Essays

A collection of 54 posts

Around the Pantheon: Non-cinema Cultural Criticism

Citizens of Babel: Antisociality and Dystopian Cities

The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. And the Lord said, ‘Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be

Essays

Exiting Through the 2010s (Podcast Appearance): Resident Evil: Retribution and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter

I join joins Clay and Jack on Exiting Through the 2010s for a retrospective on the finale of the Paul WS Anderson films for the much-maligned Resident Evil franchise in 2012’s Retribution and 2016’s The Final Chapter. Together, we examine Michelle Rodriguez’s career, updating video games into

Essays

Thoughtful Streaming on a Budget

Netflix: $19.99 (premium).  HBO Max: $14.99 (no ads). Disney Bundle: $13.99. Amazon Prime: $14.99. Paramount Plus:  $10 (premium).

Essays

Missing Shows Screenlife is Here to Stay

Screenlife is here to stay, thanks to Timur Bekmambetov. A Kazakh-Russian director and producer, Bekmambetov is responsible for what’s likely the most outstanding formal innovation in filmmaking in decades. Quite simply: he’s uncovered and propagandized a new way to present motion pictures—in which the viewer sees everything

Essays

Infernal Affairs and the Dark Night of the Soul

One thing I find displeasing about the contemporary Western cinematic landscape is its visual flakiness. The best shots of our biggest blockbusters are basically lifeless realizations of pre-vis. The images just aren’t memorable. The whole “One Perfect Shot” phenomenon is remarkably ironic given how many of the contemporary shots

Essays

In the Mood for Love

I’ll never understand completionist critics. It’s better, they would have it, to see 10 unique films than only eight unique films with two re-watches littered in the mix. There are so many movies that it would be a waste to spend your precious waking minutes revisiting old film

Essays

My Top Ten Films of 2022

Damn, it was a good year for the movies. 2022 was my best year with new releases since at least 2018, if not longer. The gleeful time-travel Japanese comedy Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes, produced in 2020 but not released on US streaming until 2022, was particularly painful to leave

Essays

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Story Deserves Your Attention

Picture this: you’re halfway through a theatrical showing of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery and the screen begins to flicker with a green overlay on the borders of characters and other moving objects. An easily identifiable digital projection error. Obviously, parts of people shouldn’t be flickering in

Essays

Slither and the Arrival of James Gunn

James Gunn was my first favorite director. And while I know this statement is likely a testament to both my young age and not falling in love with cinema until my late teens, in many ways, I’m glad it took me so long: Gunn’s a perfect first-favorite filmmaker—

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Essays

Give Me More: 2022 Releases in Review So Far

Essays

Closer Look: The Kremlin in 'Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol'

We believe the technological achievements of the MI6 world, despite also knowing, even if subconsciously, that nothing is there; the guard can’t see shit.

Essays

A Sad Lesson from Pitching Articles

I don’t hate all Marvel movies, I promise. But as an aspiring film (and culture, whatever that means) writer, it’s not what I want to write about. I’d prefer to be commissioned to write positive re-evaluations of twentieth-century films on major anniversaries, essays about visual effects in

Essays

Special Effects Cinema at Its Finest: S.S. Rajamouli and RRR

In his review of Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith (2005), Roger Ebert wrote with his usual eloquence, “special effects should be judged not by their complexity but by the degree that they stimulate the imagination.” This lesson was neglected, discarded, or perhaps never learned by many of

Essays

A Korean Movie Starter Pack (For Americans)

Back when there were Blockbusters and Family Videos scattered around the suburbs of northeast Ohio, my family took regular trips to the video store. Each kid was allowed a movie or two, depending on the length of rental times. Somewhere near ten, I gravitated to East Asian films, especially kung-fu

Essays

Watching Movies on Small Screens is a Better Experience. If You Care about Audio.

One of the best movie experiences of my life was watching John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place on a 13.5” MacBook Pro screen with puffy $20 over-ear headphones.

Around the Pantheon: Non-cinema Cultural Criticism

Arctic Survival Stories and the Conclusion of the Anthropocene

And with humanity doomed, I think I understand the sixteen-man crew from Barentsz’s third voyage a little better.

No Gods Left Exclusive

A Stellar New Perspective on Modern Chinese Cinema

In his article “Why ‘The Chinese Cinema’?”, film critic Sean Gilman provides a thoughtful explanation for why he uses “cinema” as singular and not plural. For his purposes, it’s a reference to Andrew Sarris’s famous work “The American Cinema” and is not meant as a film critic'

Essays

Of Myths and Monster Hunters, Part 2: The Divine Player and Visual Theology in the Films of Paul W.S. Anderson

The following piece, using the theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher as a resource, is an auteur analysis of the visual grammar of Anderson’s films that argues his visuals invoke a sense of a “divine player” through their resemblance to the visual grammar of video games.

Essays

Of Myths and Monster Hunters, Part 1: Religion in the Films of Paul W.S. Anderson

His films evoke a sense of the divine. In particular, they invoke a feeling of utter dependence on a mysterious Other.

Essays

Glue that Holds ‘Game of Thrones’ Together: Masculinity and Eddard Stark

Typically, those who least resemble classical patriarchal manhood (however it’s defined) tend to fare better than the more typically patriarchal men.

Essays

A Feminine Kenosis in "Resident Evil: The Final Chapter"

It’s here, I think, where PWSA’s religious material is most radical.

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National Iconography in the Films of Two Chinese Directors

Two Chinas rest between Zhang and Jia.

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The Movie that Did it for Me: "Guardians of the Galaxy"

“What movie made you realize there is something more than what’s on the surface?” For me, the answer is Guardians of the Galaxy.

Essays

The Politics of China in the Films of Jia Zhangke

Jia Zhangke is one of the most important Chinese directors today. He won the Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival for Still Life, NPR critic John Powers called him “the most important filmmaker working in the world today,” and he took home the Best Screenplay award at the 2013 Cannes

Essays

30 countries, 30 movies, 30 days

This is adapted from my Letterboxd list, where I will be reviewing each movie that I watch. I’ve decided to curate a list of films from around the world that I haven’t seen to expand my intake of world cinema. This largely comes from my own conviction that