Teaching Film Censorship

By erik, on November 9th, 2010%

In the last few weeks, I have given a few lectures on the Hays Code to film classes, and in one class we watched This Film Is Not Yet Rated, a film revealing the secrecy and inconsistencies of  the MPAA rating system.  After reading the “General Principles” of the Hays Code, I ask students what they . . . → Read More: Teaching Film Censorship

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Inception and spectatorship

By erik, on August 10th, 2010%

Inception, a brilliant and entertaining film, continues a trajectory begun by many others of the past decade or so (Nolan’s own Memento, Dark City, The Matrix, Strange Days, etc.). These films blur the boundaries between the real and the imaginary, the (mis)remembered, or the purely mediated, and Inception is no exception, which makes it, frankly, not . . . → Read More: Inception and spectatorship

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Watchmen again

By erik, on March 23rd, 2009%

I watched the Watchmen again last night, and I can now make a correction and an observation. First the correction. The shot I mention a couple posts earlier with the blimp moving towards the WTC is in the background of Ozymandias’s office. He is giving a speech that starts: “The conflict with the Soviets is . . . → Read More: Watchmen again

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I just randomized my Netflix queue

By erik, on March 11th, 2008%

and it feels so refreshing.

I just logged into Netflix and noticed a lot of changes due to badsegue’s  Netflix Queue Manager, a Greasemonkey script I had forgotten I had installed. The script changes the appearance of the queue, and lets you shuffle or reverse the queue, as well as sort by genre, availiability, star, . . . → Read More: I just randomized my Netflix queue

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Long takes in two movies

By erik, on February 11th, 2008%

I’ve been thinking about why I hated Atonement so much, and why so many people don’t. Part of it is what I take to be its incompleteness. A thwarted love story turns into a meandering, half-done war movie, tied together or torn apart, apparently, by a little girl’s dishonesty, which I failed to bring myself to care . . . → Read More: Long takes in two movies

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Media sites

By erik, on February 7th, 2008%

I have been mulling over a project for awhile now that would basically serve to put together film, media, digital technology theory sites, blogs and resources all in one place. Not only a list of resources, which would be part of it, but also perhaps a running feed of blogs, news and whatever else. I . . . → Read More: Media sites

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WGA Strike

By erik, on November 6th, 2007%

So the much anticipated Writers Guild of America strike has started. I don’t have much to say about it right now, but there is a twitter feed that will keep you abreast of developments. That’s where I found this USA Today article featuring Tina Fey and Sth Meyers on a picket line.

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