No year in review would be complete without a thank-you to our writers. Time and again, they reminded us that cinema is not only alive and well, but it is also always transforming; the filmmakers and festivals covered here push the boundaries of what we took for granted about the medium.Here’s a quick overview of what we published in 2022—and, for many more excellent pieces, we encourage you to browse our archive using the “explore” tab on the homepage.ESSAYSContemporary Cinema:When Propaganda Fails: Adam McKay's Don't Look Up by Ryan MeehanThe Horse in Motion: Jordan Peele's Nope by Blair McClendonThe Many Faces of Michelle Yeoh by Sean GilmanHall of Mirrors: James Gray's Armageddon Time and Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans by Kelli WestonNameless Energies: Don DeLillo at the Movies by Leonardo GoiThe Voice of a Generation: The Trope of the "Complex Female Character" by Rafaela BassiliHong...
- 1/4/2023
- MUBI
"Cure" is a murder mystery whose culprits cannot remember why they chose to kill to begin with. It is a serial killer narrative whose mastermind may be nothing more than a vessel for the desires of others. The detective that hunts him is dedicated but untrustworthy. The film's editing deteriorates along with his psyche. His wife reads a copy of "Bluebeard," the famous French folk tale of a man who murdered his many wives. By the end of the film, the detective has killed her, compelled either by the hypnotic suggestion of a mysterious phonograph or by his own sublimated frustration. The most horrific aspect of "Cure" is that there may be no difference. All it takes to transform a law-abiding citizen into an unthinking killer is running water, the flicker of a lighter and a black X.
Critics have spent the past several years trying to figure out what...
Critics have spent the past several years trying to figure out what...
- 12/8/2022
- by Adam Wescott
- Slash Film
Stars: David Daniel, Lisa Wilcox, Tuesday Knight, Jeremy Carr, Sam Hadden, Olivia Sanders | Written by Daniel Benedict, Casi Clark | Directed by Daniel Benedict
The Bloody Man begins with a night shot of assorted Masters of the Universe toys on a table, telling us that it’s another throwback to the 80s. Granted if you saw any of the film’s announcements hyping the presence of two actresses from A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Lisa Wilcox and Tuesday Knight you probably guessed that already.
Sam (David Daniel) has recently lost his mother Laurie (Lisa Wilcox). His father wasted no time in moving stepmom Kim (Tuesday Knight) in. To make it worse, both his brother Michael (Sam Hadden) and sister Amy (Olivia Sanders) accept her, while Sam is suspicious of her and her motives.
It’s this family dynamic, along with Sam being bullied at school, that takes...
The Bloody Man begins with a night shot of assorted Masters of the Universe toys on a table, telling us that it’s another throwback to the 80s. Granted if you saw any of the film’s announcements hyping the presence of two actresses from A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Lisa Wilcox and Tuesday Knight you probably guessed that already.
Sam (David Daniel) has recently lost his mother Laurie (Lisa Wilcox). His father wasted no time in moving stepmom Kim (Tuesday Knight) in. To make it worse, both his brother Michael (Sam Hadden) and sister Amy (Olivia Sanders) accept her, while Sam is suspicious of her and her motives.
It’s this family dynamic, along with Sam being bullied at school, that takes...
- 7/13/2022
- by Jim Morazzini
- Nerdly
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSHong Sang-soo's The Novelist's Film (2022)The competition slate has been announced for this year's Berlinale, featuring the latest by Hong Sang-soo, Claire Denis, Rithy Panh, Phyllis Nagy, Ulrich Seidl, and more. Find the rest of the lineup here. In an interview with Variety, executive Mariette Rissenbeek and artistic director Carlo Chatrian discuss their plans for the festival to be an in-person event. Actor Michel Subor has died at the age of 86. Subor captivated audiences with his performances in films like Jean-Luc Godard's Le petit soldat (1960)—he also was the narrator for François Truffaut's Jules and Jim (1962)—and a number of films by Claire Denis, from Beau travail (1999) and L'intrus (2004) to White Material (2009) and Bastards (2013). We recommend reading Yasmina Price's excellent essay on L'intrus and Subor's distinct historiography as an actor. Recommended VIEWINGThe...
- 1/19/2022
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: A screening of Abel Gance's Napoléon at the Paramount Theatre Oakland in 2012. (Photo by San Francisco Silent Film Festival.)In partnership with the Cinémathèque Française and the French National Film Board, Netflix will be financing a new restoration of Abel Gance's 1927 silent epic Napoléon ahead of the 200th anniversary of Napoleon's death this summer. The film has been restored many times before, but this restoration aims to bring to life Gance's 7-hour "Apollo cut," named after the Apollo Theatre where the film screened in 1927. Beanpole filmmaker Kantemir Balagov has found his next project: An HBO series adaptation of the hit zombie video game series, The Last of Us. Bong Joon-ho will head the main jury of this year's Venice Film Festival, marking the first time a South Korean director has been picked...
- 1/20/2021
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSThe prolific Rhonda Fleming, a "movie star made for Technicolor" who shone in films like Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound, Jacques Tourneur's Out of the Past, and especially Allan Dwan's Slightly Scarlet and Tennessee's Partner, has died at 97. Recommended VIEWINGBarry Jenkins has released a "preamble" for his upcoming Amazon series The Underground Railroad, based on the novel by Colson Whitehead. The series follows two slaves who escape a Georgia plantation by following the Underground Railroad. The trailer for Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer's Apple TV+ documentary, Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds, which focuses on the impact of meteorites on our planet. Roni Moore and James Blagden's Midnight in Paris follows a group of teenagers in Flint, Michigan, during the lead-up to their senior prom. The film will have its online...
