We live in interesting times: the second decade of the new millennium has been an unpredictable one, with a number of completely unexpected cultural events happening (the successful revival of nearly every popular franchise from 30 years ago, and some of the most popular shows on television being graphic TV-MA shows among them, and of course Trump’s election). Perhaps as… Read more »
“People are perverts… that’s pretty much been the basis of my career, anyway.” This quote by American director David Fincher perfectly sums up his oeuvre. In his movies, he thematizes the darkest places of human abysses and perverted behavior in morbid societies. Few directors have such a strong vision and cinematic trademark as him, which makes a ranking of his… Read more »
One of the most highly polarising auteurs of contemporary cinema, the Hungarian-born writer-director Béla Tarr has nevertheless delivered some of the most resounding films to ever come from Europe. Making nine features in a career spanning nearly four decades, Tarr’s style has definitely evolved over time. Starting in the Budapest school movement (1972-1984) – often compared to cinema vérité (itself… Read more »
The audience for dark, disturbing horror films is so small that every time an extreme title is released, it automatically attains cult status. Needless to say, we are not talking about mainstream studio fare here: most of these pictures either hail from overseas or were made on budgets so slender that they wouldn’t cover Batman V Superman’s catering bill. There’s… Read more »
Though the Academy Awards shut out the film thanks to an unreceptive public and an early March release, the stature of David Fincher’s Zodiac has only increased since its release a decade ago. Cinephiles and mainstream filmgoers alike know Fincher’s name. His auteuristic artistry and his proclivity for a certain kind of chilling, pulpy adult escapism make him largely appealing… Read more »
Movie recommendation lists are never easy to make, as famous movies don’t need introductions, particularly on a website like Taste of Cinema. Obscure movies sound more appealing, but sometimes you just can’t take the risk of watching a movie you have never even heard of before. So the best way to do it is to recommend lesser-known movies that have… Read more »
Usually considered the decade that ushered in the era of paranoia in mainstream entertainment, the 1950s also brought kitsch to the screen in a series of cheap, campy monster movies. While serious filmgoers pondered the threat of alien invasion presented in such serious-minded fare as The Thing From Another World and War Of The Worlds, Attack Of The 50ft Woman… Read more »
By and large, most sequels are superfluous. For every great story arc-expanding sequel like The Godfather 2 or The Dark Knight that comes along, we usually get about 20 movies like Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, Son of the Mask, Speed 2: Cruise Control and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps that were made solely to capitalize on the financial… Read more »
One of many cinema aspirations is the examination process of the creation of psychological ties between movie characters. It is worth noticing this is not only the aim of realistic or psychological movies, but also any movie that wants to honestly show interpersonal relationships, to justify often controversial choices, and to bring many different types of relationships to the audience… Read more »
If the Sharknado franchise tells you anything about horror movies, it’s that gore, sleaze and gratuitous nudity have given way to bad CGI, lame gags and celebrity cameos. Instead of watching a man in a rubber suit carry off a bikinied Playmate Of The Month, today’s audiences are captivated by the sudden appearance of David Hasselhoff. If you’re going to… Read more »
New Zealand’s Peter Jackson is a film director that was brought to the attention of most modern cinema goers by his adaptations of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, but whilst so many are familiar with only his epic fantasy flicks, his oeuvre is actually a surprisingly varied one. He may not have made as many films as one… Read more »
The following list should actually be retitled as “7 Great Films from the 1980s No One Talks About Plus 3 Films Which Hold a Cult Status and Have Already Appeared in Taste of Cinema Articles at Least Once”, but that would be a little bit overlong, wouldn’t it? Jokes aside, the ten features included here are so varied that even… Read more »
Since the very first Planet of the Apes film was released in 1968, the Apes series has always been a part of pop culture. Based on a book called ‘La Planete des Singes’, also known as Monkey Planet in English. When Arthur P. Jacobs bought the film rights and then spent over 3 years trying to convince a studio to… Read more »
When asked about his favorite movies, Al Pacino momentarily drew a blank. In contrast, when Damien Chazelle was asked the same question, he had a ready answer. Okay, maybe it’s just old age, but the point is, directors are movie junkies from the get-go. Why else would they be directors, right? Ask Quentin Tarantino or Martin Scorsese and their eyes… Read more »
Kim Jee-woon is probably the most successful filmmaker working in South Korea at the moment, with his films presenting a combination of artistry and entertainment rarely seen on screen. Kim was born in 1964 in Seoul and initially he worked in the theater, first as an actor and then as a director, before making the transition to cinema in 1998… Read more »
Quentin Tarantino is undoubtedly one of the most iconic and influential film makers of modern times. He has brought to the cinematic world an unmistakable auteur style that has rightfully been called Tarantinoesque. The adjective has been applied to many different films of the 21st century that seem to mimic the great director. Blood, violence, pop-culture references and incredible music… Read more »
