Orson Welles in the 21st Century

By the end of the Great Depression, cinema was at a standstill, sound made the movies into talkies and the invention of Technicolor transported Dorothy into Oz. But sound and color were only aesthetics. Cinematic storytelling was not progressing. Directors…

Orson Welles 100th Birthday: Greatest Works

In honor of Orson Welles’ 100 Birthday, the TYF staff takes a look back at some of Welles’ greatest works and performances.

Out of Past: “The Lady from Shanghai” (1948)

Next week is Orson Welles’ birthday centennial (May 6th) and this website is going to be chock full of Welles tributes. But, let’s start the party early with his 1948 noir The Lady from Shanghai (next week will be Touch…

The Film Canon: The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

It is impossible to discuss Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane (1941) without examining the film’s two central figures: William Randolph Hearst, the American newspaper magnate that the film’s central megalomaniac was based on, and Welles himself, that sensational  wunderkind whose talents…

The Film Canon: Do the Right Thing (1989)

It’s sweltering. Radio DJ Mister Señor Love Daddy (Samuel L. Jackson) is proclaiming it to be one of the hottest days of the summer. It’s too hot to work, but Mookie (Spike Lee) makes his way to Sal’s Pizzeria anyway. As…

The Avengers and the Survival of the Cinema

Every few weeks, an article entitled “Death of the Cinema” or “Death of Film Criticism” materializes on some film blog. “The cinema is dying! Young people don’t go to the movies! They’re not made like they used to be,” they…