Monthly Archives: October 2018

Features

Film Noir Steps from the Shadows for Three Film Screenings

If you have never seen a noir film, now’s the perfect chance. The Miami Jewish Film Festival and Miami Beach Cinematheque are celebrating film noir with the screening of three classics in November, beginning with Mildred Pierce on November 7th.

Why Film Noir?

Dr. Michael Gillespie of FIU’s English department, who is currently teaching a film noir course, describes it as a genre “that gives examples of individuals who succeed in resisting dominant authority and provides viewers with an example of someone who sustains his or her integrity.” In other words they are movies about rebels. Selfish, sexy people working for their own gain, these are slick talking, criminally clever characters who never fail to impress.

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Spotlight

Spring Registration is Here

The spring 2019 film courses include a few new entries and a number of old favorites.

Of special note are two sections of Studies in the Film (ENG 4132).  Igor Shteyrenberg (Executive Director of the Miami Jewish Film Festival and Co-director of the Popcorn Frights Festival) will reprise his course in the art of cinematography and the poetics of visual style. Students who took the course with professor Shteyrenberg still haven’t stopped talking about what a transformative experience it was. Running on Monday afternoons at the BBC, the course is a gem for students Continue reading Spring Registration is Here →

Review

Suspiria Remake Gives New Twists to a Cult Classic

The members of Markos Dance Academy perform

Whenever a remake of a classic film is announced, fans have reason to be skeptical. Though there’s been great remakes in the past, it’s hard to trust a film one loves in the hands of someone new. Having previously reviewed Dario Argento’s Suspiria (1977), I can say that though Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria (2018) literally drains the color that made Argento’s original film iconic, this remake provides an interesting and different experience from its source material which is produced well enough to warrant intrigue.

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Quizzes & Polls

Your Top 3 Worst Horror Remakes

In our most recent poll, we asked you which Horror movie remake is the ghastliest revival of its original. While each contender had the misfortune of being brought back to life, three stood out as the gravest of them all.

According to your votes, these shaky horror remakes are so shameful they make Frankenstein’s monster look lively.

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Review

Blumhouse’s Halloween: Best Sequel Still Misfires

The return of The Shape, Michael Myers

When it was announced we’d receive a new entry in the Halloween franchise on behalf of Blumhouse Productions, I was highly skeptical. While many were excited, knowing that Blumhouse is responsible for the phenomenal films Split (2016) and Get Out (2017), I was too aware they were equally responsible for movies of pitiful quality such as Sinister (2012), Unfriended (2015), and Truth or Dare (2018). Being a massive fan of John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978), I entered the screening of the latest Halloween film with low expectations. Leaving the theater, I was both impressed by the quality of the latest in a long line of sequels, and equally feeling the sting of knowing how close Blumhouse’s Halloween (2018) came to matching if not surpassing the quality of the original film.

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Review

Kanopy Classic Reviews: Bicycle Thieves

Vintage 1948 still from Bicycle Thieves from the the Miami Beach Cinematheque Archive.

Part of a series reviewing films on the Kanopy streaming service, available to all FIU students, faculty, and staff.

As we close in on the 70thanniversary of the release of Vittorio De Seca’s Academy-Award winning film Bicycle Thieves (Ladri de Biciclette),a newly digitally restored version of the Italian Neorealist film will make its Miami premier at the Miami Beach Cinematheque this Thursday, October 18th,  at 7:00 p.m., as part of the World Cinema theme of their Interactive Archives Project. This simply constructed classic, widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time, follows Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani), a poverty-stricken man who’s desperate for a job that will enable him to support his inquisitive son Bruno (Enzo Staiola), wife Maria (Lianella Carell), and their newborn child.

After two years of unemployment, Antonio is finally offered a job plastering movie posters around Rome, but the gig requires him to have a bike, which he can’t afford. Out of desperation, him and his wife begrudgingly pawn off their linen bed sheets in exchange for a bicycle. But, in a heart-wrenching sequence, the bike is stolen on his very first day of work.

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Review

David Fincher’s Zodiac Still Thrills

In the spirit of Halloween, our film club, Film Initiative Underground, and the English Honor Society, Sigma Tau Delta, are teaming up to bring a free screening of David Fincher’s heart pumping crime-thriller, Zodiac (2007), to FIU’s MMC Campus. Based on the real-life murders of the Zodiac Killer, Zodiac is a brilliant and meticulously assembled story about obsession, and features great performances by a talented cast.

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