80s nostalgia and how the 80s looked back in three films shown at TCMFF 2022: Somewhere in Time (1980), Diner (1982) and Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)
by Fiona Underhill, Contributor
The past can be a dangerous place – you can get lost there.
THE DUKE is a rare working-class British period drama
by Fiona Underhill, Contributor
While British period films and television shows are dime-a-dozen, international audiences are more used to experiencing the upper crust in things like The Crown and Downton Abbey.
MOTHERING SUNDAY leans into its period nature to show the fallout from WWI
by Fiona Underhill, Contributor
A film that is very much about the past and about memory.
Their "hour upon the stage" – the best and worst of 5 versions of MACBETH on screen
by Fiona Underhill, Contributor
With Joel Coen’s new adaptation of Macbeth coming to theaters on Christmas Day (and Apple TV+ on January 14), I’ve taken a look at some previous adaptations (and taken a look at the new one too) and I’m here to take you through their strengths and weaknesses.
The Colors of Henry James on Film
by Fiona Underhill, Contributor
We are lucky to have these interpretations of James’s words on the cinema screen.
THE OTHER LAMB is a paragon entry in the folk horror genre
by Fiona Underhill, Contributor
One of the best, but unfortunately underseen horror films about a cult, is Malgorzata Szumowska’s The Other Lamb (2019) starring Raffey Cassidy, Michiel Huisman and Denise Gough.
BODY HEAT at 40: a stark reminder that movies used to be for adults
by Fiona Underhill, Contributor
The 80s were the golden-age of the neo-noir, when they collided with the erotic thriller to combust into hot, steamy, passionate movies full of sex, sweat, sharp clothes, cigarette smoke, saxophone-soaked soundtracks and sultry femme fatales.
JURASSIC PARK has a secret weapon, and it's not dinosaurs
by Fiona Underhill, Staff Writer
Even more than the sense of spectacle and the warmth of the nostalgic glow - it’s the sharply funny and endlessly quotable dialogue.
McCabe & Mrs Miller at 50 (and why Robert Altman is the best director of the 1970s)
by Fiona Underhill, Contributor
Robert Altman is my director of the 70s and now that I’ve seen ten of his films from that decade, there really is no contest for me.
THE NEON DEMON as neon noir turns five
by Fiona Underhill, Contributor
2016 saw the release of two divisive and controversial LA neo-noirs which would provoke extreme love-hate reactions from audiences.
PEARL HARBOR at 20: Still not your dad's World War 2 movie
by Fiona Underhill, Contributor
There are two main reasons I love this film – the romance (and the fact that I was a university student with a HUGE crush on the film’s two male leads at the time Pearl Harbor was released) and because I love disaster movies.
Split Decision: A Dance With Dragons
In honor of Raya and the Last Dragon, who/what is your favorite on screen dragon?
Read MoreSpotlight on: 22 Black Directors to Watch
by Fiona Underhill, Contributor
Here are 22 Black directors to watch out for, and where to start.
MJ's Top Ten of 2020
by Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy
A couple weeks before the end of the year (and what a year it’s been), I asked everybody to list their top five movies that they’d seen so far. This is always a tough chore because people are trying to cram in the films they’d heard about but missed throughout the year and then there’s the Christmas Day releases that only a few people have seen by that point. This means that people will always look back at their list in a year or two and find things that they wish they would've included, but just hadn’t seen yet. I feel like this year has exacerbated that situation because everyone has had to settle into finding films through different avenues.
Here, I’ve compiled everyone’s rankings and responses to give the MovieJawn Top Ten for 2020.
Read MoreRunning Away to Join The Circus
The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) and Circus of Horrors (1960)
by Fiona Underhill
“The circus is a massive machine whose very life depends on discipline, motion and speed
— that meets calamity again and again, but always comes up smiling
— a place where disaster and tragedy stalk the Big Top and ride the circus train
— where Death is constantly watching for one frayed rope, one weak link, or one trace of fear.”
-from the start of Greatest Show on Earth
The notion of ‘running away to join the circus’ has been around for as long as circuses have. Leaving your troubles behind, perhaps assuming a new identity and starting with a fresh life certainly has its appeal. Especially in the 1950s, when the societal pressure to have the perfect job, house, family and consumer goods was high. Two films of this era feature medical doctors who make ‘mistakes’ – driven by either compassion or hubris – and assume new identities in traveling circuses. Doctors have one of the most respected positions in society and obviously one of enormous faith and trust, especially at this time, when it was much more common for doctors to make house calls. The idea of doctors betraying that trust would have been shocking, leading to shame and being ostracized from society. And who are a group of people already living on the fringes, as outcasts? Traveling groups of entertainers – theatrical troupes, circuses or those working for carnivals and fairs.
