• Alan J. Pakula – Klute (1971)

    USA1971-1980Alan J. PakulaFilm NoirThriller

    “With her Oscar-winning turn in Klute, Jane Fonda reinvented herself as a new kind of movie star. Bringing nervy audacity and counterculture style to the role of Bree Daniels—a call girl and aspiring actor who becomes the focal point of a missing-person investigation when detective John Klute (Donald Sutherland) turns up at her door—Fonda made the film her own, putting an independent woman and escort on-screen with a frankness that had not yet been attempted in Hollywood. Suffused with paranoia by the conspiracy-thriller specialist Alan J. Pakula, and lensed by master cinematographer Gordon Willis, Klute is a character study thick with dread, capturing the mood of early-1970s New York and the predicament of a woman trying to find her own way on the fringes of society.”Read More »

  • Nathan Andersen – Shadow Philosophy: Plato’s Cave and Cinema (2014)

    2011-2020BooksNathan AndersenUSA

    Ebook: 172 pages
    Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (April 17, 2014)
    Language: English
    eISBN: 978-1-315-81490-2

    Shadow Philosophy: Plato’s Cave and Cinema is an accessible and exciting new contribution to film-philosophy, which shows that to take film seriously is also to engage with the fundamental questions of philosophy. Nathan Andersen brings Stanley Kubrick’s film A Clockwork Orange into philosophical conversation with Plato’s Republic, comparing their contributions to themes such as the nature of experience and meaning, the character of justice, the contrast between appearance and reality, the importance of art, and the impact of images.Read More »

  • David LaRocca – The Philosophy of War Films (2014)

    2011-2020BooksDavid LaRoccaUSA

    Series: Philosophy Of Popular Culture
    Ebook: 492 pages
    Publisher: University Press of Kentucky (December 4, 2014)
    Language: English
    eISBN: 978-0-8131-4512-9

    Wars have played a momentous role in shaping the course of human history. The ever-present specter of conflict has made it an enduring topic of interest in popular culture, and many movies, from Hollywood blockbusters to independent films, have sought to show the complexities and horrors of war on-screen.Read More »

  • Charles Bennett – Hitchcock’s Partner in Suspense: The Life of Screenwriter Charles Bennett (2014)

    2011-2020Alfred HitchcockBooksCharles BennettUSA

    Series: Screen Classics
    Ebook: 328 pages
    Publisher: University Press of Kentucky; 1st edition (March 26, 2014)
    Language: English
    eISBN: 978-0-8131-4480-1

    With a career that spanned from the silent era to the 1990s, British screenwriter Charles Bennett (1899–1995) lived an extraordinary life. His experiences as an actor, director, playwright, film and television writer, and novelist in both England and Hollywood left him with many amusing anecdotes, opinions about his craft, and impressions of the many famous people he knew. Among other things, Bennett was a decorated WWI hero, an eminent Shakespearean actor, and an Allied spy and propagandist during WWII, but he is best remembered for his commercially and critically acclaimed collaborations with directors Sir Alfred Hitchcock and Cecil B. DeMille.Read More »

  • Ruth Barton – Rex Ingram: Visionary Director of the Silent Screen (2014)

    2001-2010BooksRuth BartonUSA

    Series: Screen Classics
    Ebook: 328 pages
    Publisher: University Press of Kentucky (October 13, 2014)
    Language: English
    eISBN: 978-0-8131-4711-6

    Noted for his charisma, talent, and striking good looks, director Rex Ingram (1893−1950) is ranked alongside D. W. Griffith, Marshall Neilan, and Erich von Stroheim as one of the greatest artists of the silent cinema. Ingram briefly studied sculpture at the Yale University School of Art after emigrating from Ireland to the United States in 1911; but he was soon seduced by the new medium of moving pictures and abandoned his studies for a series of jobs in the film industry. Over the next decade, he became one of the most popular directors in Hollywood, directing smash hits such as The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), The Prisoner of Zenda (1922), and Scaramouche (1923).Read More »

  • José Ramón Larraz – Vampyres (1974)

    1971-1980EroticaHorrorJosé Ramón LarrazQueer Cinema(s)United Kingdom

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    “The 1970’s was the decade of the gothic lesbian vampire film. The exploitation efforts of Jean Rollin (LIPS OF BLOOD), Jess Franco (VAMPYROS LESBOS), and Hammer (LUST FOR A VAMPIRE) were enormously popular at the time. These films successfully combined the fear of death and eroticism, which struck a cord with male audiences. Many of the films merely hinted at the overt sexuality, and most never fully explored the sexual aspects of the genre’s premise. That all changed in 1974, when upstart Spanish director Jose Ramon Larrez (or Joe as he is called stateside) raised the bar with the ultimate depiction of sex and horror, VAMPYRES. Larrez teamed with producer Brian Smedley-Astin to film their adult vampire epic in England. By the time VAMPYRES was released there, the censors cut out most of the offensive scenes, castrating the power of this artsy exploitation picture. Luckily when the film played the Drive-In circuit in America (as DAUGHTERS OF DRACULA), we got to see what the British audience didn’t–powerful sex trysts and disturbing death scenes. Thanks to Larrez’s scripting and directing skills, VAMPYRES rose to top of its genre. Today, VAMPYRES is a highly regarded classic in Euro horror-circles, and rightly so…Read More »

  • Penny Woolcock – The Principles of Lust (2003)

    2001-2010DramaPenny WoolcockUnited Kingdom

    Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Synopsis:
    Crippled by his writer’s block, Paul enters into a new, exciting relationship with risk-taking Billy and super-sexy Juliette. As it becomes increasingly tangled, however, he must choose one of them over the other.

    Jamie Russell, bbc.co.uk wrote:
    “Likely to cause a stir because of its explicit scenes of orgies and coke snorting, what really separates The Principles Of Lust from the crowd is its edgy, dark atmosphere that combines conventional Hollywood thrillers about sociopaths – eg. Fight Club, Bad Influence – with a distinctly British, rough and ready feel.Read More »

  • Claude Gagnon – Keiko (1979)

    1971-1980Claude GagnonDramaJapanQueer Cinema(s)Romance

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Keiko is a 23-year-old lonely virgin who lives in a tiny room, and hopes to meet someone in the cafe she frequents. After a bad affair with one of the other diners, she vows to give up men. She then begins a happy lesbian relationship with her co-worker Kazuyo. However she is under constant pressure from her father to marry.Read More »

  • Alexandre Stockler – Cama de Gato AKA Cat’s Cradle (2002)

    2001-2010Alexandre StocklerBrazilDramaThriller

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Three young hedonistic sociopaths find themselves in deep, deep trouble in Alexandre Stockler’s ugly 2002 teen drama Cat’s Cradle. Longtime pals and recent high school graduates Gabriel (Cainan Baladez), Cristiano (Caio Blat), and Francisco (Rodrigo Bolzan) are all from privileged Sao Paulo households, and as such, spend the vast majority of their time seeking entertainment in any way, shape, or form. The depths of their depravity become fully apparent when the trio captures and gang rapes a young woman — who dies in the midst of this horrific crime. In a panic, the gang of rapists/murderers try to cover up their crime and quickly discover that the cover-up is oftentimes more egregious than the initial crime, with more death and mayhem following suit. Cat’s Cradle marked the first film of the newly formed TRAUMA (Trying to Realize Anything Urgently and with a Minimum of Audacity) school of filmmaking, a so-called “ironic Latin American response to Dogma 95” co-founded by director Stockler. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie GuideRead More »

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