- 10/26/2020
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSDisney has announced that Barry Jenkins will helm the live-action The Lion King sequel, which reportedly includes "Mufasa's origin story."Speaking of sequels, Chinese authorities have approved the production of a project written by Wong Kar-wai, curiously titled Chungking Express 2020. The synopsis states that at least a portion of the film will take place in 2036, where "young Xiao Qian and May are unwilling to be held back by genetic partnerings, and insist on finding their own ‘destiny’.”Festival season persists: The Cannes Film Festival will be hosting a three-day "Special Cannes" event in October that will feature the screening of four Official Selections, in-competition short films, and the Cinéfondation’s school films. This year's San Sebastian Film Festival concluded with the sweep of Georgian filmmaker Dea Kulumbegashvili’s debut feature Beginning, which received four of seven jury prizes.
- 9/30/2020
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Chadwick Boseman in Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods.We're extremely saddened by the news that Chadwick Boseman has died after a four-year battle with colon cancer. In a tribute to Boseman, Ryan Coogler writes, "He lived a beautiful life. And he made great art. Day after day, year after year. That was who he was."Recommended Viewinghbo's official trailer for Luca Guadagnino's We Are Who We Are, about a group of teenagers navigating their identities on an American army base outside of Venice, Italy. Antonio Campos's upcoming Netflix film, The Devil All The Time, stars Tom Holland, Riley Keough, Robert Pattinson, Bill Skarsgård, and more as "sinister characters" in a seedy Ohio town. Media City Film Festival presents Radical Acts of Care, an online series curated by Greg de Cuir Jr.
- 9/2/2020
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSThe New York Film Festival has announced its Main Slate (featuring Chloé Zhao's Nomadland as the Centerpiece film) and its lineup of Revivals. Linda Manz, best known for her roles in Days of Heaven, Out of the Blue, and Gummo, has died. In memory of her iconic acting career, we're returning to Nick Pinkerton's 2011 interview with Manz (which contains her recipe for clam bread) and Sheila O'Malley's essay on Manz's performanceJanus Films has released a gorgeous teaser trailer for the 4K restoration of Claire Denis's Beau travail, which will be released in virtual cinemas in September. A24 has released the official trailer for Sofia Coppola's upcoming On the Rocks, starring Rashida Jones and Bill Murray. Recommended READINGThe Baffler's A.S. Hamrah interviews Michael Almereyda, who discusses his latest Tesla,...
- 8/19/2020
- MUBI
By Jeremy Carr
The success of Larry Cohen’s 1973 Blaxploitation classic, Black Caesar, was so immediately evident that producer Samuel Z. Arkoff, then head of American International Pictures, put the sequel wheels in motion almost instantly. The follow-up, Hell Up in Harlem, was released just 10 months later, still in 1973. Such a hasty turnaround certainly makes its mark on the completed picture, with a frenetic tempo, chaotic storyline, and haphazard construction that all seems to mirror its own pace of production. Yet even in the face of this slapdash development, the film itself is thoroughly entertaining, if not quite living up to its predecessor.
Reprising his role as Tommy Gibbs, the shrewd criminal entrepreneur who worked his way up through the underworld ranks in Black Caesar, Fred Williamson starts off the sequel in dire straits. As seen in the earlier film, Tommy had proudly flaunted an aggressive charm, with a sly...
The success of Larry Cohen’s 1973 Blaxploitation classic, Black Caesar, was so immediately evident that producer Samuel Z. Arkoff, then head of American International Pictures, put the sequel wheels in motion almost instantly. The follow-up, Hell Up in Harlem, was released just 10 months later, still in 1973. Such a hasty turnaround certainly makes its mark on the completed picture, with a frenetic tempo, chaotic storyline, and haphazard construction that all seems to mirror its own pace of production. Yet even in the face of this slapdash development, the film itself is thoroughly entertaining, if not quite living up to its predecessor.
Reprising his role as Tommy Gibbs, the shrewd criminal entrepreneur who worked his way up through the underworld ranks in Black Caesar, Fred Williamson starts off the sequel in dire straits. As seen in the earlier film, Tommy had proudly flaunted an aggressive charm, with a sly...
- 3/16/2019
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSJia Zhangke's In the Qing Dynasty, a project the auteur has been preparing since as early as 2007, is set to begin shooting in Spring 2019.
Jia Zhangke's historical epic In The Qing Dynasty, to be produced by Johnnie To, will have action by Ching Siu Tung. pic.twitter.com/LZsHboTw54— Asian Film Strike (@AsianFilmStrike) April 27, 2017 Recommended Viewinga neon-lit trailer for Harmony Korine's highly-anticipated The Beach Bum, which will be released in March of 2019. For GQ, Nicolas Cage provides a candid self-analysis of his personal favorite characters he has played in his singular acting career, from Castor Troy to Charlie Kaufman (with nods to German Expressionism and Fritz Lang!).Nuri Bilge Ceylan's latest, The Wild Pear Tree, has been selected as the Turkish entry for the Foreign Language award at the 91st Academy Awards next year.
Jia Zhangke's historical epic In The Qing Dynasty, to be produced by Johnnie To, will have action by Ching Siu Tung. pic.twitter.com/LZsHboTw54— Asian Film Strike (@AsianFilmStrike) April 27, 2017 Recommended Viewinga neon-lit trailer for Harmony Korine's highly-anticipated The Beach Bum, which will be released in March of 2019. For GQ, Nicolas Cage provides a candid self-analysis of his personal favorite characters he has played in his singular acting career, from Castor Troy to Charlie Kaufman (with nods to German Expressionism and Fritz Lang!).Nuri Bilge Ceylan's latest, The Wild Pear Tree, has been selected as the Turkish entry for the Foreign Language award at the 91st Academy Awards next year.
- 9/26/2018
- MUBI
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