A Mind-Opening Preview of Fantasia Film Festival 2024
Our preview of Fantasia Festival 2024 highlights ten films that stimulate viewers’ emotional, cultural, and social intellect.
film feature
Godzilla the Union Buster
There’s a bitter irony in how Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One, produced by a notorious union-busting production company, is celebrated for its message of collective strength.
Retro Monsters and Sexual Politics Dominate These Three Sci-Fi Movies
Sci-fi movies Unknown Terror, The Colossus of New York and Destination Inner Space inject monsters into personal melodrama for masculine redemption.
Two Southern-Fried Slices of Sordid ’60s Hicksploitation Films
Angry old men, sexy strumpets, moonshiners, corrupt sheriffs, and dumb farmhands populate them thar hills in these two low-budget ’60s hicksploitation films.
Exiting the Comma: On Liminality and Redemption in Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas
In Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas, Travis is adrift, caught in the comma between the liminal ‘Paris’ and the redemptive ‘Texas’, between lost futures and the impermeable present.
Chicago Critics Film Festival 2024: The Good, the Unremarkable, and the Dead on Arrival
Axe murder, motor scooter theft, projectile breast milk and more from a week at the Music Box Theatre for the Chicago Critics Film Festival 2024.
Is ‘Love Lies Bleeding’ An Act of Surrender?
After her psychological-horror debut Saint Maud, cinema took Rose Glass’ bright new voice in genre filmmaking and, with Love Lies Bleeding, clipped her wings.
Philosophies and Ironies in Éric Rohmer’s ‘Tales of the Four Seasons’
In Éric Rohmer’s ‘Tales of the Four Seasons’, everything exists on an elevated Expressionist plane; every detail dovetails into its hermetic philosophies and ironies.
Is the ‘Barbie’ Movie Performative Subversion or Meaningful Rebellion?
Is the Barbie movie, like the Barbie dolls, a superficial attempt to co-opt feminist discourse? Or does it offer something substantial?
Nordic Noir in Transition: Jussi Adler-Olsen’s ‘Department Q’ Books on Film
Jussi Adler-Olsen, author of the Nordic noir Department Q series, isn’t thrilled with the transition of his work to film. Five directors of six films argue that’s a crime.
Silent Film Jewels About Mothers, Horses and Gorillas
A female Tarzan and her gorilla, a horse that revenges his murdered master, mothers, and comical aviators make the scene in these silent film jewels.