American Film Studies Commons^™

Impressive Failures: Mavericks Of Film Authorship And The Impossibility Of Success In Hollywood, Tom S. Davies

All Graduate Works by Year: Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation directly challenges the critical and commercial primacy of success attached to Hollywood films and their filmmakers, especially when one argues for or against their quality and/or importance within cinematic history. Through a process of shifting and multiplying perspectives within a broader narrative that is critical of what separates success and failure, certain films and filmmakers that were judged as failures or disappointments under impossible prerequisites of creating a successful film––commercially, aesthetically, or both–– are, instead, reconsidered as constructive counterpoints to the expectations of the Hollywood economic field of production as well as to the inevitable disappointment ...

Wonder Woman (Movie Review), Joshua Matthews

Faculty Work: Comprehensive List

"'I used to want to save the world, but I knew so little then.'” So says Diana the Amazon in the opening of Wonder Woman, a movie that mixes the worlds of comic books, World War I, and ancient Greek myths."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­the movie Wonder Woman from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

http://inallthings.org/wonder-woman/

King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword (Movie Review), Donald Roth

Faculty Work: Comprehensive List

"First, I really liked this movie, and, second, I think it says something really interesting about the nature of evil."

Posting about the movie King Arthur: Legend of the Sword from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

http://inallthings.org/king-arthur-legend-of-the-sword/

The Case For Christ (Movie Review), Joshua Matthews

Faculty Work: Comprehensive List

"The Case for Christ tries to present a rational defense of Christ’s death and resurrection."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­the movie The Case for Christ from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

http://inallthings.org/the-case-for-christ/

The Circle (Movie Review), Joshua Matthews

Faculty Work: Comprehensive List

"The prevailing point in The Circle is that privacy-eliminating technology exemplifies a growing, heinous class division in American society."

Posting about the movie The Circle from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

http://inallthings.org/the-circle/

She Would Not Be Silenced: Mae West's Struggle Against Censorship, Charlotte N. Toledo

The Downtown Review

Mae West, an actress during Hollywood's Golden Age, used her fame on stage, in films, and on the radio to offer social commentary on relationships between men and women in society. Her irreverent style of addressing issues of female sexuality and power certainly caught peoples attention and made them think about these issues in new ways. At the same time, her racy delivery made her a target of stage, film, and radio censorship. She refused to be silenced and continually pushed against restrictions to deliver he message of empowerment in her trademark provocative manner.

Life (Movie Review), Joshua Matthews

Faculty Work: Comprehensive List

"Given the name 'Life,' the title of this new outer-space science-fiction thriller, I was looking for a grand artistic gesture."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­the movie Life from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

http://inallthings.org/life/

The Shack (Movie Review), Joshua Matthews

Faculty Work: Comprehensive List

"[The Shack] deals head-on with the vexing questions of why a good God allows evil to exist and why people have to suffer."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­the movie The Shack from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

http://inallthings.org/the-shack/

Hell Or High Water: Tattered And Familiar, Bob De Smith

Faculty Work: Comprehensive List

"Turns out the hell or high water of the title is less about lines in the sand than it is about commitments."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­the movie Hell or High Water from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

http://inallthings.org/hell-or-high-water-tattered-and-familiar/

Religion And Violence In Jesse James Films, 1972–2010, Travis Warren Cooper

Journal of Religion & Film

This essay analyzes recent depictions of Jesse James in cinema, examining filmic portrayals of the figure between the years of 1972 and 2010. Working from the intersection of the anthropology of film and religious studies approaches to popular culture, the essay fills significant gaps in the study of James folklore. As no substantial examinations of the religious aspects of the James myths exist, I hone in on the legend’s religiosity as contested in filmic form. Films, including revisionist Westerns, are not unlike oral-history statements recorded and analyzed by anthropologists, folklorists, and ethnographers. Jesse James movies, in other words, have ...

How To Attain Liberation From A False World? The Gnostic Myth Of Sophia In Dark City (1998), Fryderyk Kwiatkowski

Journal of Religion & Film

In the second half of the 20th century, a fascinating revival of ancient Gnostic ideas in American popular culture could be observed. One of the major streams through which Gnostic ideas are transmitted is Hollywood cinema. Many works that emerged at the end of 1990s can be viewed through the ideas of ancient Gnostic systems: The Truman Show (1998), The Thirteenth Floor (1999), The Others (2001), Vanilla Sky (2001) or The Matrix trilogy (1999-2003).

In this article, the author analyses Dark City (1998) and demonstrates that the story depicted in the film is heavily indebted to the Gnostic myth of ...

The Escape From Cool, Pu Hsin Huang

English 100 & 200 Conference

No abstract provided.

Filthy, Ryan Courtney

English 100 & 200 Conference

No abstract provided.

"Beauty And The Beast", Joshua Matthews

Faculty Work: Comprehensive List

"There are two movies here, neither of which get along well with the other."

Posting about the movie Beauty and the Beast from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

http://inallthings.org/beauty-and-the-beast/

Logan, Joshua Matthews

Faculty Work: Comprehensive List

"It could well be that Logan is the best superhero movie of 2017, or even the best of the last five years."

Posting about the movie Logan from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/logan/

Silence: A Movie Review, Joshua Matthews

Faculty Work: Comprehensive List

"Scorsese has made his most 'Christian' movie here—at least, overtly Christian. Silence says in a hundred creative ways that God is Not Dead, although not, thankfully, in the title."

Posting about a 2017 Academy Awards Best Achievement in Cinematography nominee ­­­­­­­­ from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/silence-a-movie-review/

La La Land: A Musical For Everyone, Marta Vander Top

Student Work

"I think the simplicity of this film is what makes it brilliant. It’s nostalgic, it’s vibrant, and it’s for all of us."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­a 2017 Academy Awards Best Picture nominee from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/la-la-land-a-musical-for-everyone/

Hacksaw Ridge: A Movie Review, Joshua Matthews

Faculty Work: Comprehensive List

“'Hacksaw Ridge' is a rare bird among war movies, neither pro- nor anti-war."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­a 2017 Academy Awards Best Picture nominee from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/hacksaw-ridge-a-movie-review/

Taking My Daughter To Hidden Figures, Howard Schaap

Faculty Work: Comprehensive List

"For me, Hidden Figures is most important as a beginning. It made me want to talk with my daughter about the conditions it takes to create more Katherine Goble Johnsons, Dorothy Vaughans, and Mary Jacksons."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­a 2017 Academy Awards Best Picture nominee from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/taking-my-daughter-to-hidden-figures/

Manchester By The Sea: A Movie Review, Joshua Matthews

Faculty Work: Comprehensive List

"Manchester by the Sea is one of those rare realistic movies that seems like a documentary, as if the movie screen were a window onto lives elsewhere."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­a 2017 Academy Awards Best Picture nominee from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/manchester-by-the-sea-a-movie-review/