Lectures are being abandoned in favour of “flipped” classes, with lots of short videos and quizzes. But the lecture format has merits that shouldn’t be overlooked.
Former detention centre detainee, Shafiq Monis, and his daughter Mahidya.
Image courtesy of Steve Thomas
Over 13 years and three films, director Steve Thomas has been following the stories of people who have arrived in Australia as asylum seekers. What has he learned? Read on …
Brian Wilson’s music – the subject of Love & Mercy – is like a lesson we relearn each time we listen.
Francois Duhamel/image.net
Much like the music of the man it’s based on, Love & Mercy is beautiful, complex, somewhat melancholy, and thought-provoking. It also teaches us some things about creative genius, innovation, and art.
3D films had a strange effect on Jason.
Shutterstock
While his bodybuilder’s physique was important for embodying larger than life, “All-American” action heroes, what makes Schwarzenegger distinctive is his peculiar vocal performances in these roles.
Spoiler: big fish eats a few people then gets killed.
Universal Studios
40 years ago, Steven Spielberg’s shark attack classic wowed cinemagoers and ushered in the modern blockbuster. It also helped create a climate from which horror has yet to recover.
Christopher Lee, who died on June 7, was one of the greatest character actors to have ever appeared on screen, even after fleeing Castle Dracula for the hills of Hollywood.
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 brings Eisenstein to ferocious life in Mexico.
Submarine
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?
Should the offset for screen producers apply to all films made in Australia? Yes, even the ones that ruffle a few feathers.
mark sebastian/Flickr
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.
Films such as Avatar idealise indigenous people as Noble Savages, enjoying simple and uncorrupted lifestyles until contact with colonisers.
Nicole Hanusek
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.
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.
A second teaser for The Force Awakens has been released – a gift for the truly devoted.
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?