Read MoreWomen Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema (TCM Documentary)
Written and directed by Mark Cousins (in case there were any doubt)
Featuring Tilda Swinton, Adjoa Andoh, Jane Fonda and many others
Running time: nearly 7 hours for this first half and about 14 hours in total
Recap of Episodes 1-7
by Fiona Underhill
So - Mark Cousins’s 2011 15-part documentary The Story of Film (shown on TCM in 2013) took us through the entire history of cinema … and barely mentioned women directors… unless they were Leni Riefenstahl. Now he’s back again, to rectify that with a 14-part documentary with the unwieldy title of Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema, in which Cousins has the nerve to start by saying “film history has been sexist by omission.” Surely the little ladies can’t possibly complain this time? Well.
Read MoreThe Burnt Orange Heresy
Directed by Giuseppe Capotondi
Starring Elizabeth Debicki, Donald Sutherland and Claes Bang
Running time: 1 hour and 39 minutes
MPAA rating: R for some sexual content/nudity, language, drug use and violence
by Fiona Underhill
When watching the new art forgery flick The Burnt Orange Heresy, I guess the first alarm bells start ringing when you realize that the wonderfully tall and talented 30 year old Elizabeth Debicki’s male co-stars are Claes Bang (aged 53), Mick Jagger (aged 77) and Donald Sutherland (aged 85). All three of them flirt with her (at minimum) or have a sexual relationship with her (in the case of Bang). Things become worse when it dawns on you that everyone except Sutherland are miscast, in some cases to a severe degree.
Read MoreNow Presenting: Moviejawn's Summer 2020 Issue
by Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy
Greetings movie friends! As I’m sure most of you know, in addition to our website which mostly covers new movie reviews, we also make a quarterly print zine. I thought it’d be fun to give everyone a quick glance at all the films that are covered in our most recent issue (which focuses on circuses, carnivals and fairs) and where you can find them. Step right up! to follow the links for the titles and it’ll take you to a listing of where it can be found (mostly powered by JustWatch.com).
Read MoreThe Shadow of Violence
Directed by Nick Rowland
Starring Cosmo Jarvis, Barry Keoghan and Liam Carney
Running time: 1 hour and 40 minutes
MPAA rating: R for some strong violence, pervasive language, drug use and brief nudity
by Fiona Underhill
“Don’t go thinking that all violence is the work of hateful men, sometimes it’s just the way a fella makes sense of his world.”
Having already gone through a fairly extensive festival run under the name Calm with Horses, this Irish independent film has had a name change for US release. The two titles are interesting because they reflect both sides of the coin that make up protagonist Arm’s life. There is his family life, made up of his estranged partner Ursula (Niamh Algar) and autistic son Jack (Kiljan Moroney), who does horse therapy sessions with Rob (Anthony Welsh). But ex-boxer Arm (Cosmo Jarvis) lives under the constant shadow of violence because of his best friend Dympna (Barry Keoghan) and his whole family of Devers, including uncles Paudi (Ned Dennehy) and Hector (David Wilmot), who form some kind of drug-dealing Irish mafia. Arm is the ‘arm of the law’ for the Devers family, a ‘heavy’ who is content with roughing up a few wrong’uns in return for cash. But when they want him to go further, it inevitably leads to problems.
Read MoreHelmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful
Directed by Gero von Boehm
Featuring Grace Jones, Charlotte Rampling, Isabella Rossellini and Catherine Deneuve
Running time: 1 hour and 33 minutes
by Fiona Underhill
Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful is the latest documentary to come to the Kino Marquee platform, which has been a wonderful way to access arthouse cinema and support independent theaters during lockdown. Some narrative highlights have included Ken Loach’s Sorry We Missed You, Bacurau, Beanpole, Abel Ferrara’s Tommaso, House of Hummingbird and Atom Egoyan’s Guest of Honour. Some documentary highlights have included The Woman who Loves Giraffes, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint and Denise Ho: Becoming the Song.
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