Menu
Idea

film criticism

82
Filter by:

Filter by published date

Viewing 31–60 of 82 results. Go to first page

How Spaghetti Westerns Shaped Modern Cinema

In the realism, the set pieces, the operatic music, Sergio Leone was pointing the way towards modern filmmaking.
by Quentin Tarantino via The Spectator on June 1, 2019
Film poster for "Native Son."

"Native Son" and the Cinematic Aspirations of Richard Wright

Novelist Richard Wright yearned to break into film, but Hollywood's censorship of black stories left his aspirations unfulfilled.
by Anna Shechtman via The New Yorker on April 4, 2019
partner

How ‘The Highwaymen’ Whitewashes Frank Hamer and the Texas Rangers

The film’s hero left a legacy of racist violence in Texas.
by Monica Muñoz Martinez via Made By History on March 31, 2019

'Reality Bites' Captured Gen X With Perfect Irony

The 1994 studio film was written by a 20-something who mined her own life to tell the story of a generation that disdained 'selling out.'
by Soraya Roberts via The Atlantic on March 6, 2019

Colorizing and Fictionalizing the Past

The technical wizardry of Peter Jackson's "They Shall Not Grow Old" should not obscure its narrow, outdated storyline.
by Bridget Keown via Nursing Clio on February 12, 2019

A Skyline Is Born

A history of filmmakers retelling the story of New York’s architecture.
by Tatum Dooley via Lapham’s Quarterly on November 14, 2018

Mayberry Machiavelli

The self-congratulatory legacies of ‘A Face in the Crowd.’
by Tom Carson via The Baffler on November 5, 2018

What Makes ‘The Living Dead’ My Film of 1968

In so many ways, George Romero's lo-budget horror film defined the year 1968.
by J. Hoberman via New York Review of Books on September 4, 2018

Black Atlantis

Why do white people love Black Panther, just as they love Star Wars?
by Asad Haider via Viewpoint Magazine on March 5, 2018

Kneeling for Hollywood

How Hollywood portrays religious prayer.
by Melani McAlister via Modern American History on March 5, 2018
Still from Black Panther film.

What Would W. E. B. Du Bois Make of 'Black Panther'?

Considering Du Bois' complex ideas on the role of black artists in the struggle against white supremacy.
by Clint Smith via The Paris Review on March 1, 2018
Still from Black Panther

The Many Dimensions of "Black Panther"

The blockbuster refuses to flatten its characters into simple heroes or villains — and that's exactly what makes it so refreshing.
by Melvin L. Rogers via Dissent on February 27, 2018
Still from Black Panther film.

'Black Panther' and the Invention of 'Africa'

The film's hero and antagonist represent dueling responses to five centuries of African exploitation at the hands of the West.
by Jelani Cobb via The New Yorker on February 18, 2018
Still from Black Panther

How 'Black Panther' Taps Into 500 Years of History

The film draws on centuries of black dreams of independence to create Wakanda.
by N. D. B. Connolly via The Hollywood Reporter on February 16, 2018

All 89 Best Picture Oscar Winners Ranked

From the meh (A Beautiful Mind) to the stunningly beautiful (Moonlight), and the classic (All About Eve) to the god-awful (Birdman).
by Kate Aurthur via BuzzFeed News on February 13, 2018
Atticus Finch and children at the diningroom table in the film "To Kill a Mockingbird."

Prop and Property

The house in American cinema, from the plantation to Chavez Ravine.
by John David Rhodes via Places Journal on December 1, 2017

What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men?

One film fan's struggle to reconcile the things she loves with the things she knows to be true.
by Claire Dederer via The Paris Review on November 20, 2017

How John Wayne Became a Hollow Masculine Icon

The actor’s persona was inextricable from the toxic culture of Cold War machismo.
by Stephen Metcalf via The Atlantic on November 9, 2017

The Amnesia Plot

How 1940s films reinvented the ways stories are told onscreen.
by David Bordwell via Lapham’s Quarterly on October 25, 2017

How Theaters and TV Networks are Changing the Way They Show Gone With the Wind

After almost 80 years, America is finally rethinking how it screens its favorite movie.
by Aisha Harris via Slate on October 22, 2017

You’ll Never See The Northern Lights

"Blade Runner: 2049" portrays a world that is both more terrifying and duller than the world of the franchise's original.
by Aaron Bady via The New Inquiry on October 8, 2017
An American flag at the Vietnam Memorial on the National Mall.

Ken Burns’s American War

The filmmaker wants ‘The Vietnam War’ to unite America. Can anyone do that under Trump?
by Alyssa Rosenberg via Washington Post on September 14, 2017

Ken Burns's American Canon

Even in a fractious era, the filmmaker still believes that his documentaries can bring every viewer in.
by Ian Parker via The New Yorker on September 4, 2017
Lin Manuel Miranda and fellow actor dressed in colonial era clothing

How to Love Problematic Pop Culture

Revisiting the contradictions in "Hamilton" – and in the pushback to criticisms of the beloved musical.
by Lyra Monteiro via Medium on August 27, 2017
Charlie Chaplin and other actors in a silent film.

Curing (Silent) Movies of Deafness?

In many ways, silent film was an art form entirely different from the "talkies" we enjoy today.
by Russell L. Johnson via OUPblog on July 31, 2017

Cinematic Airs

A pair of 1959 films brought "Smell-o-vision" into movies.
by Christopher Turner via Cabinet on July 1, 2017

How Barry Levinson’s Diner Changed Cinema, 30 Years Later

With Diner, Barry Levinson turned a film about nothing into a male-bonding classic, launched careers, and spawned hits from Seinfeld to The Office.
by S. L. Price via HWD on February 10, 2012
Irving Thalberg and his wife, with Louis Mayer.

The Wizard Behind Hollywood’s Golden Age

How Irving Thalberg helped turn M-G-M into the world’s most famous movie studio—and gave the film business a new sense of artistry and scale.
by Adam Gopnik via The New Yorker on June 9, 2025
Protestors hold anti-communist picket signs outside of a theatre

The Grim Timeliness of “Noir and the Blacklist”

A new Criterion series of McCarthy-era noir films is a timely collection for an era of rising government repression.
by Eileen Jones via Jacobin on May 4, 2025
A contact sheet of portraits of James Baldwin, 1972.

For Those Who Would Be Real

James Baldwin’s testimony in images.
by Harmony Holiday via Harper’s on April 29, 2025
View More
30 of
82

Filter Results:

Suggested Filters:

Idea

Person

brought to you by
© Bunk History