Satire is a sticky wicket requiring expert balance to nail. Films like Paul Verhoven’s RoboCop (1987) and Starship Troopers (1997) are as frequently misunderstood for their analysis of corporate greed and nationalism as Fight Club is (film (1999) or novel)… Read More ›
Phedon Papamichael is a master cinematographer working with the likes of James Mangold, Alexander Payne, Gore Verbinski, Jon Turteltaub and more. On this episode of Open Dialogue, Papamichael offers an in-depth look into the making of Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial… Read More ›
The truth is often less exciting, less inspirational than fiction. My presumption for this is not because the truth lacks power, but that our individual imaginations build up ideas until they are larger than any one person or concept. It’s… Read More ›
For roughly 12-hours in October 2009, the soldiers deployed to Combat Outpost Keating, located within a valley of the Afghanistan mountains, engaged in a firefight with Taliban fighters. Later called The Battle of Kamdesh, the engagement was deemed the bloodiest… Read More ›
Prior to hearing about the 2019 limited theatrical release of director Shinsuke Sato’s (Inuyashiki) Kingdom, I had no awareness of the 2012 anime or the 2006 manga. Coming into the film blind, I only knew that the story involved treachery,… Read More ›
For the uninitiated, watching the trailer for director Shinsuke Sato’s (Inuyashiki) Kingdom will be confusing and potentially befuddling. Frankly, it’s just a whirlwind of content as text lays out the plot amid rapid images from the film all while “Wasted… Read More ›
On January 27th, 1945, the Soviet Red Army liberated those individuals the Nazis had imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest concentration and death camp in operation. In recognition of that act, the United Nations established International Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2005… Read More ›
EoM founder Douglas Davidson appears as a guest on the Monster Mashup Marketing podcast hosted by Matt Starnes to discuss the history of Elements of Madness. So if you’ve read the About EoM page and ever wanted to dig a little… Read More ›
There’s something undeniably alluring about space. The way it feels both intimately close and desperately far; in range of our eyes, yet out from our hands. To quest beyond our atmosphere, to journey into the deep black, to discover what… Read More ›
Of the things we take for granted, the written word is possibly the highest on the list. Before Johannes Gutenberg devised the printing press in 1440, there was little focus on or desire for the common person to read, which… Read More ›
Ticktickticktick. A gun fires. Ticktickticktick. A bomb drops. Ticktickticktick. Sand flies and water rushes. Ticktickticktick. Time is not an ally when the enemy surrounds you from every conceivable angle. It is, however, writer/director Christopher Nolan’s (Interstellar/The Dark Knight Trilogy) plaything… Read More ›
There are moments in history – true tragedies – that are difficult to process and understand. These moments must not be allowed to disappear from our collective global memories. One such horrific event is the Armenian Genocide, an event that… Read More ›