2,076 words

Director Alexandre O. Philippe has followed up his 2017 documentary on the shower scene in Psycho (78/52: Hitchcock’s Shower Scene) with Memory: The Origins of Alien, a documentary on the creation of Alien that attempts to chart the film’s wide-ranging influences and explore its mythic resonance. The result is an underwhelming muddle that lacks direction and often retreads old ground, particularly in an overlong segment on the chestburster scene. (more…)

3,695 words

Part 2 of 2 (Part 1 here)

The Advantage of the Other

In 1683 the troops of the Ottoman Empire marched to the gates of Vienna, in the very heart of Europe. Their intention was clear: sack the city, rape and kill the inhabitants, and use it as a staging base for their expansion into the rest of Christendom. Although the Poles under John III Sobieski saved the day, (more…)

3,264 words

Part 1 of 2

For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
–1 Timothy 6:10 (KJV) (more…)