Film Inquiry’s 10 Best Articles of August
Reviews of Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Inherent Vice and The Diary of a Teenage Girl, an essay on music in film, and a list of Youtube channels everyone passionate about film should follow: just a small collection of the great articles that we published last month! In case you missed them, here are our ten favorite articles of August 2015, in no particular order.
10 Movies With Low Ratings That Are Actually Good
Cinematic failures appear in all shapes and sizes; some are critically acclaimed upon release only to become hated months later. Others get shunned by critics and audiences only to develop cult followings years later. In this day and age, where every other film has a sizable cult following, it is difficult to determine which films have truly earned their cult status. Based upon initial reviews and IMDb user ratings, here’s a list of ten poorly rated (6.0 or under on IMDb) films that are not the failures that you would expect.
[…]Read Alistair Ryder’s article here
M:I ROGUE NATION: Yet Another Exceptional Sequel
After five movies and nearly two decades, you would think that the Mission: Impossible series would begin to lose its momentum. Remarkably, the series is still just as strong as ever, maybe even more so, with both Ghost Protocol and the latest, Rogue Nation now peaking as my top favorites. Even more impressive is Tom Cruise in the lead role, who has proven yet again that he is still one of the world’s top action stars, even if he has aged since the first movie (not by much, though). Whether a follower of the series from the start, or just hopping aboard, it’s hard not to get a kick out of Rogue Nation.
[…]Read David Fontana’s article here
A Review of INHERENT VICE By Somebody Who Loves PTA and Hates the Book
If it were not for Paul Thomas Anderson, there is a (very) good chance I wouldn’t be interested in writing about movies. It is because of his films that I take time to write for this humble little website. When I was a high school senior in 2009, my interest in movies inflated dramatically, and I watched a movie just about every night. I would watch a movie, go to sleep around 1:00, and wake up at 6:00 am to head off to school. I was a very dumb teenager, but weren’t we all?
[…]Read Jay Ledbetter’s article here
8 YouTube Channels Every Film Fan Should Subscribe To
YouTube can be a pretty incredible place to receive some great information about the world of filmmaking. Because of this, I’ve compiled a list of some of my favorite movie-related channels on YouTube. They range from video essays, to reviewers, and even sin counters! Without further ado, here are my Top 8 YouTube Channels Every Film Fan Should Subscribe To (in no particular order.)
[…]Read Alexzandria Windley’s article here
THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL: More Like This, Please
I’m not now, nor have I ever been, a teenage girl. I’m not even a teenager anymore, and chances are if you’re in the UK and tried to see The Diary of a Teenage Girl, you won’t be either. Thanks, BBFC. So with its target audience – and this movie is very much meant to be seen by teenage girls – stopped from seeing it, I went instead.
[…]Read Adam Dawson’s article here
THE GIFT: Trash Cinema At Its Most Intelligent
A great director can elevate a movie that is nothing short of trash cinema into something masterful. Throughout his career,Orson Welles repeatedly chose projects (most notably Touch of Evil) as a challenge to see whether he could make a good movie out of source material that was far closer to the gutter than the stars. A cursory glance at some of the best directors of all time, from Welles and Alfred Hitchc*ck to David Fincher and Steven Soderbergh more recently, reads like a list of directors who enjoy cinema at its silliest, yet are such technically skilled filmmakers with a clear love for genre filmmaking that their movies are only ever laughable in a knowing way. For his directorial debut, actor Joel Edgerton shows a clear love for tightly-plotted narratives defined by their big twists, with each subsequent twist plunging the film further and further into enjoyably trashy territory.
[…]Read Alistair Ryder’s article here
10 Great Cinematographers
Cinematographers, or directors of photography (DP’s), handle what many think the directors accomplish in their films when it comes to visual techniques and style. However, the distinctive look many movies have has more to do with the “real” eye behind the camera, and that is usually the cinematographer. Over the years, cinematography has evolved from a craft to an art, although to be successful in the business there is a delicate balance of both. Some DP’s find their fame with innovation, others make a name for themselves by defining their visual artistry.
[…]Read Alexander Miller’s article here
IRRATIONAL MAN: An Exploration Of “The Existential Problem”
Woody Allen‘s perennial dialogue of death and futility is upon us, and, as someone who takes comfort in the recurring anguish of Mr. Allen‘s films, I couldn’t be happier with his 2015 iteration, Irrational Man. He executes a story equivalent in scope to what has become one of the auteur’s main ambitions these fifty years: to consummate, with increasing clarity – and theatrically framed within the grips of an inescapable, cosmic, and hilarious irony – a conscientious exploration of The Existential Problem. Not without falling victim to the routine foibles of Allen‘s filmmaking, Irrational Man triumphs in the conception and execution of the hero’s two climatic decisions.
[…]Read Gareth Schoonover’s article here
MASH vs CATCH-22: 45 Years Later
The Vietnam War, which had begun as a geopolitical chess match in the 1950’s, escalated into a full blown land war in 1965 when President Lyndon Johnson authorised the use of American ground troops to help South Vietnam defeat the Communist North. More than any conflict in the 20th Century, Vietnam segregated America into a civil war of ideals. The burgeoning counterculture rejected and rallied against it, even denouncing the troops themselves. Universities around the world were overrun by disaffected students intent on social revolution, who viewed US involvement in Vietnam as the world’s central and most heinous injustice. By 1968, news of the Tet offensive and the infamous Mai Lai massacre had been fed back to the folks at home. Walter Kronkite, the most trusted figure on US television said that: “To say that we are mired in a stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory conclusion,” and went on to suggest that a negotiated retreat was the only solution. How did Hollywood respond to these years of divisive violence and bloodshed? Musicals. Lots of musicals. And The Green Berets.
[…]Music in Film
The Godfather. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Lord of the Rings. So many great films made into legends with the accompaniment of game changing scores. Music has been paired with film since the silent movie era, from full orchestral compositions to a single vocalist. Generally, the composition is designed to emphasize what is happening on screen, but often it works both ways. The passing of a lightsaber may not seem as epic without John Williams’ mystical tones, butKlaus Badelt’s He’s a Pirate would not be nearly as lively and adventurous without a swashbuckling Johnny Depp pirating on screen. The companionship is organic, with both aspects of the film reacting to the other until (when done right), a beautiful cinematic experience is created.
[…]Read Mason Manuel’s article here
What were your favorite articles this month? Let us know below!
(top image: Irrational Man (2015) – source: Sony Pictures Classics)
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