Most of us are familiar with the National Lampoon films of the 70s and 80s. But this documentary offers insight into the magazine of the same name and the questionable dynamics of modern satire.
Peter Greenaway’s new biopic of the famed Soviet director depicts a period spent in Mexico and an affair that – in Greenaway’s telling – had a transformative effect on Eisenstein’s output.
The Doof Warrior in Mad Max: Fury Road is a red-jumpsuited, masked guitarist, bungee-strapped to the front of the Doof Wagon, a massive, mobile speaker stack, replete with on-board drummers. What’s not to love?
David Court, Australian Film, Television and Radio School
The producers of a creationist doc took advantage of Screen Australia’s tax offsets. Were they exploiting a loophole? Hardly – and there’s good reason why producers of all films should enjoy such benefits.
The current climate is inviting us to conceive of Baltimore not as a place where the law doesn’t work but, more radically, as an example of Italian legal philosopher Giorgio Agamben’s “state of exception”.
While MasterChef might teach us a lot about food and food trends, it also glosses over some of the harsher realities of the industry that produces this food. What’s the secret to its sudden ratings boost?
In a recent study, of the 53 films watched that had at least one anthropologist as a character, just under half belonged to the horror genre. Why should that be the case? And how were indigenous peoples in those films portrayed?
There are metal spikes, sadistic implements of torture galore, massive machine guns mounted on the top of buggies, jeeps, motorcycles, and more leather than a Judas Priest concert. But does it work?
Éidín Ní Shé, University of Technology Sydney and Jessie Lymn, University of Technology Sydney
Showing the “impact” of arts and cultural events is ever more important. But defining and measuring that impact requires long-term tracking and customised tools.
The producers of this series are doing what public service media are tasked to do – making the marginal visible, including the excluded, putting poverty on the public agenda.
Once upon a time heroes were solitary creatures but in Age of Ultron the Avengers jostle for space on the screen. Equipped with all manner of weapons and special powers, they are odd advocates for tranquility.
Avengers: Age of Ultron, released this week, is one of many superhero films destined for the multiplex in the coming months and years. What’s behind this trend? And what kind of villain would be powerful enough to stop it in its tracks?
David Court, Australian Film, Television and Radio School
We know the transformation of global media technologies pose particular challenges to local filmmakers – and that the rewards are still slim. But there are good reasons to be optimistic about the future of the industry.
With four episodes leaked before the launch of the current Game of Thrones season, illegal downloaders face a quandary: binge now, or hang on and enjoy the weekly water-cooler chats at work.
Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art is hosting the exhibition, David Lynch: Between Two Worlds, until June 7. It’s an opportunity to explore the connections between all the elements of Lynch’s artistic output.