Essays & Film Reviews

Professor Coleman Published in Image Journal

July 31, 2017 | Cinema & New Media Arts Bearden Coleman, associate professor of Cinema, Media Arts, and Writing, was recently published in a film-focused issue of Image Journal. The essay, as part of a series of articles about the films that help you live better, takes a closer look at Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master and the way it helps viewers see the world more clearly and honestly.

Cinema of Malick: Capturing Augustinian Beauty

July 6, 2015 | Elisha Bonnette One of the most common descriptions applied to Terrence Malick’s films is that they are beautiful, and with good reason. His strict adherence to a set of dogma-inspired rules for cinematography shines through in his later films, while his attention to nature lays a peaceful groundwork for all of his films...

Films of Lucas: Redemption of the Father

June 25, 2015 | Charissa Fenton From Darth Vader’s infamous line “I am your father” to the dynamic interplay of Indiana Jones and Henry Jones Sr., father-son relationships have played an integral part in George Lucas’ most famous films. “Almost all of our films are about fathers and sons,” Lucas once commented, referring also to the works of his longtime friend and collaborator...

Cinema of Malick: Eliot and the Discipline of Art

June 23, 2015 | Mary Kate Reynolds I think that Terrence Malick understands art as a kind of discipline, and one place where he shows what art should do is by showing discipline with the wrong objectives. In The Tree of Life, there is a difficult scene where the dad gets angry at his sons at the dinner table, seemingly for being disrespectful...

Films of Lucas: The Master and the Apprentice

June 20, 2015 | Meaghan Kelly 5 Obi-Wan Kenobi is one of the most pivotal characters in the entire Star Wars saga. A strong argument exists that Obi-Wan not only plays a critical part in helping Luke reject the Dark Side, but long before that is also influential in pushing Anakin away from the Light. Both Anakin and his son are under Obi-Wan’s training, yet one falls and the other does not...

Cinema of Malick: Tarkovsky’s Disruption of the Soul

June 13, 2015 | Joshua McCrary Terrence Malick is an unconventional filmmaker. In a time when mainstream American cinema lives and dies by its entertainment value, and independent cinema is still trying to get out from under it, Malick is one of the few American directors who doesn’t seem to care if you’re entertained...

The Cinema of Capra, Part 3: Guts & Stardust

May 30, 2015 | Charissa Fenton Art is a homily, or at least it can be for the artist who strives to show truth, goodness, and beauty in his work. In our modern world, where Christian films are often stereotyped and written off as preachy, sentimental, unrealistic, and corny it might be a good idea to take a look back at a man whose films were nicknamed “Capracorn” for some of the very same reasons...

Films of Lucas: Beyond East Meets West

May 26, 2015 | Joshua McCrary Star Wars has always revolved around the convergence of disparate cultures, both in the vast and eclectic worlds that the story spans and in the series’ aesthetic and thematic influences. When Star Wars premiered in 1977 it was the best possible version of the East-West crossover film, drawing from the lore and imagery of both classic samurai films and traditional westerns...

The Cinema of Capra, Part 2: Glimpses of Paradise

May 22, 2015 | Charissa Fenton In 1937 Frank Capra made his most expensive feature film to that date, the $2 million extravagant production of Lost Horizon. A year later he returned to a more modest production with You Can’t Take it With You. While the two films could not be more different with setting and atmosphere they have one very prominent feature in common...

Revisiting the Star Wars Prequels

May 19, 2015 | Anthony Parisi 23 Ten years ago today, the Galactic Republic transformed into the evil Empire, the Jedi Order was destroyed by the Sith, and young Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader. Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) was the long-awaited end of George Lucas’ six-film magnum opus. It completed both the prequel trilogy that Lucas began writing in 1994 and the larger story he had been telling since 1977...