Films

The revolution introduced me to art, and art, in its own turn, brought me to the revolution.

Sergei Eisenstein

Wednesday, 20 October 2021 10:53

Our Imaginary Arizonas: John Ford’s Stagecoach

Written by Ciaran O Rourke

in Films

“All aboard for Lordsburg!”, my Dad used to shout. Immediately, my sister and I would scramble out to the garden to take our seats in the creaking, rust-spattered swing-set planted there, which our parents (playing the part of the workhorses) would push and pull, as we began the journey through…

Wednesday, 06 October 2021 12:20

“We’s Who’s the Earth is For”: Storm Visions

Written by Ciaran O Rourke

in Films

Ciarán O’Rourke reviews Take Shelter and Beasts of the Southern Wild A decade ago I began to form a habit that in the intervening years has evolved into a strange passion: going to the cinema, and watching movies, alone! Two films in particular, from those early days, seemed so urgent…

Beasts of the Southern Wild Take Shelter Parasite James Baldwin

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Friday, 24 September 2021 12:16

Sleepless Nights

in Films

Written by Ciaran O Rourke

As the predicted and real-time effects of climate change grow more dire by the day, and Covid-19 continues to devastate the world’s most impoverished (predominantly black and brown) populations, due in large measure to a commercially oriented global vaccine regime, the prospects for communal life, collective liberty, and non-coercive happiness…

The Big Sleep The Asphalt Jungle The Big Heat

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Thursday, 19 August 2021 07:38

Epicentro

in Films

Written by Cameron Speller

Cameron Speller reviews Epicentro Hubert Sauper’s documentary Epicentro, explores the realities, the lies and the people that live in Havana, Cuba. Metaphorically, Sauper captures Cuba’s culture, politics, and its history as it exists today within the definition of the word ‘utopia’; an ideal place that does not exist. The film…

Che Guevara Fidel Castro

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Monday, 02 August 2021 18:07

Marvel's Loki

in Films

Written by Reece Goscinski

Reece Goscinski reviews Loki through a Zizekian lens Loki is the latest entry in the canon of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), streaming as a TV series on Disney+. The serial takes place around the midpoint of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame and sees the Nordic God of mischief (Tom Hiddleston) flashing…

Disney+

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Monday, 02 August 2021 17:40

Covid, Cannes and Conglomerates: A Battle for the Soul of Popular Media

in Films

Written by Dennis Broe

Dennis Broe looks at the battle between streaming services and cinema owners. Image above: Jane Campion on the set of the Venice-ready Power of the Dog What did the just-concluded Cannes film festival tell us about the power of the streaming services and the future of watching in cinemas or…

Streaming services Netflix Disney+

Sunday, 25 July 2021 08:35

Civilising the feminist icon: Wonder Woman (2017)

Written by Charlotte Dick

in Films

Charlotte Dick criticises the 2017 film Wonder Woman, a troubling example of how 'feminists' are civilisng women, black and brown bodies to suit white, male fantasies Ravenously scanning streaming platforms, I spy Wonder Woman (2017) – brawny women demolishing men with golden whips, what’s not to love? The film’s prelude…

Feminism Sexism

Monday, 19 July 2021 15:33

Cannes and Covid go together like a horse and carriage

Written by Dennis Broe

in Films

Dennis Broe concludes his review of the Cannes Film Festival Another Cannes Film Festival is in the books and this one, which Variety labelled “Red Carpet Done Right” and The Hollywood Reporter hoped would “kick off a global comeback” for the film industry in a return to a “New Normal,”…

Sunday, 11 July 2021 17:32

Artwashing at Cannes film festival: 'The best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity'

Written by Dennis Broe

in Films

Dennis Broe is unimpressed by the artwashing at this year's film festival at Cannes. Image above: Lou Reed et. al. in Todd Haynes' The Velvet Underground It may be a bit cruel starting with Yeats’ criticism of his era in his epic poem The Second Coming but unfortunately it is…

The Velvet Underground Lou Reed Gravedigger's Wife Murina Annette The Employer and The Employee

Thursday, 04 March 2021 11:42

'Towards a social order worthy of the human race': Rosa Luxemburg's 150th anniversary

Written by Jenny Farrell

in Films

Jenny Farrell presents and discusses Margarethe von Trotta’s film about Rosa Luxemburg On 5 March 2021, we celebrate the 150th anniversary of Rosa Luxemburg’s birth. No one who wishes to get a sense of Rosa Luxemburg as a person, both political and private, will regret watching Margarethe von Trotta’s meticulously…