Ode to the Cheap Theater

In between the summer blockbuster and November’s prestige pictures lies a dead zone at the local cinema. And while the new tv season offers one relief, OV film writer Mike Davin makes a case for the local cheap theater, which “helpfully preserves all the film offerings you didn’t quite want to make the effort to see.”

A Bergman in Barcelona, Woody Allen Triumphs

Each time Woody Allen appears to be at the end of his creative life (2005’s classic Match Point, followed meekly by 2006’s Scoop and 2007’s Cassandra’s Dream), the comic savant surprises his audience. As Justin McNeil reports, Vicky Cristina Barcelona is exactly one part Bergman, one part Greek tragedy. And it’s a blistering success.

Republican and Democratic Conventions Are Boring Television

Obsolete Vernacular editor Michael Grandone wonders, what is the point of these party’s conventions? Nothing gets accomplished there. So it must be about the television- which yields dismal results.

What a Mess

A wax dummy of The Pope living under the staircase? Schwarzenegger sculpted as “The Thinker”? Missiles as coffeetables, a diorama of JFK’s assasination, and Mao everywhere? The director of Independence Day and 10,000 B.C. has left us speechless, with his gawdy, politically themed man-pad. Confused? Just click here. (PGJ).

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The Brutal, Beautiful Cinema of Johnny To

If you’re looking for contemporary, digital-free Noir-fare, in the grandest tradition of 40s Hollywood, you better look abroad. Specifically to Hong Kong. There, Johnny To is making smokey, moody pieces that only make Americans jealous. Justin McNeil reports on To’s latest.

It’s Summer. Turn Off the TV.

Senior writer Mike Davin has not seen many of the new summer reality shows. But he has a good idea what they’re all about. In an original commentary, Davin takes us from The Singing Office to the Baby Borrowers and back again.

Can a TV Show Ever Make a Good Movie?

The transition from the serial to feature format is a tough one, and few television shows (if any) manage to reproduce what makes them special in the movie theaters. OV writer Mike Davin argues that bigger is not always better when it comes to the small to big screen conversion.