OFCS members don’t just write film reviews. Here are several articles you might find interesting.
Best of Lists
The 20 Most Seductive Scenes in Classic Film
Kristen Lopez @ Journeys in Classic Film
The 25 Best Films of 2014
Jerry Roberts @ Armchair Cinema
- Excerpt: Okay, I know this is a little late, but I my motivation is an effort to be fair. I wanted to see enough really great year-end films that I could put together a Best List that I was comfortable with. In doing so, I found that this was a much better year than I initially thought, so much so that I’ve put together a list of 25 great films rather than the expected ten.
Arresting Development: Top Ten Sheriffs in the Movies
Frank Ochieng @ Sound on Sight
“Killer Instinct”: Top Ten Disturbed Deviants in the Movies
Frank Ochieng @ Sound on Sight
Newsmakers and Media Shakers: Top Ten Reporters in the Movies
Frank Ochieng @ Sound on Sight
“Not So Live From New York”: Top Ten Worst Saturday Night Live-Based Feature Films
Frank Ochieng @ Sound on Sight
Reel Love: Romantic Movies Through the Decades
Interviews
Alfred Molina and Ira Sachs – Love is Strange
Matthew Margeson, Co-Composer of “Kingsman: The Secret Service”
‘Nightcrawler’ Filmmaker Dan Gilroy on His Oscar Nomination, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Crime Scene Photography
- Excerpt: “I did not want a character with an arc. I wanted to break as many narrative rules as a could, so there’s no arc, there’s no redemption, there’s no backstory.”
Festivals: General Coverage
Berlinale: Who’s up for the Bear?
Joseph Proimakis @ Popaganda [Greek]
- Excerpt: Terrence Malick, Peter Greenaway, Werner Herzog and Jafar Panahi are the arthouse pillars of this year’s jam-packed festival featuring world-prems of 50 Shades of Grey and Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella
Festivals: Individual Reviews
Alert the Kiddies! The New York International Children’s Film Festival (NYICFF) is now front and center.
Frank Ochieng @ Sound on Sight
- Excerpt: Youngsters and oldsters alike…here is the reel deal: The New York International Children’s Film Festival (NYICFF) will be making its presence known in the upcoming days.
Berlinale Review: “45 Years” and “Mr. Holmes”
Kenji Fujshima @ The House Next Door
Berlinale Review: “Cinderella”
Kenji Fujshima @ The House Next Door
Berlinale Review: “Counting”
Kenji Fujshima @ The House Next Door
Berlinale Review: “Jia Zhang-ke, a Guy from Fenyang” and “Fassbinder: To Love Without Demands”
Kenji Fujshima @ The House Next Door
Berlinale Review: “Knight of Cups”
Kenji Fujishima @ The House Next Door
Berlinale Review: “Queen of the Desert” and “Queen of Earth”
Kenji Fujishima @ The House Next Door
Berlinale Review: “Taxi”
Kenji Fujishima @ The House Next Door
Berlinale Review: “The Club”
Kenji Fujishima @ The House Next Door
Berlinale Review: “The Forbidden Room”
Kenji Fujishima @ The House Next Door
James Franco Super Star
Joseph Proimakis @ Popaganda [Greek]
- Excerpt: An ode to James Franco, a man of many talents and three Berlinale films -now in 3D!
The Money Complex
Matthew McKernan @ http://filmwhinge.blogspot.co.uk/
- Excerpt: It is hard to know what to think about a film like Der Geldkomplex, largely because it isn’t very clear.
Television
The Americans: EST Men
Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Cafe Texan
Gotham: The Fearsome Dr. Crane
Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Cafe Texan
Gotham: The Scarecrow
Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Cafe Texan
Gotham: Welcome Back, Jim Gordon
Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Cafe Texan
Gotham: What the Little Bird Told Him
Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Cafe Texan
Video Essays, Reviews and More
Fifty Shades of Grey
Jerry Roberts @ Armchair Cinema
- Excerpt: My video review of “Fifty Shades of Grey.” I was bored, just bored with this movie.
