The Celluloid Closet, by Vito Russo. New York: Harper & Row, 1981, rev. ed. 1987, 1995. 386pp. by MARK ADNUM Editor’s note: On the 30th anniversary of publication of Vito Russo’s Celluloid Closet, Mark Adnum takes a fresh look at this important but problematic history of queer representation in cinema. Time has not been kind ... read more »
Jun 022011
By GARY MORRIS The queer community, long accustomed to not relying on craven politicians, creepy religiosos, and other empire-building miscreants to address homophobia, has shown particular skill over the years at changing culture — and society — for the better. Most encouraging in this process has been the fact that so many of our heroes ... read more »
May 262011
by Karin Luisa Badt DATELINE CANNES, May 25, 2011. More entertaining than enlightening, Almodovar’s imaginative new entry in the Cannes Competition, The Skin I Live In, tells the wild story of a plastic surgeon (Antonio Banderas) who, obsessed with his deceased wife, who reconstructs one of his patients to look like her. The strength of ... read more »
May 072011
From the Editor America’s New Secret Weapon: Bright Lights! Gary Morris ARTICLES Tarantino’s Transformations: Inglourious Basterds’ Dizzying Array of Sources By JD Markel In which Tarantino reshapes Shakespeare, World War II movies, Leni Riefenstahl, Spaghetti Westerns, and more, under the deft guidance of that Italian master Ovid The Tomb of Thingness and Self-Doubt: Against ... read more »
Feb 152011
When Dr. Frankenstein screeched, “It’s alive! ALIVE!” in Whale’s classic, he might have been describing the new issue of Bright Lights. This issue has plenty to keep you warm on those chilly winter nights. See for yourself: Bright Lights’ “Wikileaks Problem”! Gary Morris Articles The Cinematic Islands of Dr. Moreau: Beasts, Monsters, and Mad Scientists ... read more »
Dec 202010
by Ronald Bergan Like the majority of people who have never been to India, most of my knowledge of the country has come from some books but mostly from films. When I was young, my perception of India was formed by British and American movies, before I had seen any films made by Indians themselves. ... read more »
Dec 192010
It’s a shame Douglas Trumbull and David Larson’s documentary on Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 has been canceled. This (doubtlessly) prospective producer-focused promo makes it look very exciting: Nevertheless, finding 17 minutes of perfect-condition film that Kubrick cut from the film makes what work Trumbull and Larson completed seem worthwhile. Read more about the un-earthing here: :: ... read more »
Dec 042010
by Matthew Kennedy Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger’s big fruitcake of a book, Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and the Marriage of the Century from HarperCollins, is hard to take too seriously. The grand sweep of the fabled Burton unions is here, from first contact to final disillusionment, but the authors, copy editors, and ... read more »
Nov 182010
Humphrey Bogart, by David Thomson. Faber and Faber, 2010. Trade paperback, $14.00. by John Carvill As the publisher’s blurb that adorns the flyleaf of this book attests, David Thomson is, “among many other things, author of The New Biographical Dictionary of Film,” one of the few film books which can uncontroversially lay claim to the ... read more »
Nov 162010
Articles Freedom from the Pedomorphic Ideal: A Speculation on the Tragically Cute By Andrew Grossman “Beyond religion, we have resorted to a more modern neurosis to calm our terrors and complement our pretended ennui: cuteness.” Haunted Cinema: Movie Theatres of the Dead By Jack Stevenson “There are no start times, there are no intermissions . ... read more »
