Cinema - Quillette (Page 4)

Getting Fletch Wrong

Jon Hamm’s portrayal is an improvement on Chevy Chase’s goofball routine, but still bears little relation to the amoral cad in Gregory McDonald’s novels.

Kevin Mims

23 Sep 2022 · 16 min read

Adult Fantasy of Youth

A look back at Bertolucci’s 2003 film, The Dreamers.

Marilyn Simon

18 Aug 2022 · 13 min read

“I Believe in America”

Fifty Years of ‘The Godfather‘

Graham Daseler

22 Jul 2022 · 14 min read

Undiminished by Decadence

I grew up in the 1960s and ’70s and I’m happy to report that, for the most part, television and mainstream cinema today are orders of magnitude better than they were in my salad days.

Kevin Mims

20 May 2022 · 15 min read

Art Is Not Therapy

Something is flattened when our understanding of art is asked to serve the logic of a medical diagnosis, which sees the messiness of the human condition as a malady to be cured.

Jasmine Hu-Hollingshead

12 May 2022 · 11 min read

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