Essays
2014: Some Odds and Bitter Ends
Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Cafe Texan
- Excerpt: On the most overrated and unfairly trashed films, the biggest surprise and biggest disappointment of the year.
Are We Still Friends On Monday? – The Breakfast Club Turns 30
Mike McGranaghan @ Film Racket
The Case for Reenactment in Documentary Cinema
- Excerpt: Re-enactments aren’t just a gimmick, or a cost-cutting measure. They become an arrow in the documentarian’s quiver, a storytelling tool that not only fills in gaps, but creates mood and tension.
Destroy All Monsters: Go Big, “Game of Thrones,” Before You Go Home
Exclusive: Alex Gibney on the Church of Scientology’s War on… Film Critics
- Excerpt: But at that screening, and in the week of festival showings that followed, no protestors were seen and no scenes were caused. Instead, the Church is taking a less obvious (and perhaps more 21st-century) approach: social media outrage and emails to film critics, a campaign that director Gibney tells Flavorwire is “so ham-fisted and so predictable.”
Here’s a Crazy Idea: See the Movie Before You Critique It
- Excerpt: Sitting and watching a movie is neither very time-consuming (‘American Sniper’ and ‘Jupiter Ascending’ both clock in at under 2 ¼ hours) nor particularly strenuous. So the best we can do is chock it up to #hottake culture — that TNR‘s and Decider’s editors were simply so anxious to get these opinions out in the world (uniformed thought they maybe) that they simply couldn’t wait the extra day or two for the writers in question to actually put the movie in front of their eye-holes.
In Search of the Lost Gay Jesus Film
Phil Hall @ Film Threat
- Excerpt: The mystery surrounding the disappearance of the 1974 gay porn film “Him”
Is David Oyelowo Right About Oscar’s Preference for “Subservient” Black Narratives?
- Excerpt: The answer may surprise you! (It totally won’t surprise you).
Jon Stewart Picked the Perfect Moment to Leave ‘The Daily Show’
- Excerpt: It’s no great stretch to imagine the reliably excellent ‘Last Week Tonight’ surpassing ‘The Daily Show’ in quality and influence (some claim it already has); a year from now, the story could have been that its other official and unofficial spin-offs had done the same. Instead, the story will be “Don’t go, Jon Stewart!”
‘Jupiter Ascending’ Is Not Eddie Redmayne’s ‘Norbit’
- Excerpt: There’s not a second of this painfully earnest turn that indicates the man is either making a joke or in on one. He’s just bad, irredeemably and irrevocably terrible, but that’s not much of a surprise because — incoming #hottake — Eddie Redmayne is not a very good actor.
Why I Don’t Like Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything
Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Cafe Texan
- Excerpt: There are two reasons: a technically efficient but cold performance, and a naked Oscar campaign that would have embarrased Chill Wills.
Reviews of Short Films
Coisa de Alguém
Paulo Peralta @ CinEuphoria [Portuguese]
- Excerpt: Portuguese Short Film Review
Dirty Laundry
Paulo Peralta @ CinEuphoria [Portuguese]
- Excerpt: US Short Film Review
Oscar-nominated Animated Shorts
Sarah Gopaul @ Digital Journal
- Excerpt: This year’s nominees for the animated shorts category at the Academy Awards illustrate the genre’s ability to reflect and entertain.
Oscar-nominated Documentary Shorts
Sarah Gopaul @ Digital Journal
Oscar-nominated Live Action Shorts
Sarah Gopaul @ Digital Journal
- Excerpt: The five live action shorts nominated by the Academy Awards this year vary greatly from each other, but are all commendable in their distinctiveness.
Other Articles
Film Critics Predict Oscar Winners
Betty Jo Tucker @ Movie Addict Headquarters
- Excerpt: A podcast discussion featuring Nell Minow, A.J. Hakari and James Colt Harrison.
Monday Memo: WNET Gets Blowback From Filmmakers, Sundance Coverage Continues To Filter In
The Morning After: Feb. 16, 2015
- Excerpt: A short review of “The Theory of Everything”
