Written by Erin Elizabeth Fraser Bollywood is a multi-million dollar industry, with millions of fans around the world, but in North America these movies generally play to a niche audience. As The Pulp’s resident Bollywood expert, which is to say … Continue reading Boozy Bollywood: Krrish 3 (2013)
Written by Allan Mott For many people, the key aspect of enjoying a murder mystery comes from being successfully kept in the dark. Clues are given, but in such a way that the author is still able to convincingly surprise us when the murderer’s identity is revealed at the end. But—more often than not—this is done clumsily and most intelligent viewers can spot who the killer is long before the story takes us there. Done properly, it’s like a magic trick performed by a master. With clever misdirection, the storyteller is able to pull off a bravura coup de grace … Continue reading Don’t Fear the Spoiler (or How The Last of Sheila Taught Me That the Twists Don’t Matter)
I remember when it first hit Twitter. “They’re closing Studio Ghibli.” The first Studio Ghibli film I saw was Princess Mononoke. It was a VHS tape that an enthusiast had burned English subtitles onto using the Japanese laserdisc as a source. … Continue reading Flying Dreams and Moats of Poison
Written by Allan Mott In 1979, Allan Arkush had been working with Roger Corman for several years. He started with his friend, Joe Dante, editing trailers before moving on to direct Hollywood Boulevard in 1976 and the Death Race 2000 … Continue reading One Too Many: Rock ‘n’ Roll High School Forever (1991)
Written by Matt Bowes It was recently announced that Fox plans to remake the cult musical film The Rocky Horror Picture Show this year as a TV special, as part of a 40th anniversary celebration. Rocky Horror is a beloved … Continue reading Why Haven’t You Watched This Yet? Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
Written by Russ Dobler When I first heard about Birdman, the directorial tour de force of critically-acclaimed filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, I was excited. Admittedly, that was because I initially hoped it would be a big screen adaptation of the … Continue reading Why Did No One Tell Me “Birdman” Is a Self-Righteous Polemic?
Written by Matt Bowes Whether or not you’ve actually been to Los Angeles doesn’t matter. We’ve all gone there, together really, in two-hour increments delivered to us by Hollywood filmmakers. We all have our own idea of Los Angeles in … Continue reading Why Haven’t You Watched This Yet? Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)
Written by Matt Bowes It’s almost like a Zen koan. If a movie studio makes a sequel to a past hit, but casts a different actor in the starring role and doesn’t actually tell anyone that the two films are connected, is it still a sequel? History is filled with scripts to sequels that never got made and were retrofitted to become original projects (for example, this year should finally see the release of the long-delayed Solace, a film whose script development began as Ei8ht, a sequel to Se7en that David Fincher ultimately rejected), as well as franchises that continued … Continue reading One Too Many: Avenging Force (1986)
Written by Erin Fraser As a cinephile I have a love/hate relationship with the Academy Awards. On one hand, for one night the general public seems to care about film as much as I do, but on the other, the … Continue reading Magical Girls Don’t Always Win Oscars
Written by Matt Bowes I spoke a little bit about filming “unfilmable novels” when I talked about Watchmen, but even by the standards of author David Mitchell’s work, Cloud Atlas probably shouldn’t have been the first to become a movie. … Continue reading For Your Reconsideration: Cloud Atlas (2012)
