Cinema - Quillette (Page 4)

The Western Reinvented. Again.

It has been 30 years since a Western last won the Best Picture Oscar at the Academy Awards. That was in 1992 and the film was Unforgiven, directed by Clint Eastwood, who also starred in it alongside Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman, and Richard Harris. On Sunday, Jane Campion’s The

Kevin Mims

25 Mar 2022 · 9 min read

Fatal Vision: Joel Coen’s ‘Macbeth’

In Shakespeare’s play, the Weïrd Sisters undoubtedly spur Macbeth toward evil by tempting him toward his dark ambition.

Marilyn Simon

19 Jan 2022 · 8 min read

In Toronto's Weirdest Cinema, a Portrait of the Artist I'd Never Become

You’ve probably heard of the Toronto International Film Festival, which, before the pandemic, was annually attracting almost 500,000 attendees. But you’ve probably never heard of Toronto’s equally venerable Cineforum, whose weekly attendance has usually been closer to five. The Cineforum is an indie theatre run by

Adam Zivo

18 Jan 2022 · 9 min read

B.S. Moss and the Dawn of the Movie-Palace Era

Although the vaudeville circuits would last through the 1920s, the way was now paved for impressive purpose-built movie houses with proper lighting and sound that would exhibit first-rate popular entertainment to general audiences.

Charles B. Moss Jr. and Jonathan Kay

23 Dec 2021 · 16 min read

Brutal and Unreformed

Sam Peckinpah’s ‘Straw Dogs’ at 50.

Charlotte Allen

15 Dec 2021 · 33 min read

In Praise of the Novelization—Pop Fiction's Least Reputable Genre

This month brings us the release of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. No, not the film. That came out in 2019. But now HarperCollins is publishing a novelization, written by Tarantino himself, and based on the earlier film. This particular type of fiction—the bastard offspring

Kevin Mims

28 Jun 2021 · 20 min read

When Norman Jewison Turned His Camera on the Ultimate Superstar

Jewison, by contrast, had found himself both “curiously moved” and “flooded with exciting visual images” upon first hearing the album.

Ira Wells

3 Jun 2021 · 12 min read

Remembering John Ball, the Writer Who Gave Us Virgil Tibbs

Sidney Poitier, who retired from acting 20 years ago, turned in many unforgettable screen performances over a career that spanned the entire second half of the 20th century. But his best known is almost certainly his portrayal of police officer Virgil Tibbs, the protagonist of Norman Jewison’s 1967 film

Kevin Mims

27 Apr 2021 · 20 min read

'Allen v. Farrow': Intellectually Dishonest Propaganda Meets Emotional Blackmail

There is no doubt that part of the goal of Allen v. Farrow was to finish off both Allen’s career and his legacy by presenting a definitive guilty verdict in the court of public opinion.

Cathy Young

28 Mar 2021 · 26 min read

Before 'Groundhog Day': The Time-Loop Novel that Started It All

On March 4th, the Ringer, a website that covers pop culture, featured an article entitled “We’re in a Time Loop of Time-Loop Movies.” Similar articles have appeared in many other pop-culture venues of late. Suddenly, time-loop stories seem to be everywhere. This month Hulu began streaming director Joe Carnahan’

Kevin Mims

18 Mar 2021 · 11 min read

Struggling with Pixar’s 'Soul'

If heaven needs to be segregated, what hope does Earth have?

Colm O'Shea

12 Feb 2021 · 12 min read

Carl Th. Dreyer's 'Day of Wrath' and the Power of the Punished

It is difficult to believe in heaven, but it is also difficult not to believe in a heaven.

Matthew Wardour

3 Feb 2021 · 7 min read

Ray Russell's Incubus: A Lost Gem from America's Twentieth Decade

Hard as it might be to believe, the years that stretched from roughly 1967 through the bicentennial year of 1976 brought even more foment, outrage, unrest, and upheaval to America than the most recent decade has managed. The escalation of the Vietnam War, the student protests against that war, the

Kevin Mims

13 Jan 2021 · 15 min read

Tennessee Williams and Woody Allen: Kindred Spirits to Illuminate our Tragicomic Existence

Allen and Williams are united by a sensibility that can be described as tragicomic, even if each inflects it differently.

Paul Hawkins

8 Jan 2021 · 8 min read

The Hustler and the Queen

NOTE: This essay contains spoilers. The surprise success of the Netflix miniseries The Queen’s Gambit has brought me a great deal of delight—I’m a longtime fan of both the novel and its author, Walter Tevis. Just this summer, I wrote an essay about all the great American

Kevin Mims

4 Dec 2020 · 14 min read