25 Years After: Die Hard, A Degenerative Retrospective
John McTiernan’s Die Hard opened twenty-five years ago to a mixed reception, receiving both popular praise and critical loathing.
Prometheus and the Complexities of Interpretivism
The critical reception for Prometheus has stimulated an interesting and extended discussions regarding the film’s synthesis of religion, science, and society.
Listening to The Conversation
Critics have missed some thematic points that are worth exploring to further illustrate the worthiness of Coppola’s still-undervalued character study.
Film Essay: The Natural Supernaturalism of the 13 Assassins
At a fundamental level, 13 Assassins dramatically illustrates the deadly nature of conflicting political loyalties.
The Psychology of a Narrative: The Hurt Locker
Recent discussions about The Hurt Locker illustrate the audience’s varying and conflicting needs regarding works of fiction.
Mythologizing Identity: The Lightning Thief
by David Ryan Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief is based on Rick Riordan’s first Percy Jackson novel, one of my ten-year old son's favorites. Because this series is aimed primarily at boys (Perseus is 12 years old in the first book), Riordan places aspects of classical mythology rather than philosophy at the …
DVD Reviews: Afghan Muscles and Bigger, Stronger, Faster
George Butler and Robert Fiore's Pumping Iron debuted 33 years ago, focusing on a number of bodybuilders, including Arnold Schwarzenegger. Because so few documentaries give us insight into an improbable kind of hyper-masculinized identity, briefly contextualizing two recent efforts with Butler and Fiore's film seems useful. Afghan Muscles and Bigger, Stronger, Faster: The Side Effects …
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Context and Re-Context: Star Wars in Concert
What is central to Lucas’s vision is the argument that boundaries (even ones set by tyrants) can be transcended if one has talent, nerve and higher aspirations.
The Phenomenology of Conspiracies: X-Files: I Want to Believe
At its most compelling, the series The X-Files problematized the nature of objectivity and reason.
DVD Review: Frontrunner: The Afghan Woman who Surprised the World
Frontrunner illustrates how a force of people are trying to change long-established cultural norms by altering social practices, and such changes begin with the freedom to act on one's personal beliefs.