Has the Video Essay Arrived?
posted March 15, 2017
Publications in both film criticism and academic film studies have historically been in writing, but as affordable lightweight cameras and digital film-editing tools increasingly have put video production into the hands of anyone, that has been changing.
FilmStruck, a Streaming Service for “Film Nerds”
posted October 20, 2016
To the growing stable of online, streaming film services, add one more – one that the Wall Street Journal has dubbed “Netflix for film nerds.” FilmStruck, a collaboration of Turner Classic Movies and the Criterion Collection, at least initially available only in the US, will emphasize art and cult films from independent film companies, but will also offer some Hollywood studio products.
Restoring the One-Eyed with Blinkers On: The Curious Case of Marlon Brando’s Muddled Apprenticepiece
posted August 24, 2016
"One-Eyed Jacks" was the only film Marlon Brando directed, and he made it, in 1961, only because he and a young Stanley Kubrick, its intended director, had so many “creative differences” that Brando decided he would take on the job, himself. Now the film has been lavishly restored, and its oddness can be gauged anew.
Apu Trilogy: Revived from Flames
posted December 28, 2015
Even at the time of Satjajit Ray’s death in 1992, aged 70, the films of the astonishing “Apu Trilogy” were in sad shape, to their maker’s great regret. The original prints had been so badly damaged that they had risked being thrown out. Their resurrection, now, in a 4K digital restoration, is a remarkable event in film restoration.