Flipside Movie Emporium

mfritschel · Posted: 06.27.2003 12:43 am Post subject: magazines

I know that this is a topic from the past message board, but since it no longer exists I was wondering again what type of film magazines everyone reads. Personally I am looking for a magazine that leans more to the scholarly research and stuff, and was just wondering what everyone's input on the topic was.

beltmann · Posted: 06.27.2003 1:01 am Post subject:

Hi Matt,

I'm a faithful reader of London's Sight and Sound, which does a wonderful job surveying world cinema, and offers a different perspective on American film than we're used to. It's a journal of record so it is much more academic than, say, Premiere. Still, it's very readable and accessible. I highly recommend it.

I've also been a Film Quarterly subscriber for a decade. It's a scholarly journal from Berkeley's University of California Press. One of the things I most appreciate about it is the attention it gives to books about film, offering brief, knowledgeable reviews about current lit in the field. I usually base my summer reading from their listings!

Of course there's also Film Comment, Cinema Journal, Film Criticism, Film History, Jump Cut, October, Quarterly Review of Film Studies, Persistence of Vision, and Wide Angle, all scholarly pubs.

Slightly less academic are Filmmaker, The Independent, and Scenario. There's also a bounty of film writing on the Web.

Eric

the night watchman · Posted: 06.27.2003 1:20 am Post subject:

Fango!

beltmann · Posted: 06.27.2003 3:36 am Post subject:

Hi Matt,

I just finished reading a wonderful, insightful review of A.I. Artificial Intelligence in the Winter issue of Film Quarterly. If the purpose of reading criticism is to locate new perceptions, then this article is worth perusing. Unfortunately, you won't find this level of writing in mainstream pubs, primarily because most of them have a vested interest in perpetuating Hollywood's notions/mythology of what matters in film.

I know you're about to watch the movie--let me know and I'll make a copy of the article for you.

Eric

mfritschel · Posted: 07.08.2003 12:12 am Post subject: article

Hey Eric,

I would love if you could make a copy of that article for me. By the way I loved the movie AI, especially many of the different ethical and moral questions it raised. Like the use of using a person that is trained to love someone, and does that relationship really produce love or is it more like say the relationship between a pet and its owner. But then again I guess the child and mother relationship is as much like a dog and master then like the relationship between two people, say husband and wife. In one case you have loved obtained through the providing of substance, were you might love the person simply because they feed you and you do not know any better. While on the other hand, many would argue that you have more choice in who you marry and it takes on an almost more conscious choice, then love through sustance type of relationship that is afore mentioned. Does the new reliace on technology really replace the grieving cycle, like its suppose to in the movie, and then of course the great moral question of what happens when the real son returns? Well I guess that's enough ranting for now.

beltmann · Posted: 07.08.2003 4:18 am Post subject:

Here's a wonderfully intelligent review of the film, by Jonathan Rosenbaum:

http://www.chireader.com/movies/archives/2001/0107/010713.html

Eric

matt header · Posted: 07.08.2003 7:11 am Post subject:

I think "A.I. Artificial Intelligence" is Spielberg's third best film, after "Jaws" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Just my two cents - I hope "A.I." will become a cult classic and gain a worthy reputation as incredibly complex sci-fi filmmaking.

beltmann · Posted: 07.17.2003 9:14 pm Post subject:

No Schindler's List, Matt? I agree that all three you named--Jaws, Close Encounters, A.I.--rank among Spielberg's best, but I think Schindler's and A.I. are a cut above his other work. They linger in the imagination and the intellect.

Eric

matt header · Posted: 07.18.2003 12:05 am Post subject:

"Schindler's List" would have to be a close number four. I've seen it twice now, and the second time its power increased even more, which surprised me. Its creativity and its passion continue to impress me, and the slightly unfair reason why I'd place it after "Jaws," "A.I.," or "Close Encounters" is because I've seen those three films at least five times each, and I feel a fond sense of magic rush through my bones whenever I start watching them. I think if I watch "Schindler's List" a few more times - which I really should do - I'd guess that order might get jumbled a bit. I would say, though, that "Schindler's List" is one of the best movies of the 1990's (that I've seen).

Matt