Since we can't escape from COVID-19's reality, we can at least spend some time with the most escapist genre in the history of cinema: swashbucklers. Although these sword-wielding adventure movies are usually set in Europe or the Caribbean from 1500 to 1800 CE, you can find them set in ancient Greece or 19th-century China. The … Continue reading Swashbucklers: A needed escape from reality
Category: Genres
Another Hole in the Head Film Festival
As December approaches, the autumn glut of Bay Area film festivals falls to few and finally none. But the last film festival of the year is one of the strangest. The Another Hole in the Head Film Festival isn't like any other. The movies it screens are rarely about poverty, divorce, or existential angst. Characters … Continue reading Another Hole in the Head Film Festival
Good movies, but strangely appropriate double bills
The double bill is almost a lost art. Here in the Bay Area, only the Castro and the Stanford regularly give you two movies for one admission. (I once had to explain the word intermission to my daughter.) Most double bills contain two films with matching moods or belong to the same genre. You don't … Continue reading Good movies, but strangely appropriate double bills
A Discovered genre: The contemporary western drama
I think I discovered a genre. It's been around for more than 60 years and has never been recognized as such. But it's worth considering. The films in this genre, or at least the ones I've seen, have all been excellent. I call them contemporary western dramas. These are not westerns, although they echo that … Continue reading A Discovered genre: The contemporary western drama