This past weekend, American moviegoers were treated to the wide release of TÁR, the director Todd Field’s first feature film in more than 16 years. To help unpack this complex and divisive study of the […]
Tag: Art
The Strawberry Criterion: Blonde
In the climactic scene of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), Andrew Dominik’s since-canonized arthouse western, a potent collection of American iconography is simultaneously laid to rest and reanimated: a […]
William’s Almost Instant Reactions to the 2022 Academy Awards
After the shocking events at Sunday night’s Academy Awards ceremony, the BPoFD editorial board held an emergency vote to authorize a follow-up interview with Oscars historian William Glick. Following more than 12 straight hours of […]
The Strawberry Criterion: MIDSOMMAR
At least to date, the horror films of Ari Aster have shown two principal areas of interest, grief and cults, topics the writer-director tends to explore in that same, deliberate order. In Hereditary, his debut feature […]
The Strawberry Criterion: Green Book
In Green Book, director Peter Farrelly’s Oscar-nominated follow-up to Dumb & Dumber To, Viggo Mortensen plays Frank Vallelonga, a nightclub bouncer whose nickname, “Tony Lip,” derives from his distinction as the “best bullshit artist in The Bronx.” […]
BPoFD Podcast Episode #25: Oscars 2019 with William Glick
In Episode #25 of the BPoFD podcast, managing editor Carmen Petaccio again sits down with playwright and Oscars historian William Glick to discuss the 2019 Academy Awards. Highlights include predictions for all eight major categories, Carmen’s anti-anti-Italian discrimination […]
The Strawberry Criterion: Ready Player One
The protagonist of Ready Player One, the new Steven Spielberg movie, plays video games as an avatar named “Parzival,” who all the other characters inexplicably call “Z.” This would be like having a friend named “Daniel” […]
The Strawberry Criterion: Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri
The setting of the latest Martin McDonough film, Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri, is unlike any in the history of cinema, science fiction included. Whether set on the surface of the moon or in the […]
The Strawberry Criterion: Phantom Thread
The acclaimed dressmaker at the center of Phantom Thread, the new film from Paul Thomas Anderson, sews cryptic notes into the seams of his creations, secret messages never to be glimpsed by any eyes but his […]
baby pictures of famous dictators 