I recently gave a speech based on my documentary about the history of movie theatres in Winnipeg; this is the text.
Winnipeg’s vanished movie theatres
Tag: Film History
Random notes: two films and a book
A variety of approaches to horror are on display in Guillermo Del Toro’s new film Crimson Peak; a book about Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Shining which gathers together articles, essays and interviews from the ’80s to the present; and a disturbing 1983 Austrian film based on a real-life multiple murder, Gerald Kargl and Zbigniew Rybczynski’s Angst.
David Lynch book now available
Cagey Films has begun to issue content from the site, as well as new material, in a projected series of eBooks, beginning with a volume devoted to David Lynch and the making of Eraserhead.
Lost Soul: Richard Stanley vs Hollywood commerce
David Gregory’s documentary Lost Soul tells the fascinating story of Richard Stanley’s failed attempt to adapt H.G. Wells’ Island of Dr. Moreau, a project which fell foul of the conflict between a quirky artist and a Hollywood corporation.
Criterion Blu-ray review: Here Is Your Life (1966)
Criterion offer a real discovery, Swedish director Jan Troell’s debut feature Here Is Your Life (1966), a richly evocative coming-of-age story based on Nobel Prize-winner Eyvind Johnson’s four-part autobiographical novel set in the second decade of the 20th Century.
Blaxploitation and historical counter-narrative
Watching Blacula (1972) while reading James Baldwin’s The Devil Finds Work turns up some surprising depths in the cheap blaxploitation horror movie.
An evening with Jonathan Rosenbaum
An opportunity to meet my favourite film critic, Jonathan Rosenbaum, turned out to be a rich evening of films from around the world.
Late summer viewing 2014, part two
A selection of recently viewed films ranges from revisionist horror to horror-comedy to experimental to Hitchcock imitation (or homage), all impressively presented on Blu-ray.
Video Nasties Revisted
Video Nasties: Draconian Days, Jake West’s second documentary about Britain’s panic over the evils of home video is a fascinating examination of the political intentions of censorship and the resulting chaotic social impact of the state’s attempts to control personal taste.
Documentary and the evolution of movies
The documentary impulse was integral to the evolution of film and a key element was the application of the new technology to the 19th Century impulse to explore and “conquer” far-off exotic places and cultures.
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