(Re)Viewing the Canon — Blog

Maximus Is the Man: How Gladiator (2000) Gave Us One of the Great Movie Heroes

Russell Crowe’s General Maximus is one of the great movie heroes.

“We are through the looking glass:” Watching Oliver Stone’s JFK (1991) in the Information Age

60 years after John F. Kennedy’s assassination, Oliver Stone’s JFK captures how essential conspiracy is to modern life,

Essays, (Re)Viewing the CanonAnders BergstromNovember 22, 2023JFK, JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass, Oliver Stone, Kevin Costner, Donald Sutherland, drama, conspiracy theory, thriller, mystery, Internet, American politics Comments

Halloween Horror: Spectres of Plague and Death in Murnau's Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922)

In Nosferatu, the corrupting power of the vampire is linked to that most symbolically potent infectious disease, the Black Death.

Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) Epitomizes the Paradoxical Genius of Burt Lancaster

Birdman of Alcatraz captures Burt Lancaster’s unique capacity to play both hard and soft in the same moment.

Halloween Horror: Alien: Cosmic Horror/Intimate Horror

A discussion of how Ridley Scott's 1979 film uses science fiction to merge two kinds of horror to unsettle and disturb.

(Re)Viewing the Canon, Essays, Halloween Horror IIAnders BergstromOctober 28, 2016Alien, body horror, cosmic horror, essay, H- P- Lovecraft, Halloween Horror, horror, Ian Holm, John Hurt, Ridley Scott, science fiction, Sigourney WeaverComment

Puttin' On the Ritz: The Appealing Classicism of the Hollywood Musical

The classic Hollywood musical captures the charm of the Golden Age of Cinema.

Essays, (Re)Viewing the CanonAren BergstromJanuary 8, 2016Golden Age of Hollywood, musicals, Top Hat, 42nd Street, Singin' in the Rain, The Wizard of OzComment

When the Camera Learned to Fly: F.W. Murnau and the Visual Achievement of Silent Filmmaking

In his silent masterpieces, F.W. Murnau invented a new visual vocabulary for cinema.

Essays, (Re)Viewing the CanonAren BergstromJanuary 8, 2016F.W. Murnau, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, The Last LaughComment

The New Canadian Canon: Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner

Aren discusses the impact of Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner and its new designation as the best Canadian film ever made.

(Re)Viewing the Canon, EssaysAren BergstromSeptember 25, 2015Atanarjuat The Fast Runner, Zacharias Kunuk, Natar UngalaaqComment

The Faded Realism of Bonnie and Clyde

Rawness is just a convention.

"More human than human": Ridley Scott's Blade Runner

Revisiting some of the themes and questions posed in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner

(Re)Viewing the Canon, EssaysAnders BergstromJune 8, 2012Blade Runner, ethics, Frankenstein, Harrison Ford, humanism, posthumanism, Ridley Scott, Rutger Hauer, science fiction Comments

Playing the Viewer like an Organ: Norman Bates as the Protagonist of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

Exploring the ways Alfred Hitchcock makes the audience root for Norman Bates in Psycho.

(Re)Viewing the Canon, EssaysAren BergstromApril 2, 2012Alfred Hitchcock, Anthony Perkins, hero, horror, Janet Leigh, killer, manipulation, Marion Crane, Norman Bates, protagonist, Psycho Comment

Satire and Prophecy in Terry Gilliam's Brazil

This great satire is as relevant as ever!

(Re)Viewing the Canon, EssaysAnton BergstromNovember 29, 2011Bob Hoskins, Brazil, dystopia, Ian Holm, Jonathan Pryce, Katherine Helmond, Michael Palin, Robert De Niro, satire, Terry Gilliam, Tom StoppardComment

Thoughts on The King's Speech, One Year Later

Long live the King!

(Re)Viewing the Canon, EssaysAnton BergstromOctober 1, 2011Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech, The Silence of the Lambs, TIFF, Tom Hooper Comments

Transcendent Science Fiction: Pondering Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind

In anticipation of Super 8, Anton contemplates a Spielberg classic.

(Re)Viewing the Canon, EssaysAnton BergstromMay 29, 2011art, extraterrestrials, Francois Truffaut, Richard Dreyfus, science fiction, spirituality, Steven SpielbergComment

Lawrence of Arabia and the Intimacy of the Epic

Is the label "epic" a valuable or meaningful label for a film at all?

(Re)Viewing the Canon, EssaysAnders BergstromFebruary 21, 2011David Lean, epic, Lawrence of Arabia, Peter O'Toole Comments

2001: A Space Odyssey and My Evolution as a Cinephile

I once told a friend I thought 2001 was boring, but that I liked that about it.

(Re)Viewing the Canon, EssaysAnton BergstromFebruary 12, 20112001: A Space Odyssey, human evolution, outer space, science fiction, Stanley Kubrick Comments

The Rogue Warrior and the Dirty Town in Yojimbo

Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo gave birth to a whole new kind of cinema.

(Re)Viewing the Canon, EssaysAren BergstromFebruary 11, 2011Akira Kurosawa, samurai, Sanjuro, Toshiro Mifune, YojimboComment