MCN Originals Archive for April, 2019
That Sirkian Someone: An Extended Anecdote About Art, Politics, Melodrama and Movies On His 119th Birthday

Douglas Sirk was born April 26, 1900.
Read the full article »No Spoilers: Thinking About AVENGERS: ENDGAME

A consideration of the weight of Avengers: Endgame with no plot details whatsoever.
Read the full article »The DVD Wrapup: Diamonds of the Night, School of Life, Red Room, Witch/Hagazussa, Tito & the Birds, Keoma, Andre’s Gospel, Noir
In a risky leap of narrative faith, he avoids attaching labels to the characters. Instead of describing ‘Diamonds of the Night’ as a World War II or Holocaust film, he wants audiences to see it as a survival story that explores the human condition under extreme conditions.
Read the full article » 1 Comment »All Parts: A Review of Alex Ross Perry’s HER SMELL

“I can’t point to any movie, recent or otherwise,” writer-director Alex Ross Perry has noted of his intently, intensely ambitious sixth feature, “that combines the two things I wanted to explore in ‘Her Smell’: lowbrow popular music and highbrow theatrical productions going back to Shakespeare’s five-act tragedies.”
Read the full article »Fluid Mechanic: Claire Denis Talks High Life

“Deny them your essence, Mandrake!”
Read the full article »Vertiginous Scale: Thoughts on WELCOME TO MARWEN

Welcome to Marwen is something else, but what is it?
Read the full article » 1 Comment »The DVD Wrapup: Bumblebee, Ginsburg, Buster, Silent Voice, Nazi Junkies, Prisoner, Golden Vampires, Highway Rat, Terra Formars, No Alternative … More
The studio decided to downscale the size of the sixth installment, by reducing the budget drastically, bringing in fresh behind-the-camera talent , keeping the running time under 120 minutes for the first time in 12 years, putting the focus on fewer characters and de-emphasizing the brand in the publicity material. It would promote the presence of a formidable teenage heroine, alongside the already popular Bumblebee and formidable Decepticon enemy, and add a malleable American warrior.
Read the full article » 2 Comments »Unapologetic Stuff: A Review Of KNIFE + HEART

“Knife + Heart” (Un couteau dans le coeur) has all kinds of stuff. It’s a tumultuous original, dragging worlds of cinema sensation that came before screaming and punching behind it. Begin with “Phantom of the Paradise,” stir in “Peeping Tom,” and “Body Double”; don’t stop at “Poison” or “Cruising” and “Blow Out.” Sex and art commingle…
Read the full article »American Charmer: A Review Of The Brink

Alison Klayman’s “The Brink,” an avatar of cinema-vérité observation, arrives in a hush and escalates with precision. Recording political consultant and purported intellectual powerhouse Stephen K. “Steve” Bannon after his dismissal from the arms of Trump power, captured by a filmmaker-cinematographer-sound recordist on their own, edited to a fierce ninety-minute form from day-after-day of close…
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