Ali Arikan
-
Press Play5 commentslike0tweet0
Roger Ebert: End of Message
Last weekend, the BBC published an article titled “How to write the perfect obituary” following the brouhaha around the New York Times’ recent obituary of Yvonne Brill. It was a fluffy weekend piece, and I would have moved on were it not for one particular detail.
Read More » -
Press Play10 commentslike888tweet73
Ramble On: THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
From one perspective, it’s ironic that the adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s "Lord of the Rings" books have been so successful; they owe their success to technological progress, and yet an argument against such progress is one of their underlying themes.
Read More » -
Press Play3 commentslike13tweet26
'SHOULD WIN' VIDEO ESSAY SERIES: Best Director Martin Scorsese, HUGO
This year's Oscar race for Best Director features an especially strong roster. The five nominees are Woody Allen for "Midnight in Paris," Michel Hazanavicius for "The Artist," Terrence Malick for "The Tree of Life," Alexander Payne for "The Descendants" and Martin Scorsese for "Hugo." Four of them d...
Read More » -
Press Play21 commentslike20tweet45
'SHOULD WIN' VIDEO ESSAY SERIES: Best Actor Brad Pitt, MONEYBALL
Brad Pitt is one of the biggest movie stars in the world. But he is also a fantastic actor. His phenomenal range has allowed him to play delirious and zany, as in "Twelve Monkeys," but also understated and restrained, as in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." Those films brought Pitt a Best suppo...
Read More » -
Press Play1 commentlike18tweet19
'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...
Read More » -
Press Play21 commentslike13tweet13
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...
Read More » -
Press Play0 commentslike52tweet24
TRAILER: Terrence Malick's TREE OF LULZ (Hey, it could have happened. . .)
Annals of film history are filled with masterpieces that never were. Cineastes spend many a sleepless night thinking of Stanley Kubrick’s unproduced epic on Napoleon’s life. Film historians still search every nook and cranny to possibly locate Orson Welles’ first cut of The Magnificent Ambersons....
Read More » -
Press Play3 commentslike53tweet29
VIDEO ESSAY: MAGIC AND LIGHT: THE FILMS OF STEVEN SPIELBERG, Chapter 5: Father figures
Steven Spielberg is the product of The Greatest Generation -- a Baby Boomer raised on idealized images of the nuclear family, progress, and American might. He is also a child of divorce -- a dreamer from a broken home. Spielberg’s attempt to reconcile these two biographical facts—the mythic ideal of...
Read More » -
Press Play2 commentslike44tweet36
VIDEO ESSAY: MAGIC AND LIGHT: THE FILMS OF STEVEN SPIELBERG, Chapter 4: Evil and Authority
The antagonist, in Steven Spielberg’s films, has many faces. It can be government scientists involved in seemingly shady plots. It can be unstoppable behemoths such as the shark in Jaws or the tanker truck in Duel. Warped ideologies, as in Schindler’s List. Or the tangled and self-defeating all...
Read More » -
Press Play1 commentlike4tweet8
VIDEO ESSAY: MAGIC AND LIGHT: THE FILMS OF STEVEN SPIELBERG, Chapter 2: Blood & Pulp
When you think of the films of Steven Spielberg, violence may not be the first thing that comes to mind. But Spielberg’s films wouldn’t be Spielberg’s films if he didn’t show and imply violent actions. Violence is just another color on Spielberg’s palette and he’s not shy about using it, either to e...
Read More »
fresh from the blogs
-
A 500 Thumb Salute to Roger Ebert at CannesCriticwire
-
Review: 'Nancy Please'The Playlist
-
Review: 'RE-EMERGING: The Jews of Nigeria' Inspires ...Shadow and Act
-
San Francisco Silent Film Festival's July Program of ...Thompson on Hollywood
-
Trailer Watch: As Cool As I Am - Starring Claire Danes ...Women and Hollywood
-
CANNES 2013: Nicholas Winding Refn's ONLY GOD FORG ...Press Play
-
Good Night, Lost Boy(s)The Lost Boys
-
The Hangover Part IIILeonard Maltin
on 
