The 1920’s were the culmination of the greatest wave of immigration in American history in which more than 25 million people arrived, mostly from Southern and Eastern Europe, to escape the aftermath of the Great War and its resulting poverty and oppression, or simply to embrace the promise of the “American Dream.” Many of these…
It is not uncommon to experience a false sense of enlightenment when confined or placed into a stressful setting. You don’t always necessarily understand your surroundings or know how you arrived there, but you will, nonetheless, attempt to find meaning in the situation and overcome. Eugenio Mira’s Grand Piano tries for such an effect. The…
Riccardo Paoletti is no stranger to the magic of Fellini. Once upon a time in 2006, the director presented a story of black and white, “Dailies” (In coda ai titoli), about crewmembers who worked at the legendary Cinecittà in the sixties. Paoletti’s latest project, Neverlake, captures a touch of Fellini’s magical realism and blends it…
Science-fiction fans are no strangers to tales of artificial intelligence, and even the average film-goer has had his share of computers gone wild. These films range from thought-provoking and thrilling (films like “The Matrix,” “2001: A Space Odyssey”) to enjoyably fun and entertaining (I’m thinking of “War Games” and “The Terminator”) to downright awful and…
Denis Villeneuve knows the truth: Spiders are evil. And now he’s made an entire movie about this. It’s hard to say whether Villeneuve is a genuine arachnophobe or just not a fan of the definitive creepy-crawly creatures, but his deliciously bleak head-trip thriller Enemy is absolutely littered with them. The arachnids are up to no…
The gruff male character is sitting in his car on his own, drinking alcohol, looking at a picture of his young daughter, because this shows that he’s haunted by personal tragedies. If that wasn’t enough, he suspiciously regards the people around him as he walks through the airport. Just in case this makes him too…
I’m a horror fan who teaches high school English, so a side effect of those combined characteristics is my knowledge of young adult (YA) fiction, and usually the darker stuff at that. I’ve read all of the Harry Potter, Twilight, and Hunger Games books like most people, and I’ve come away with mixed reactions (typically,…
