John Carpenter's The Thing is a great work of art.
There have been many different attempts to define what makes great art over the years. Here are a few examples.
1.
Great art is Imitation: The greatest level of achievement in art is to be as realistic as possible. Or to defy reality as much as possible, to exaggerate, to be utterly alien.
2.
Great art is Good Mechanics: That the work put into the craft and mechanics of art…
"Excuse me, who are you?"
Few things on this planet are as terrifying as fame.
No film has captured that terror better or more accurately than today's five star Halloween horror review!
Satoshi Kon's surrealist animated nightmare: Perfect Blue.
Perfect Blue deals with a mildly famous JPOP idol named Mima who leaves her band to chase the goal of an acting career. Seen as a sellout by some of the more terrifying members of her fan-base Mima encounters threats, harassment…
Stunning confession: I'm a dirty, filthy Kamen Rider casual.
I know a few people who are huge Kamen Rider maniacs. I know people who did stunts in Kamen Rider shows. I know people who made their own Kamen Rider style shows and even made their own low-budget Kamen Rider fan-films. They got all the toy belts, know all the different iterations of the character off by heart and shout "Henshin" and do a cool pose and look awesome. They are…
I would love more opulent, crazed Victorian horror films in the vein of Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula.
That version of Dracula is one of the most visually intense, best constructed horror films ever made and nearly every minute of it has been iconic and printed onto the public consciousness since it was first released. It is endlessly invoked, endlessly parodied, endlessly given nods from other films. It's one of those movies that is just everywhere you look.
Last Voyage of…
Have you ever seen the painting by Magritte called the Treachery of Images? It shows a pipe and underneath it says "This is not a pipe."
Because it isn't a pipe. It's a picture of a pipe.
A representation of a thing, is not a thing. A painting of a chair is not a chair. It is a painting.
I often hear people ask "Why are we so lonely when we're so connected by the internet?!"
The answer is obvious.…
One third of the average human experience is spent in a dream.
When you factor in day-dreaming, fantasies, masturbation, role-playing, recreational drugs and artistic expression, you could say that a good deal of us spend most of our lives living outside of the world that we consider to be 'real'.
And for most of us, that is not nearly enough time.
To this end, enter the master of psychological anime Satoshi Kon with his last (and I feel his best)…
