The Living Dead
“Scottie, do you believe that someone out of the past—someone dead—can enter and take possession of a living being?”—Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore) in “Vertigo” This ominous query forms the basis […]
Tag Archives: Alfred Hitchcock
Our Mirror Selves: The Hitchcock Double
What is art if not a reflection of the world as we perceive it? Great artists dare to explore those aspects of ourselves that we prefer to keep hidden from […]
Top 100 Favorite Films
I was recently asked by a friend to rank my Top Five Favorite Films. It was so daunting to limit my list to only five titles that I decided to […]
Memories of Ebertfest 2014
Amazing how you can know someone for a few days and feel as though you’ve made a friend for life. That’s an experience not uncommon to the attendees at Ebertfest, […]
Top Ten Most Underrated Hitchcock Movies
Thirty-four years after his death, Alfred Hitchcock is more popular than ever. One of his films (“Vertigo”) was hailed by critics worldwide as the greatest film ever made, dethroning “Citizen […]
Deconstructing Woody Allen
“I just met a wonderful new man. He’s fictional but you can’t have everything.”—Cecilia (Mia Farrow) in “The Purple Rose of Cairo” (1985) There’s a scene toward the end of […]
“Lone Survivor” Portrays Passion of the Soldier
On February 25th, 2004, I was seated in a theater watching “Passion of the Christ” with members of my church congregation. I had never witnessed so much crying outside of […]
Shane Carruth on “Upstream Color”
Upon initial glance, Shane Carruth’s “Upstream Color” may seem like the most formidably impenetrable head-scratcher in many a moon. Like any potent fever dream, the film plays directly on the […]
Indie Essentials: Mia Wasikowska
What makes a performer magnetic? What rarefied talent must a person possess in order to draw an audience into their inner world? Whatever it is, Mia Wasikowska has it. Boy […]
Ry Russo-Young on “Nobody Walks”
From Amy Jellicoe on “Enlightened” to Hannah Horvath on “Girls,” there are a growing assemblage of female characters cheerfully breaking conventions and stereotypes while refusing to fall into the trap […]
Indie Outlook 