It’s been ten years since Quentin Tarantino’s first western film, Django: Unchained. The film is the second “reboot” in name only that he’s done, the first being Inglourious Basterds. The original Django, released in 1966, is a shining example of the Spaghetti Western that became iconic in the Dollars trilogy by Sergio Leone. Continue reading Flashback Flicks – Django: Unchained 10 Years Later
The Menu is a refreshing satire that never takes itself seriously. It follows Anya-Taylor Joy’s Margo as she is unknowingly reeled into a world that she doesn’t belong to. Margo meets various personalities at a restaurant on a private island run by the esteemed head chef, Slowik (Ralph Fiennes), who has an agenda for his privileged guests that goes beyond just serving quality food—a plan that goes awry upon Margo’s unexpected arrival.
Continue reading The Menu: A Six Course Meal of Satire and Gore
Having never seen any one of Martin McDonagh’s movies, I went into The Banshees of Inisherin with an open mind. I had always heard that his previous films were thrilling and fun (like In Bruges) or serious and dramatic (cue Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) but even with no expectations of what was to come, I was still surprised to be leaving the theater feeling sadness, grief, and regret.
Continue reading Back in Feckin’ Business with Martin McDonagh’s Banshees
Set in 1990s Detroit, Eminem stars as Jimmy Smith Jr., aka Rabbit, in 8 Mile—a gritty and realistic underdog story in the hip hop scene.
Loosely based on the events of Eminem’s life before fame, the story follows a talented rapper who can never find the courage he needs when he reaches the microphone on stage.
Miami Film Festival’s GEMS 2022 has just wrapped at Miami’s Tower Theater. The fall mini-festival is a one-week precursor to the Miami Film Festival (MIFF) that takes place in March. The festival started in 2014 as MIFFecito, but rebranded the following year as GEMS Film Festival. GEMS is advertised as presenting “the jewels of the fall season” with the “biggest awards contenders of the year” according to the director of programming at GEMS, Lauren Cohen. This year, the Tower Theater’s contract with the city has been terminated so although the festival’s future is uncertain the people there seem hopeful that it will not be the last. FIU Film Studies interns Kevin de los Cuetos and Tatiana Nunez were lucky enough to watch a few of the films played at GEMS this past week. Here are the highlights of what they saw: Continue reading GEMS 2022 Mini-Festival Dispatch
Departing from the comedic style that characterized many of their recent films, No Country for Old Men is an iconic drama-thriller that hearkens back to the Coen brothers’ early crime films. Continue reading No Country for Old Men 15th Anniversary
Daniel Stamm is back in the saddle again and ready to put audiences to sleep with his most impotent effort yet, Prey for the Devil. Continue reading Prey for the Devil: Not Another Possession Movie!