Review by practicing zoologist Thorn Chen Here’s something better and a bit more terrifying than CGI monsters: the screen flashes red when Marnie, the female lead played by Tippi Hedren, sees a bouquet of red flowers in a vase. From there on, your muscles tighten every time you see a… Continue reading
Review by Trylon volunteer Peter Schilling How I wish that viewers new to Orson Welles’ masterpiece, Citizen Kane, could see it without ever having heard that it was “the Greatest Film Ever Made”, as I had in my youth. In a story I’ve undoubtedly shared way too many times, I… Continue reading
Review by Trylon volunteer Dave Berglund In the movies, first impressions are sacrosanct. Young lovers can throw their entire lives into turmoil to pursue with abandon someone they just met and we as viewers are so accustomed to this that we many times approvingly nod along without a second thought…. Continue reading
Our Wachowski series wraps up Monday and Tuesday with the filmmaking duo’s most controversial effort, 2008’s Speed Racer. Audiences and critics alike waved the black flag at it on its initial release, but over the years it’s gained a small but vocal group of defenders. To understand Speed Racer… Continue reading
Back in the 1990s a VHS copy of Volker Schlondorff’s The Tin Drum kicked around the foreign film section of my local video store, but for the longest time I didn’t rent it. The picture on the box showed the film’s protagonist Oskar (David Bennant) banging on a drum and… Continue reading
Review by Trylon volunteer Caty Rent. Originally written as a graphic novel in 1988 by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, V for Vendetta was translated for the screen in 2006 by the Wachowskis. Although the material differs and some of the characters change greatly, the film version still has… Continue reading
At first glance, Little Fugitive (1953) doesn’t look like much. It’s the story of a couple of latchkey kids in 1950s New York: Lenny and his 7-year-old kid brother Joey. When their mother needs to visit a sick relative overnight, Lenny is left in charge. But he’s really too young to take… Continue reading
The Wachowski’s debut feature Bound ducked in and out of theaters pretty quickly back in 1996, but it’s one of those movies that couldn’t remain obscure for long. People kept talking about it. It was sleek and confident and shimmering with the distinctive visual smarts and storytelling élan that would… Continue reading
Review by Tyrell Corporation prototype Aaron Vehling I was drinking at a bar in my neighborhood one night when a woman who might be a highly sophisticated, genetically engineered cyborg (no spoilers) took my IPA out of my hand, drank some of it, and then asked if she could have… Continue reading
Review by Trylon volunteer Dave Berglund In the decade following the release and subsequent canonization of The Matrix, the film was regularly referenced as a key discussion text for the intersection of film and existential philosophy. Five years after the film’s theatrical run, I keenly remember seeing images from… Continue reading
