Tag: Film
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Read “Blake Edwards’s ‘Experiment in Terror’ (1962)” in The Brooklyn Rail
I’m thrilled to publish a piece in The Brooklyn Rail involving five of my favorite subjects: film noir, Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch, Lana Del Rey, and the LA Dodgers. Check out my essay on the influential film noir, “Experiment in Terror” (1962) here. Thanks for reading!
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Read “The Snyder Cut’s homage to Jack Kirby’s ‘Fourth World’ mythos” on Medium
After a long hiatus, I’m bringing back my Medium movie blog. Join me each week as I try to keep up with HBO Max / Warner Bros. releases! This week I spoke with literary scholar David Ting about the inspiration for “Zack Snyder’s Justice League,” which draws heavily from Jack Kirby’s “Fourth World” stories. You…
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Listen to “THX 1138 and the Career of George Lucas” episode on the Film at Fifty podcast
50 years ago this week, the film career of George Lucas began with the visually dazzling sci-fi film THX-1138. Brian Rowe was generous enough to invite me back on his podcast to discuss THX-1138 and the influential career of George Lucas. I do also go out on a limb and suggest that The Phantom Menace…
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Listen to “Mank and the Career of David Fincher” on the “Film at Fifty” podcast
This past week I had the privilege of discussing the new Netflix film, “Mank,” and the career of director David Fincher on the “Film at Fifty” podcast. “Mank” is the story of Herman Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman), the screenwriter of “Citizen Kane,” based on a script written by Jack Fincher, David Fincher’s late father. This episode,…
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“Film at Fifty” Podcast Episode: “I Never Sang for My Father”
I want to thank Brian Rowe for inviting me as a guest on his new cinema history podcast, “Film at Fifty,” which spotlights films which came out fifty years ago on the day. This week we discussed “I Never Sang for My Father,” an obscure, Oscar-nominated Gene Hackman movie about death and aging (as well…
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Read “The Rise of Skywalker’s Story Problem” on Medium
Two years ago, I wrote The Last Jedi had a ‘snark problem,’ a critique that resonated with more than 10k readers and was featured as an audio story (!). Well, this time The Rise of Skywalker has a ‘story problem’—a cavalier attitude toward storytelling that renders the movie into a series of cheap workarounds which…
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Read: “Misinformation Cinema” on Medium
At last week’s “Writers for Migrant Justice” event in Reno, I presented an essay I’d been thinking about writing for a long time, explaining why Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018) is an irresponsible film. Since I watched that film for the first time, the news has made the film more relevant as an example of…
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Read “Seven sci-fi models for the Space Force” on Medium
On August 9, Vice President Mike Pence announced that the U.S. will proceed with President Trump’s plan to create the United States Space Force, the sixth branch of the U.S. military. As you might guess, the announcement was met with controversy. It’s a good thing that we have so many sci-fi stories that have considered…
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Two ‘Solo’–themed posts now on Medium
In honor of the theatrical release of Solo: A Star Wars Story, I’ve posted two relevant blog posts on Medium. The first is “Other ‘Star Wars’ stories yet to be told,” a humor article detailing speculative treatments of other potential Star Wars spinoff films. The second is my review of Solo: A Star Wars Story: “With ‘Solo,’ Star Wars…
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Read “In ‘Barry,’ tragedy masquerades as comedy” on Medium
As an assassin-turned-aspiring actor, Bill Hader ‘killed it’ in Season 1 of HBO’s new comedy series, ‘Barry’. If you watch or are interested in ‘Barry’, check out my review on Medium. For more of my reviews and blog posts, visit https://medium.com/@harrisonblackman. *** Featured Image: Photo by Paul Garaizar on Unsplash.