Filmstudion

Cinema began as an art form. It was hijacked by the crowd pleasers who made it into a multibillion dollar a year industry, but the history of the moving image began with artists and enthusiasts who only wanted to share the world around them. D. W. Griffith and other impresarios turned their hard work into a major industry about a hundred years ago, and the art of cinema was overshadowed for some time. However, recently it has been on the rise.

There are purely artistic films dating all the way back to More…

These independent movies entertained, shocked, thrilled, delighted and inspired viewers just as much, if not more, than many blockbuster hits. Read on to discover some of the most famous independent movies of all time.

The Blair Witch Project

This 1999 imitation documentary terrified audiences with its tale of an invisible tormenter in the woods.

Sideways

Wine-lovers were not the only ones who enjoyed this 2004 Alexander Payne film. The indie hit won many awards for telling the story of what happens when a woman discovers her beau is engaged.

Fargo

Darkly funny and endlessly thrilling, Fargo combines a noble spirit, More…

For movie buffs, aficionados, lovers, etc., one of the many things that makes a film are the setting and images that the director, producer that the various art director and camera people create when they make their films. A good or great setting or image in a film can make all the difference. A film can go from passable to a masterpiece. These extra steps that filmmakers make show their dedication to their art and to the prospective audiences.

Lawrence of Arabia

One of the greatest film epics of our time was made what More…

Lovers of surrealist film may not know where to begin when narrowing down their options for the next movie night. While some adore the works of original surrealist masters Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali, others may prefer to watch more recent fare. The following is a list of five of the most popular, though perhaps not most critically acclaimed, surrealist films of the last two decades:

1) Lost Highway, directed by David Lynch. Released in 1997, this neo-noir psychological thriller tells the tale of a maniacal saxophonist More…

French art films were once the hottest thing in American cinema, getting select screenings at the poshest theaters and arousing the interests of critics and mainstream audiences like. Naturally, some of these films made into the global film canon and have become the world’s most loved French art films.

The French New Wave, a movement that began with a group of directors in the 1950s and 1960s, produced a lot of the films we revere as the classic French art films.

Last Tango in Paris, starring Marlon Brando, is one of the most memorable to More…

Film noir was a genre of American crime movie popular in the 40s and 50s. Directors of film noir introduced many innovative techniques, which will be the focus of this article.

John Huston was probably the first director of the genre, with the first such movie being “The Maltese Falcon” 1941). Huston studied abroad in Paris and worked as a painter there in his early years, and he applied the visual techniques he had learned to his directing: He would sketch his scenes on paper and then carefully More…

Sidney Lumet has never been one to rest after a success. He’s been quoted as saying, “If I don’t have a script I adore, I do one I like. If I don’t have one I like, I do one that has an actor I like or that presents some technical challenge.” This workmanlike approach to filmmaking may come from his history as a television director. Whatever the case, his remarkable track record (more than 50 films since 1957) has paid offhe received an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2005. No projects are announced in development right now, but Lumet has not announced a retirement from directing. While you wait for his next picture, catch up on some that you might have missed. If you’re lucky, you may even catch some playing on DIRECT TV. More…

If there’s one family that will be remembered for its contributions to film, it’s the Coppolas. Here’s a rundown of some of the names you may or may not know.Carmine Coppola (1910-1991): Father of Francis Ford Coppola, August Coppola, and Talia Shire; grandfather of Nicolas Cage, Sofia Coppola, Jason Schwartzman, and Robert Schwartzman. He helped compose the scores for the Godfather trilogy and Apocalypse Now (1979).Talia Shire (1946-present): Actress who played Connie Corleone in The Godfather trilogy and Adrian Balboa in Rocky I-V.Francis Ford Coppola (1939present): Made movie history with The Godfather in 1972 and has continued to amaze fans and critics since then. Other works include Apocalypse Now (1979), The Outsiders (1983), and Dracula (1992). More…

During the 1950s and 1960s, a cinematic revolution took place in Franceone that still attracts directors and viewers to this day. This movement was known as the La Nouvelle Vague, or the French New Wave: a loosely-linked group of filmmakers who, while never actually organizing together, embraced similar ideals of experimental editing, sociopolitical commentary, and rejection of classical forms of style and narrative.Many directors who are now recognized as leaders in the movement began as film critics at the same magazine, Cahiers du cinema, founded in 1951. These critics included Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Eric Rohmer, Claude Chabrol, and Jacques Rivette. Chabrol’s Le Beau Serge (1958), about a man who returns to his childhood home and finds his friend miserable after the death of his child, is usually considered the first film of the New Wave. More…

Throughout the years, science fiction has showcased visions of a possible future, based on the issues of the day. During the tumultuous 1970s, science fiction once again led the way in producing inspiring and thought-provoking stories of humanity’s purpose and possibilities. Experience it all again with these five highlights.A Clockwork Orange (1971): Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Anthony Burgess’s novel is still shocking in its violence and social criticism. A young thug rules his gang of cronies until he’s caught and subjected to a controversial new treatment. But is the cure worse than the problem? You won’t find any aliens or spaceships herejust technology that still seems all too possible. More…