By - Gareth Jones For fans of Christian Bale, Edgar Allan Poe, American Folk Horror Murder Mystery Former actor Scott Cooper has now written and directed six films.  Three of those have starred Christian Bale.  As he has done with other directors, Bale works best when he has a strong collaborative relationship.  That is certainly the case with Cooper.  Starting with Out of the Furnace in 2013, continuing with Hostiles […]

By - Gareth Jones For fans of Agnès Varda, short travel documentaries, poetic cinema Planning a trip to the beach or to the country? Schools are finally out and summer vacations have begun.  My daughters are fortunate to be going on a trip to France with their school.  I have never been to France so being the film professor, I immediately thought about getting them ready by watching some French […]

By - Gareth Jones For fans of newspaper/journalism dramas, the origins of fake news, indie film supporting casts extraordinaire Released 20 years ago in 2003, Shattered Glass is worthy of being discovered or re-evaluated.  The first film directed by successful writer Billy Ray (who has a varied resume as a writer including The Hunger Games, Flightplan, Overlord, and Captain Phillips) it tells the true story of the rise and fall […]

By - Gareth Jones For fans of Kelly Reichardt, films about the artistic process, films that explore female friendship and family relationships, slow burn emotional films Kelly Reichardt and Michelle Williams have now made four films together.  Starting in 2008 with Wendy and Lucy (a devastatingly powerful film) then moving to the Western Meek’s Cutoff in 2010, then on to the adaptation of three short stories Certain Women in 2016, […]

By - Gareth Jones For fans of Ari Aster, personal psychological examinations in the form of art, experimental narratives, hallucinogenic and psychedelic movies without the drugs, challenging art As you can see from that list, this film pushes the audience to extremes including lengthy lists of comparisons. It has already polarized audiences and critics alike and will most likely be a substantial financial loss. Ari Aster has become synonymous with […]

By - Gareth Jones For fans of Memento, Guy Pearce, meta-narratives, mystery novels This week’s film is not going to win any awards.  It is not a brilliant film.  I watched it for one reason and one reason only, Guy Pearce. I must admit first that I would watch Guy Pearce wash his laundry and find it fascinating.  He is one of those actors who is always excellent and can […]

By - Gareth Jones For fans of David Lynch, The Wizard of Oz, film history, directors talking about other directors Lynch/ Oz makes a very strong case that not only is The Wizard of Oz the most influential film for David Lynch but in many ways is even more influential than Citizen Kane for all of film history. I often introduce Citizen Kane to my students when I teach it […]