Friday, May 6 2011
Gods, Mutants, and Robots, Oh My!: The 2011 PopMatters Summer Movie Preview
The familiarity of the films coming out between May and August scream of a sure fire mentality that moderates art for the sake of a stack of cash. Sure, there is fun to be had and a few surprises along the way.
Friday, April 15 2011
Spotlight: Joss Whedon
In the past two decades Joss Whedon has emerged as one of the most influential figures in all of pop culture, most famously by altering many of the standard conventions of television, but also through his screenwriting for films and his extensive comic book work.
Wednesday, February 2 2011
Missed Movies of 2010
Every year, we put the call out to our staff to pick the year's best and every year, out staff comes up with more selections than we can initially handle. Call them misjudged (or misguided), but from A to Z, these are the movies we missed for 2010.
Friday, January 28 2011
The Best Books of 2010
A title deemed "best book" must capture the reader on not just an intellectual level, but on an emotional one, too. It is in this way that a book read in January is remembered the following year, when one considers those which most resonate, still. Here are PopMatters best remembered, best loved books of 2010.
Friday, January 21 2011
Slipped Discs 2010
PopMatters looks at those Slipped Discs, the ones that our writers dearly loved and thought were important, but simply didn’t draw enough votes to make the top 70. With that much great music to digest, we’re splitting these picks up over the next three days. So dive in and discover something new or revisit some of last year’s favorites.
Tuesday, January 11 2011
PopMatters Picks: The Best TV, Film, and DVD of 2010
The lack of clear consensus and the more personal nature of the picks makes PopMatters Picks for 2010's media best both scattered... and decidedly personal.
Friday, December 17 2010
PopMatters Picks: The Best Music of 2010
Get ready for two weeks of musical greatness. This Monday it was the best singles, next Monday brings the best albums, and in between leading up to the holidays will be more than 15 lists of genre bests. You should have more fun than usual finding out who goes where on what list, since 2010 was all about curveballs and crossovers.
Monday, November 29 2010
Performer Spotlight: Ellen Burstyn
Few actors, male or female, have achieved such success and career longevity. Ellen Burstyn possesses a powerful caché of performances which too-often flies under the radar of contemporary cinema-goers.
Wednesday, November 24 2010
We All Shine On: A Tribute to John Lennon
PopMatters presents our eight-day tribute to the revolutionary, the pop smart avant-garde idealist who let his art and his actions do all of the talking (even when he had lots to say personally).
Thursday, November 4 2010
All Things Reconsidered: Radiohead’s ‘Kid A’
To celebrate the album's 10th anniversary for the next two weeks, PopMatters has collected writings from all across the spectrum, covering the album from every angle and concluding with an exclusive excerpt from Marvin Lin's forthcoming 33 1/3 book about the iconic disc.
Friday, October 22 2010
Director Spotlight: Akira Kurosawa
PopMatters is proud to present this Director’s Spotlight on one of the most complicated, enduring and influential voices in world cinema. Over the next two weeks, we’ll bring you short essays on each film in Kurosawa’s prolific body of work, as well as in-depth essays on the style and substance of his legacy as a whole.
Friday, October 1 2010
Performer Spotlight: The Women of Woody Allen’s Oeuvre
What is it about the women of Woody Allen's filmic universe that sets them apart from mere mortals? Few contemporary directors have created such a pantheon of memorable female characters. All this week we celebrate these performances.
Friday, September 24 2010
Director Spotlight: Oliver Stone
As Oliver Stone's update to the Wall Street hits theatres, PopMatters takes a look back at the influential and thought-provoking director, as well as examines the new film. We also examine the critical backlash Stone has faced in more recent years.
The PopMatters Fall 2010 Television Preview
All this week, PopMatters highlights the new shows premiering on cable and broadcast channels with in-depth reviews and trailers.
Friday, September 3 2010
The Best for Last?: PopMatters Fall 2010 Movie Preview
The next four months will determine is 2010 is a moviemaking "mystery date", meaning a possible dream, or a dismal dud.
Part 1: September 2010
Part 2: October 2010
Part 3: November 2010
Part 4: December 2010
Friday, August 27 2010
RiskTakers
What were the risks inherent in making these comic books, both creative, and commercial? And who were the industry leaders? Who were the creators who blended together the commercial and the creative to produce the titles and the characters we still read today?
Monday, August 9 2010
Essential Film Performances - 2010 Edition
PopMatters updates our annual best performances feature with 50 new performances and features interviews with five of the actresses selected, including Melissa Leo, Pam Grier, and Margaret Cho.
Monday, July 26 2010
Performer Spotlight: Sissy Spacek
It is with tremendous excitement that PopMatters shines the first-ever Performer Spotlight onto Sissy Spacek, a true revolutionary, a living legend and a completely cool lady who just so happens to have eyes that are so expressive they rival Bette Davis' legendary gaze in terms of just sheer impact.
Friday, June 11 2010
Director Spotlight: Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock's iconic Psycho turns 50 this week and so we're casting an in-depth glance at the entire career of the Master of Suspense over the next 11 days. There will never be another filmmaker quite like Alfred Hitchcock. His genius was singular and indelible.
Friday, May 21 2010
Forever Lost: Celebrating a TV Classic
As the beloved and bewildering Lost TV series comes to an end, we delve into what this show has meant to its fans over the last six years. This special section marks our last chance to get Lost!"