Category: Country: US
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Donnie Darko. Dir. Richard Kelly. Newmarket Films, Pandora Cinema, United Artists. 2001.
Set in 1988, Richard Kelly’s popular cult classic Donnie Darko deals with the teenage title character’s battle with diagnosed paranoid schizophrenia, fits of violent behaviour, and cynicism towards established institutions. Unlike other ‘ordinary’ 16 year olds, Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal) has thoughts that are plagued by a man-sized rabbit (James Duval) that simultaneously saves him from, and then…
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Seven Psychopaths. Dir. Martin McDonaugh. CBS Films. 2011.
Callum HowkinsMonday 16 January 2017 At the core of its various subplots, Seven Psychopaths revolves around a situation in which a trio of criminals steal dogs in order to claim the reward money offered by the owners. It becomes apparent that the animal is a vital part of this film, serving as a framing device for the…
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Scott Pilgrim vs The World. Dir. Edgar Wright. Universal. 2010.
Joseph MackayMonday 16 January 2017 Scott Pilgrim vs The World, a film based on Bryan Lee O’ Malley’s six graphic novel series of the same name, is about the titular Scott attempting to win the heart of a girl named Romana Flowers – to accomplish this, he must defeat her ‘seven evil exes’. As the…
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102 Dalmatians. Dir. Kevin Lima. Walt Disney Pictures. 2000.
Feathers Amongst the Furs: The Revival of Power Dynamic in 102 Dalmatians The visuals of the original 1961 animation and the 1996 live-action adaption have become iconic to those familiar with the story of 101 Dalmatians. The sea of black spots dispersed across endless white furs. The gangly, striking screen presence of the archetypal villain,…
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Inside Llewyn Davis. Dir. Ethan Coen, Joel Coen. CBS Films. 2013.
Inside Llewyn Davis, is a Coen Brothers mock biopic depicting a struggling singer in 1960s New York. The film leads the central character Llewyn to question whether or not he should continue to perform music following the suicide of his singing partner, Mike. The theme of alienation reoccurs throughout the film and is reinforced by…
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Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Dir. Gore Verbinski . Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. 2003.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is a film based on the Disney theme park attraction, which tells the story of 18th century pirates trying to rid themselves of an Aztec curse. Early in the film a group of pirates are imprisoned at Port Royal, alongside one of the film’s central characters, Captain…
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Planet of the Apes. Dir. Franklin J. Schaffner. Twentieth Century Fox. 1968.
Representation of Race through Franklin J. Schaffner’s ‘Space’ By 1968 North America had experienced over a decade of significant political uproar about the oppression that African-Americans suffered from, with this being known formally as the Civil Rights Movement. This was also the year that Franklin J. Schaffner’s Planet of the Apes was released. The film extrapolates issues…
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IRIS. Dir. Albert Maysles. Magnolia Pictures. 2014.
Albert Maysles’ 2015 documentary film IRIS provides a portrait of the nonagenarian fashion icon, Iris Apfel. Filming inside Iris’s apartment, Maysles presents us with many images of animal representations. The animals are artificial reproductions of the ‘real’ thing. They are aesthteic objects concerned only with style; carriers of pleasure rather than carriers of meaning. Taking Whitney Rugg’s…