If you’re at all familiar with Mood Indigo‘s director, Michel Gondry, and its star, Audrey Tatou, you can probably venture a pretty accurate guess as to what…
Pat Brown
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Roger Ebert documentary ‘Life Itself’ heads to FilmScene
Steve James’ documentary ‘Life Itself,’ opening at FilmScene on July 18, shares its title with the memoir of its subject, the late film critic Roger Ebert. Having only begun production in the final months of Ebert’s life, the documentary quotes Ebert’s memoir at length to supply narration and clarity, but one of the questions James is unable to get Ebert to answer before his death is “Why did you call your memoir Life Itself?” It’s a question the film itself leaves unanswered, at least explicitly, inviting us to ponder it of James’ documentary, just as he did of Ebert’s book.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Little Village’s picks for the summer’s best flicks
Blockbuster movie season is in full force, bringing yet another summer full of mutants, robots, aliens, monsters and all manner of CG creatures to our silver screens. Even if monsters and mechs aren’t your thing, July is jam-packed with reasons (both CG-heavy and not) to make it out to theaters. Here are recommended films to […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Talking Movies: Watch Robot Jox instead
Pacific Rim (2013), Godzilla (2014), The Edge of Tomorrow (2014), Transformers 4 (2014): mechs, monsters, quasi-mechs who are monsters. Summer films have easily identifiable trends, and recently the trend has been a potentially pernicious (but sometimes enjoyable) kind of technological fetishism operating at all levels: Characters in films meld with machines while we the audience […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Screenshot: New modes of distribution have opened the playing field for local developers
It’s an exciting time for video games. In recent years, alongside the rise of so-called “triple-A” games—like the upcoming Destiny (2014) that cost exorbitant amounts…
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Talking Movies: Ernest & Celestine is a refreshing animated film for both children and adults
Among other animated films of the moment — including the delightful The Lego Movie — the French-Belgian Ernest & Celestine is a breath of fresh air. It lasts…
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Celebrate Pete Seeger and his musical legacy this weekend
Legendary folk musician Pete Seeger died just two months ago at the age of 94. He not only gave the world songs like “If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)” and adapted “We Shall Overcome” into its now-familiar form, but also showed how music can be a tool for progressive politics. Both of these songs, for example, were anthems of the Civil Rights Movement, in which Seeger was an early, avid and vocal participant — despite having been blacklisted from television appearances during the communist witch hunts of the 1950s.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Screenshot: It’s time for video games to enter the humanities curriculum
Ever since the first versions of the video game Oregon Trail appeared in the early 1970s, the notion that video games might have a productive place in a…
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Talking Movies: In director Alain Guiraudie’s latest film, murder and desire make strange bedfellows
The erotic thriller, with its mix of illicit sex and anxieties about bodily harm, can often come off as rather morally conservative. The femme fatale lures the…
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Screenshot: An ode to the days of cheating
There are some things missing from most games these days—elements of gameplay that were once essential parts of the home gaming experience. Extra lives, for example, are a thing of the past, obviated by the ability to save one’s game, and by the ubiquitous “autosave.” With extra lives, so too goes the “Game Over,” the […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Screenshot: The art and politics of Grand Theft Auto
The highly (and happily) controversial series Grand Theft Auto (GTA) just expanded on Sept. 17 with GTA V for the XBox 360 and Playstation 3. The number V, as with the nominal before the decimal in a software program, is meant to indicate some essential changes in the way the game functions. For gamers with […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Screenshot: The rules of the game
September rolling around again means not only the return of professional football, but also of professional football’s most popular simulacrum, the Madden video game franchise. EA Sports has been releasing a Madden game every year since 1990, though the first game was published in 1988, making this year its 25th; yet, because Madden is typically […]
