Articles Tagged Vietnam War

Viet Kong: Aping America’s Heart of Darkness

“The word remake is anachronistic to the degree to which our awareness of the preexistence of other versions (previous films of the novel as well as the novel itself) is now a constitutive and essential part of the film’s structure: we are now, in other words, in “intertextuality” as a deliberate, built-in feature of the […]

PODCAST: Plato’s Cave – 21st April

This week on Plato’s Cave the team review the Academy Award-nominated documentary, Dirty Wars, the latest film from director Jim Jarmusch, Only Lovers Left Alive plus the DreamWorks Animation exhibition at ACMI. With Thomas Caldwell, Cerise Howard and Josh Nelson. Plato’s Cave – 21st April Episode (.MP3)

PODCAST: Plato’s Cave – September 24th

This week on Plato’s Cave the team turn a critical eye over the similarly-themed films, A Hijacking (Kapringen), The East and the 2002 documentary, The Weather Underground. With Josh Nelson, Thomas Caldwell and Tara Judah. Plato’s Cave – September 24th Episode (.MP3)

PODCAST: ABC 774 – September 13th

This week on Friday Film, Raf and I discuss Australian director Kim Mordaunt’s film, The Rocket and the documentary, Salinger. Plus, talkback on ‘films that inspired you’ on Drive with Rafael Epstein on 774 ABC Melbourne. ABC 774 – September 13th Episode (.MP3)

REVIEW: Taxi Driver

Thirty-five years after it claimed the Palme d’Or for best feature film at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival, Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver remains a landmark work of cinema. An iconic depiction of loneliness, violence and urban alienation, Scorsese’s film stands out within that period of American cinema during the late 1960s and 1970s often referred […]

REVIEW: Flooding with Love for the Kid

At a time when popular culture is increasingly preoccupied with smug self-parody, ironic pastiche or cynical commercialism, Zachary Oberzan’s Flooding with Love for the Kid is something of a rarity; an earnest labour of love. And though his film mightn’t be the first to adapt First Blood (1972), David Morrell’s novel of a Vietnam veteran […]

REVIEW: 1968 Tunnel Rats

In a career that spans more than twenty movies to date, Uwe Boll is singularly renowned for one thing: his remarkable lack of talent. The German-born director with an affinity for video-game adaptations (House of the Dead, BloodRayne) has been the subject of online petitions calling for his ‘retirement’, and once fought (and defeated) a […]

FEATURE: The Spectre of Violence

Violence in cinema has often provided a reliable wellspring for political controversy, religious condemnation, and served as an easy target for public outrage. While it may have passed under the radars of most politicians and moral guardians (at least for the moment ‘real’ violence seems a much more profitable cite for political gain), the release […]