The Penguin’s Means, Ends, and Morality
‘The Penguin’ compels us to interrogate our morality: do we treat others in our lives only as means to an end?
crime
The Best Film of 2024
Our Best Film of 2024 commemorates intriguing films, emerging voices and celebrated doyens searching for stranger narratives and new angles on existing legends.
The 30 Best DVDs of 2024
PopMatters‘ 30 Best DVDs of 2024 hereby presents a glorious cavalcade, a prestigious panorama, a scintillating smorgasbord of classic films (and one newbie).
Tim Burton’s ‘Batman Returns’ Is a Horror Film of a Different Sort
Criticized for its grotesque imagery, Tim Burton’s 1992 film Batman Returns is a commentary on the horror of social and political ills that still haunt us today.
Johnny Cash in Psycho-Heist Thriller ‘Door-to-Door Maniac’
What a difference a script makes. Johnny Cash and Cay Forrester goose up the histrionics of Door-to-Door Maniac.
Venice Film Festival in Focus: ‘Queer’, ‘Joker: Folie a Deux’, ‘2073’
In the vein of socially relevant topics at Venice Film Festival 2024, Queer, Joker: Folie a Deux, and 2073 got the island of Lido talking for different reasons.
Deadwood’s Moral Optimism
Individualism was not the dominant force on the American frontier, as most Westerns would have you believe. Deadwood explores the era’s cooperation and moral optimism.
Mexico’s Golden Age of Cinematic Melodrama: ‘Victims of Sin’
In Emilio Fernández’s Victims of Sin, a galaxy of important Mexican film and music artists collaborate on a tale of mambo music, martyred mothers, and melodrama.
‘The Boys’ Season 4 Is a Bloody Descent into Hell
Erik Kripke’s gory superhero satire The Boys takes a visceral plunge into political and personal tragedy, showing there’s more to fear than just corrupt superheroes.
Department Q Film ‘Boundless’ Unravels
Jussi Adler-Olsen’s Department Q crime thriller The Hanging Girl unravels in its 2024 film adaptation by Ole Christian Madsen, Boundless.
Crime Sells in TV: ‘The Responder’, ‘Shardlake’, and ‘Eric’
For compelling and worrisome reasons, crime sells in our TV entertainment. The Responder, Shardlake, and Eric feed our brutal compulsion in varying ways.
Is ‘Love Lies Bleeding’ An Act of Surrender?
After her psychological-horror debut Saint Maud, cinema took Rose Glass’ bright new voice in genre filmmaking and, with Love Lies Bleeding, clipped her wings.