‘The Czech Year’ & ‘The Emperor’s Nightingale’

Jiří Trnka (1912-1969) was a Czech puppet-maker, an illustrator, an animator, and a film director who was also considered the “Walt Disney of Eastern Europe.”  He attended the School of Applied Arts in Prague, where he apprenticed as a puppeteer … Continue reading →

Defining 2012 Part Two

(continued from Defining 2012 Part One) One could argue that 2012 might have marked the end of the Men In Black franchise.  Men In Black 3 was released in 2012 to positive reviews but its domestic box office take was … Continue reading →

Stanley Kubrick: A Cinematic Odyssey Part One

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Any true cinephile is aware of the name Stanley Kubrick and the 13 feature films he contributed to the history of cinema.  When it comes to writing about Kubrick, I’m often not sure what exactly to write about.  That is … Continue reading →

Stanley Kubrick

From combat soldiers who are filled with both fear and desire To a down-and-out boxer dreading a killer’s kiss. From a racetrack robbery that turned into a killing To French soldiers going down different paths of glory. From charting a … Continue reading →

Defining 2012 Part One

2012 is a difficult year to categorize for me.  In a previous post (Cinematic Love Letters), I was able to sum up the year 2011 as far as cinema was concerned.  2012 seems a bit more tricky; nothing immediately comes … Continue reading →

‘Lilo and Stitch’ & ‘How To Train Your Dragon’

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Chris Sanders is an animation character designer and director who got his start working on Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies for television.  Sanders then moved to Disney, where he worked as a storyboard artist, production designer, and character designer on films … Continue reading →

Lobby Display for ‘Oz’

Last month, my blog posts decreased in number.  The reason was that, as an assistant manager at the movie theater I’m working at in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, I was put in charge of marketing and the big … Continue reading →

Side Effects (2013)

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  Steven Soderbergh has created a fascinating body of work over roughly the last 25 years.  Soderbergh has done indies (1989’s Sex, Lies, and Videotapes, 2005’s Bubble, 2008’s Che Parts One and Two), documentaries (1996’s Gray’s Anatomy, 2010’s And Everything … Continue reading →

‘Whisper of the Heart’ & ‘The Cat Returns’

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This year marks the 15th anniversary of the death of Yoshifumi Kondo (1950-1998), who worked in Japan as an animator and director.  He worked in TV animation for several years.  During that time, he co-authored “Animation Book,” a textbook for … Continue reading →

Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)

With all the disappointing prequels that have been made over the years, it would only be natural to be cautious when Disney had announced that they were making a prequel to 1939’s The Wizard of Oz.  Disney, of course, had … Continue reading →