Tag: movies

Why we look at a ‘two-dimensional’ picture but watch a picture that contains movement.  The possible role of attentional features of vision.

March 13, 2026

Why we look at a ‘two-dimensional’ picture but watch a picture that contains movement.  The possible role of attentional features of vision. It seems entirely innocent to us to talk about ‘watching’ a film, TV or a ‘movie’ but we don’t often distinguish ‘watxhibg’ from a rather passive act of looking at or gazing at … More Why we look at a ‘two-dimensional’ picture but watch a picture that contains movement.  The possible role of attentional features of vision.

Did she want to be made ‘The Bride’? Yes, but not the Bride of anybody, including Frankenstein! Seeing ‘The Bride’ today.

March 10, 2026

Did she want to be made ‘The Bride’? Yes, but not the Bride of anybody, including Frankenstein! Seeing ‘The Bride’ today. By Warner Bros. Pictures – IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=81164420 It is the year of being wives of men famed in and for their art, and as often misrepresented from some supposed original, for Jessie … More Did she want to be made ‘The Bride’? Yes, but not the Bride of anybody, including Frankenstein! Seeing ‘The Bride’ today.

‘Dracula’: See excelled here Stoker’s themes of transit, including travel and flow between places and through spaces and times; transition of, and between, character and character traits, even Stoker’s obsession with masculinity and femininity in and between concepts of sex/ gender; and, of course, blood transfusion.

March 6, 2026

Dracula: See excelled here Stoker’s themes of transit, including travel and flow between places and through spaces and times; transition of, and between, character and character traits, even Stoker’s obsession with masculinity and femininity in and between concepts of sex/ gender; and, of course, blood transfusion. I had read, in my copy of The Guardian, … More ‘Dracula’: See excelled here Stoker’s themes of transit, including travel and flow between places and through spaces and times; transition of, and between, character and character traits, even Stoker’s obsession with masculinity and femininity in and between concepts of sex/ gender; and, of course, blood transfusion.

The last thing you learned OUGHT always to be to distrust the learning that refuses to be open to change. Some thoughts about Kirill Serebrennikov’s film ‘The Student’.

March 1, 2026

The last thing you learned OUGHT always to be to distrust the learning that refuses to be open to change. Some thoughts about Kirill Serebrennikov’s film The Student. What if you discovered that every truth you will; ever need, sufficient to contest any other truth, except its own contradictions from the same source, was in … More The last thing you learned OUGHT always to be to distrust the learning that refuses to be open to change. Some thoughts about Kirill Serebrennikov’s film ‘The Student’.

‘The History of Sound’: the silenced noise of the non-performative queer story.

January 25, 2026

I saw the new Oliver Hermanus film today, The History of Sound, with Geoff and dear friend Catherine. before going I had make the terrible mistake of seeing some of the reviews of the film, all it seems by people hardly equipped to speak of film as art, for this is precisely what this film … More ‘The History of Sound’: the silenced noise of the non-performative queer story.

That place is in the eyes and is the creation of the cognitive-affective machinery we all possess. It can even be simulated as if we were there in a fine performance, consciously enacted.

December 2, 2025

That place is in the eyes and is the creation of the cognitive-affective machinery we all possess. It can even be simulated as if we were there in a fine performance, consciously enacted. We saw a fine multi-award winning film last night: Since The Last Time We Met, by Matìas de Leis Correa, a brilliant … More That place is in the eyes and is the creation of the cognitive-affective machinery we all possess. It can even be simulated as if we were there in a fine performance, consciously enacted.

I think it must be being a film critic for I surely could not do a worst job than some! LOL. Malcolm Bradshaw, the film critic for ‘The Guardian’, I am told, says he thinks ‘Sinners’ would be a better film without the ‘supernatural element’. Yet this is the first film ever to understand the beauty of the mythology of the vampire in a way that matters. This blog tries to say why.

May 6, 2025

I think it must be being a film critic for I surely could not do a worst job than some! LOL. Or perhaps a comedian! Have you heard the one about the old man who in his youth survived a vampire attack that turned his friend into a vampire? One night in a bar, his … More I think it must be being a film critic for I surely could not do a worst job than some! LOL. Malcolm Bradshaw, the film critic for ‘The Guardian’, I am told, says he thinks ‘Sinners’ would be a better film without the ‘supernatural element’. Yet this is the first film ever to understand the beauty of the mythology of the vampire in a way that matters. This blog tries to say why.

‘Gladiator II’ is a turkey – not least because it goes to great lengths to avoid being a queer turkey!! The inheritance of heroic Roman Republican virtue, aptitude for bearing a sword, and heteronormativity in Ridley’s Rome.

January 20, 2025

‘Gladiator II’ is a turkey – not least because it goes to great lengths to avoid being a queer turkey!! The inheritance of heroic Roman Republican virtue, aptitude for bearing a sword, and heteronormativity in Ridley’s Rome. Posted on January 20, 2025 by stevendouglasblog Weighed down with excess swordplay in the best cine-poster for Gladiator II , Paul Mescal’s … More ‘Gladiator II’ is a turkey – not least because it goes to great lengths to avoid being a queer turkey!! The inheritance of heroic Roman Republican virtue, aptitude for bearing a sword, and heteronormativity in Ridley’s Rome.

Sequestered:  The art of self-discovery might be no more than facing up to being  locked-in with your own doubts & uncertainty . A reflection after seeing Edward Berger’s film Conclave.

January 6, 2025

Sequestered:  The art of self-discovery might be no more than facing up to being  locked-in with your own doubts & uncertainty . A reflection after seeing Edward Berger’s film Conclave. [The film is directed by Edward Berger and written by Peter Straughan, based on the 2016 novel by Robert Harris]. There is a truly impressive moment – … More Sequestered:  The art of self-discovery might be no more than facing up to being  locked-in with your own doubts & uncertainty . A reflection after seeing Edward Berger’s film Conclave.

Amy Liptrot says of the film based on her personal story, ‘The Outrun’, that it has transformed her life ‘into art, something bigger than me: ….. One of the themes … is the link between mental illness and addiction and the desire to reach for extremes. This film-making process has been another example of these extremes. I am amplified, cinematic, extra-real’. A blog on ‘The Outrun’.

September 30, 2024

Amy Liptrot in The Observer on the 22nd September says of the film based on her personal story, The Outrun, that it has transformed themes in her life ‘into art, something bigger than me: ….. One of the themes of The Outrun is the link between mental illness and addiction and the desire to reach for extremes. … More Amy Liptrot says of the film based on her personal story, ‘The Outrun’, that it has transformed her life ‘into art, something bigger than me: ….. One of the themes … is the link between mental illness and addiction and the desire to reach for extremes. This film-making process has been another example of these extremes. I am amplified, cinematic, extra-real’. A blog on ‘The Outrun’.