Originally published via the Untitled Magazine on December 3rd, 2020. Mank is a phenomenal piece of cinema, but it is not a very entertaining movie. What David Fincher has achieved is a sweeping parlor trick that satirizes the majesty of Hollywood’s … Read More
SELECTED FILM WRITING
Ana Lily Amirpour’s ‘Ride It Out’ Belongs in a Time Capsule
Originally published in the Untitled Magazine on October 21st, 2020. During a 2017 interview with Berlinale Talents, 40-year-old writer/director Ana Lily Amirpour (A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, The Bad Batch) described the year after she had graduated from UCLA as … Read More
Upon the 10th Anniversary of ‘Batman Begins’
I went to see Batman Begins alone in an empty theater that had a max cap of fewer than 300 seats. I knew nothing about movies and even less about directors. I made no connection between Christopher Nolan and the … Read More
Tracing the Spielbergian Parallels Between ‘Jurassic Park’ & ‘Jaws’
Originally published via the Untitled Magazine on February 15th, 2015. Assuming you have seen the one-minute Jurassic World trailer that ran during the Super Bowl – and, let’s be honest, who hasn’t? – you know it opens on a clip featuring a five-ton Mosasaurus swallowing a great … Read More
Sissy Spacek @ 65
Originally published in the Untitled Magazine on December 15, 2014. The story of Sissy Spacek is a story based on family. It is the story of a poor girl, from Texas, a shy girl, a homecoming queen. It is the … Read More
7 Iconic Directors & Their 7 Iconic Movies
Originally published via the Untitled Magazine on October 22nd, 2014. There comes a point in every budding director’s career, usually a few movies in, where the circumstances align to allow for a breakthrough. The backing is there, the level of … Read More
Classic Capsule: Shadow of The Vampire
“My film is not about Vietnam. My film is Vietnam.” This is what Francis Ford Coppola told reporters at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival. Coppola was referring to Apocalypse Now, a movie that had left him on the preening edge … Read More