By - Gareth Jones For fans of tense dramas based on real life, The Abyss, Woody Harrelson March remains an odd time of year for movies.  In the “ancient” past, there used to be a time when studios would dump films that they were not happy with and wanted to just get shown so that they could be released on home media.  Now, it seems like the studios are still […]

By - Gareth Jones For fans of Jeff Nichols, Tom Hardy, Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, and the history of Bikers in America Jeff Nichols has now made six feature films, many focusing on stories in the South, his birthplace.  He is one of the finest Southern filmmakers working today and perhaps (time will tell) one of the best Southern filmmakers in cinema history.  He has explored race, violence, the environment, […]

By - Gareth Jones For fans of RaMell Ross, Colson Whitehead. Innovative and challenging black stories Colson Whitehead now has two incredible adaptations of his books. In 2021, Barry Jenkins tackled the monumental Underground Railroad with a mini-series.  Now, RaMell Ross has adapted The Nickel Boys and it is one of 2024’s best films.  This is a remarkable achievement as it is only his second feature film and first narrative […]

By - Gareth Jones For fans of German Expressionism,  early examples of Gothic Cinema, Comedic Horror genre I am currently teaching a course on Gothic Cinema, and I must confess that I had never seen a version of The Cat and the Canary before teaching the class. We all have blindspots in our viewing and sadly this was one of mine. I have now rectified that by watching and assigned […]

By - Gareth Jones For fans of Jacques Demy and Michel Legrand, French New Wave, Musicals Most of the time, attention that is given to the French New Wave is focused on Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut.  They both were and are crucial to that movement, but it is also important to dive into other works from that era.  I speak to myself as much as anyone here.  In my […]

By - Gareth Jones For fans of Aubrey Plaza, coming-of-age stories, comedies that make you think Megan Park is a surprising writer/director.  I say this out of my own bias.  She is a Canadian former teenage actor who starred in shows on Disney and ABC Family.  In addition, she was in a band with Brandi Cyrus.  Not where you would typically expect an independent witty writer/director to emerge from, but […]

By - Gareth Jones For fans of family drama, Dogme 95, Danish films On March 13, 1995, at a celebratory conference honoring 100 years of cinema, Lars Von Trier revealed the Dogme Manifesto.  Four Danish directors were part of this original group that developed the manifesto that included the Vows of Chastity.  The ten rules that must be followed included that the film be shot hand-held, no genre films, location […]

By - Gareth Jones For fans of redemption stories, real-life inspiration stories, Colman Domingo Working in the Office of Service-Learning and Undergraduate Research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, I have had the privilege to participate in the Donaldson Lecture Series, a 30 plus year program where professors and staff give lectures to incarcerated men at the Donaldson Correctional Facility.  I have had some of my most meaningful discussions […]

By - Gareth Jones For fans of Hugh Grant, thoughtful horror, theological discussions Growing up in Utah as a non-Mormon, I was still surrounded by and enveloped in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Most of my friends were members of “the church” as it was called, and I even played church basketball on a regular basis until my teens.  My mother’s side of the family was also […]