

Revenge Coldly Served
One of the chief pleasures of Alejandro Iñárritu’s much-lauded Birdman is the film’s vision of New York City. The slice of that...


The Hype Awakens
The blockbuster film was invented by George Lucas and 20th Century Fox in 1977, and, like all American institutions, the concept has...


Star Wars Revisited (Part 2)
I grew up in the nineties and early 2000s. I am, by all definitions of the word, a millennial, a peculiar if not entirely inaccurate...

Violent Advantages
This season of Fargo enters its second act with a bang, or, more specifically, the crack of a high powered rifle shot. The shootout in...

Communication Breakdown/Premonitions of War
This week’s episode of Fargo, titled “Fear and Trembling,” reinforces the second season’s focus on family. The Gerhardts, the Blomquists,...


Cinematic Zodiac Extra: Halloween Edition
Like science fiction, horror is a genre that derives its unreality from real aspects of our moderns lives. Whereas the best science...

Alien(ated) Labor
This week’s episode of Fargo is titled “The Myth of Sisyphus,” after, assumedly, the underworld fate of that eponymous Greek hero....


Midwestern Marital Values
Marriage is the fundamental unit of American society. It is the most common legal agreement between two people, and tracking the progress...


Able Was I Ere I Saw (Idris) Elba
Simplicity in fiction is a virtue. The greatest novels and films have premises that can be aptly captured in terse statements: Leopold...


Back in the 70s....
One of the defining moments of my cinematic life was my mother showing me the Coen Brothers’ film Fargo when I was twelve years old. Her...