Screening Room
May 10, 2012
On The Road, On The Screen 8
by M. M. Owen
A large part of On The Road’s powerful and ongoing appeal undoubtedly stems from the lyricism of its language — as opposed to its linearity, or even narrative coherence. Translating this to the screen could quite simply be impossible. Indeed, one suspects it is the reason that, up till now, so many screenwriters have failed in turning Kerouac’s text into visual form.
February 24, 2012
Source Material: Breaking Down the Oscar for Adapted Screenplay 14
by Patrick Brown
If the publishing industry really does collapse, as some predict it will, it won’t be the big houses or the independent bookstores that will be most affected, it will be Hollywood. This year’s crop of Oscar contenders begs the question “Can there be a cinema without books?”
January 20, 2012
The Literary Pedigree of Downton Abbey 7
by Garth Risk Hallberg
The current PBS Masterpiece series mashes the “class” buttons hard, in both the literary and the economic senses. But its relationship with the English novel is more complicated than it might appear.
November 16, 2011
Monster Mashups: The Recurring Horror of Mary Poppins 3
by Steve Himmer
The monsters are always among us, because no matter how tightly we shore up the windows and nail shut the doors, we always create some new cracks through which they can come.
September 30, 2011
The Joys and Compromises of Bennett Miller’s Moneyball 2
by Patrick Brown
Take whatever it is that’s important to you – knitting, perhaps, or mountain biking – and then imagine waiting for a feature film about it. Would you be excited or nervous? Or would you simply be dreading how Hollywood would manage to fuck up your passion?
September 21, 2011
A Documentary for Our Times: The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 8
by Bill Morris
As the divisions of class and race continue to harden and widen in this country, I say we could use more leaders like Stokely Carmichael and Angela Davis, with their beautiful, hard-earned fury.
