film criticism by maryann johanson | celebrating 25 years: 1997–2022
Honestly, it’s tough to think of many films that do a good job of this! But Tod Browning’s controversial 1932 film Freaks might be, at least, better than many others.
Cold War propaganda that is weirdly apolitical. Sunny, breezy homoeroticism that is surely unintentional. What a hoot this is! Mostly not in a good way, but its impact on pop culture cannot be denied.
Why, or why not? What aspects of your work that most people may not be aware of would contribute to effective and entertaining comedy or drama?
No spoilers here, if you’re in the U.K. and you’ve been good and won’t see this episode till tonight, when it finally airs on BBC One. There are no spoilers because there’s pretty much no way to spoil this episode: it’s all setup… all the setup we’ve already heard about.
I’ve been avoiding posting, as Doctor Who Things of the Day, any news about Doctor Who cast members that isn’t actually related to Doctor Who. But this photo has been knocking around in my head for a week, and I just figured out why…
Is “quality” now something that only a niche audience found on cable wants? What happened in less than 20 years, since the early 1990s, to so significantly alter the television landscape? And will things ever go back to the way they were?
It’s been almost a quarter of a century since this groundbreaking series graced our screens so briefly, but my memories of it have never faded, so great was the impact it had on my nerdy young brain…
I’m sure many of us have fantasized about working someplace interesting and/or exciting — maybe even someplace completely fictional — that we’ve seen on television or in a movie. But did you ever put that imaginary job on your resume? One guy in England did (via the Mirror): Fantasist Greig Ferguson got a medic’s job … more…
We know how it is: You’d like to go to the movies this weekend, except your kid is sick and the doctors don’t know what you do about it, so you’re gonna be busy revolutionizing medical science in your garage. But you can have a multiplex-like experience at home with a collection of the right … more…
As pure drama, these are still fascinating to watch, especially to see the early work of some now very famous names. But as a look at what TV was doing half a century ago, it’s riveting.
