IDENTIFICATION OF A WOMAN

This is a review/analysis of the Antonioni film IDENTIFICATION OF A WOMAN (1982), occasioned by its DVD release by the Criterion Collection

1976: Movies and Cultural Contradictions

This chapter traces the social and aesthetic implications of the five Academy Award contenders for Best Picture in America's Bicentennial year, 1976

Empire of the Gun: Steven Spielberg's SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and American Chauvinism

This book chapter analyzes Steven Spielberg's supposedly anti-war SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1992) as a pro-war, pro-military, and pro-America movie

The Gospel According to Spielberg in "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial"

This article examines the parallels between the space alien in Spielberg's "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" and the New Testament account of the life of Jesus Christ

The Politics of Ambivalence: APOCALYPSE NOW as Pro-War and Anti-War Film

This essay investigates the possibility that APOCALYPSE NOW presents "mixed messages" about the Vietnam War to a divided U.S. audience

Narrate AND Describe?: Point of View and Narrative Voice in CITIZEN KANE's Thatcher Sequence

This article examines the theoretical aspects of point of view and narrative voice in CITIZEN KANE's Thatcher Sequence, with an eye to untangling the thorny aspects of subjectivity in that reticular film. In addition, there are larger implications that pertain to ALL narrative cinema in terms of who or what generates film images and sounds

The Architectonics of Alienation: Antonioni's Edifice Complex

This essay explores the use of architecture in the cinema of Michelangelo Antonioni

BICYCLE THIEVES: A Re-reading

This article investigates the mixed ideology of Vittorio DeSica's classic neorealist film, BICYCLE THIEVES (1948) from a cinematic and political perspective

Mr. Jones Goes to Washington: Myth and Religion in "Raiders of the Lost Ark"

This essay uses Joseph Campbell's concept of the Monomyth to analyze both the mythic and contemporary implications of a "popcorn" movie that has numerous social and political subtexts for the Reaganite era

The Bourgeoisie Is Also a Class: Class as Character in Michelangelo Antonioni's "L'Avventura"

This essay explores Michelangelo Antonioni's "L'Avventura" from a Marxist perspective, including its depiction of the Italian bourgeoisie of "il boom" era of the 1950s and 1960s. Numerous frame enlargements are used to substantiate the claim that even the film's style contributes to its representations of socioeconomic class