Aaron Aradillas
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VIDEO ESSAY: Cruel Summer: ROCKY III (1982)
This video essay is part of the "Cruel Summer" series of articles; this series examines influential movies from the summers of the 1980s. The previous entries in the series covered THE BLUES BROTHERS (1980) and STRIPES (1981).
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CRUEL SUMMER: STRIPES (1981)
When Bill Murray came on the scene at the start of the 1980s, he represented a fundamental shift in comedy. He specialized in an utter emotional detachment from any and all situations.
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CRUEL SUMMER: THE BLUES BROTHERS
According to John Landis, "The Blues Brothers" was the last movie made under the old studio factory system. "The Blues Brothers" feels, indeed, like a transitional movie. It takes the form of a big studio musical, but its execution is all 1980s bigger-is-better filmmaking.
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VIDEO ESSAY: AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN HOLLYWOOD: HORROR, MAKEUP AND THE OSCARS
The practitioners of visual effects have a favorite phrase for what they do: the Invisible Art – effects that are imaginative, even astonishing, but that are ultimately there to sell a world, a character or a moment. Special makeup might be the best illustration of this principle. One of makeup's gr...
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AARON ARADILLAS: 20 years later, a soundtrack that still has JUICE
The first half of the 1990s may be considered by some as being ruled by grunge, but for more enlightened music fans that is simply not the case. Hip-hop and R&B, in particular the New Jack Swing sound of the early ‘90s, has had a profound impact in shaping pop music. Producers like Jimmy Jam & Terry...
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AARON ARADILLAS: Loving LOVE STORY means never having to say you're sorry
Watching "Love Story" today is like opening a time capsule you didn’t know had been buried. The movie is at times shocking, not because it’s bad (it’s actually surprisingly good), but because it is a movie unaware of the time and place where it is set.
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'SHOULD WIN' VIDEO ESSAY SERIES: Best Actress Viola Davis, THE HELP
Four out the five performances nominated for Best Actress are in part based on fulfilling audiences’ preconceived notions of what they should be. Both Meryl Streep and Michelle Williams do impersonations on the level of genius. Streep dares to make Margaret Thatcher seem all too human; Williams lets...
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'SHOULD WIN' VIDEO ESSAY SERIES: PRESS PLAY picks the Oscars
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Press Play presents "Should Win," a series of video essays advocating winners in seven Academy Awards categories: supporting actor and actress, best actor and actress, best director and best picture. These are consensus choices hashed out by a pool of Press Play contrib...
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OSCARS REVISITED, 1981: ON GOLDEN POND
Of the five films nominated for Best Picture of 1981, "On Golden Pond" is greeted with the most derision – dismissed as the Academy falling for cheap sentiment as an excuse to honor their own.
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OSCARS 2012: PRESS PLAY'S staff picks their favorites
After last week’s announcement of this year’s Oscar nominees, a handful of Press Play contributors gathered together via email to discuss the highs and lows in some of the major award categories. Below are some of the highlights of the conversation, and as always, we encourage you to keep the discu...
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