be separated by decades, but these two neo-noir thrillers share striking similarities in their exploration of lurking darkness beneath the sunny surfaces of idyllic neighborhoods. Both Films are available on Max as of today. Both films follow an amateur investigator diving into the seedy underbelly…