The scene outside my apartment window has become a familiar vista over the past few mornings. It’s just turned 6:00 am on a Thursday, and a thick haze of dust has quilted the entire city like a music video from the 80s. I half expect Meatloaf to come cruising down the street on a tricked …
Anyone growing into pop culture consciousness during the mid-2000s will be familiar with a certain type of Tom Cruise, one labeled with some criticism in a recent Buzzfeed article as “Tom Cruise 2.0.” To them, Tom Cruise may have first become familiar as Ethan Hunt in the first Mission: Impossible movie, as an action star who, in spite of fearful insurance agents and publicists, prefers to do his own stunts—especially if they include declaring maniacal love for Katie Holmes atop Oprah Winfrey’s couch. He was probably their first introduction to the alien world of Scientology, or perhaps already known as the face of another hero thrust into the supernatural, having once served as the model for the titular character in Disney’s Aladdin.
In the late 1970s and 1980s, composer Giorgio Moroder was often accused of trying to replace the orchestral movie soundtrack with high-energy, synthesizer-heavy disco pop laid on with a trowel in movies like Thank God It’s Friday (1978), Flashdance (1983), Scarface (1983), and Top Gun (1986). I remember a magazine story on Moroder which quoted …
Tony Scott, one of Hollywood’s most marginalized auteurs and easily one of the most exciting presences in that market, died recently of suicide. But this particular obituary will be less a mourning and more a celebration of his artistry. This artistry sharply divided critics and audiences alike, more specifically in the last 10 years of …
I’ve always been a war film buff, maybe because I grew up with them at a time when they were a regular part of the cinema landscape. That’s why I read, with particular interest, my Sound on Sight colleague Edgar Chaput’s recent pieces on The Flowers of War (“The Flowers of War Is an Uneven …
Future Cinema, the creators of Secret Cinema, announced two very special film experiences in partnership with California Tourism. “California Classics” will see 80s cult classics The Lost Boys (Saturday 3rd September) and Top Gun (Sunday 4th September) brought to life as Future Cinema transforms a secret site along the banks of the River Thames into …
They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, neither shall they learn war any more. Isaiah 2:4 War is a nation’s ultimate commitment of blood and treasure. As such, the stories a people tells about its wars – and don’t tell …
At a time of the year that’s all about picking the best of the best among movies, it seems singularly appropriate to talk to someone whose year-round profession is assaying the good and the bad up on the big screen. “I’m one of the few people on the paper who’s never had a journalism class, …