At first glance, the gothic and the noir genre may seem quite mutually distinguishable: the former, with its castles, ghosts, and curses, involves a fear of the past; the latter, set in modern urban landscapes, a fear of the future. Yet, a deep sense of fatalism and impending doom permeates both. They also often feature anguished and troubled protagonists who try to navigate through oneiric, manic worlds. Stylistically, both employ expressionistic elements, at times even to t

Over the past decade, Hollywood’s largest studios have become trapped in a cycle of reboots, sequels, and prequels, driven by the mistaken belief that familiar intellectual property guarantees profit. Now, as Hollywood faces the creative consequences of a potential Warner Bros-Paramount Mega Merger, Elijah Segal analyzes what led to this creative stagnation and elucidates steps studios can take to bring Hollywood back to life.

Matthew Colandrea recounts his experience navigating his first heartbreak with the help of movies. He narrates his journey from finding movie theatres as an escape, before turning to movies to help learn about love, all while falling in love with film again.

A way of looking at a Columbia student’s journey through college as told through Whit Stillman’s 1990s comedic trilogy Metropolitan, Barcelona, and The Last Days of Disco.

In a time of intense political tension and a seemingly unresolvable resentment felt across the political spectrum, Bugonia functions as a direct and scathing critique of modern political extremism. Quite simply, through its depictions of delusion and conspiracy, the film exposes the narcissicism, hypocrisy, ignorance, and animalistic aggression of the Greta Thunbergs of the world.

In Sam Witt’s piece she discusses Bill Rebane’s film Blood Harvest and argues that the film serves as a grim model for the horror genre's tendency to sexualize women.

Observational reality shows have become predominant in South Korea’s entertainment industry, demonstrating an extreme shift from a society that once held strict Confucian values of privacy. Due to lack of social interaction and communication, the Korean public is filling up their emotional hollowness with collective voyeurism. This phenomenon ultimately leads to the commercialization of privacy.

As we wrapped up 2025, Stranger Things released their fifth and final season. Upon the release of the long awaited final season, fans raided social media platforms, enraged by its lack of depth and abundance of plot holes. Why was the build up to season 5 so underwhelming? Why was the dialogue so lacking in depth? This essay addresses the many inconsistencies fans were forced to endure throughout their watch of the final season.

Why are so many audiences nowadays laughing at scenes that are meant to be uncomfortable? In this piece, Caleb Lee argues that the rise of inappropriate and performative laughter is a reflection of a more disturbing social trend that prevents us from dealing with sincerity in our everyday lives.

Imagine this: you are walking down the street at 9 a.m., barely awake, caffeinated beverage in hand, merely trying to make it through another day when you make eye contact with a stranger. They’re cute. They raise their eyebrows slightly. Are they surprised? Okay be nice. You smile. They don’t smile back. Did you smile too wide? Are they disgusted by you? Wait! Someone else is looking at you weird. You think? Is there something on your face? Oh god. There are more people comi

Awareness of mortality ultimately gives life its meaning, a truth explored through Harold and Maude (1971) and Y tu mamá también (2001). In both films, the presence of death, embodied in the older women, Maude and Luisa, awakens younger men to the urgency and fragility of existence. Set within different cultural landscapes, each story approaches mortality differently, with one as a performative assertion of freedom, the other as a quiet, inescapable reality woven into social

Although the post-irony poison in our 2026 water may make us inclined to giggle at the prospect of an isolated group of crewmates being picked off by a mysterious “imposter” identical to themselves, John Carpenter’s 1982 masterpiece The Thing remains heralded as one of the greatest (horror) movies of all time–while the same cannot quite be said for its 2011 prequel. Taking a retrospective glance at both films, it’s evident what makes the classic so untouchable.

Set in 1920s China, Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang Yimou, 1991) follows a young woman who becomes the fourth mistress in a wealthy household. Jessie Li’s article analyzes the film through Michel Foucault’s concept of the panopticon, arguing that the film visualizes a system of patriarchal control by enforcing constant visibility and rivalry among women.

A wave of TV shows is quietly overwhelming our not-so-distant past with the likes of Ripley, One Day and The Gentlemen asking why Hollywood can’t bear to let last decade’s movies grow cold. This article follows that inquiry from IP-hungry streamers to prestige makeovers, nostalgia on fast-forward, ideological rewrites and an industry terrified of irrelevance. Whatever it may be, we obtain a culture remaking what it still remembers and calling it “new” with suspicious enthusia

In this article, Jackson Palmer explores the thematic parallels between stop-motion animation and the autumnal aesthetic, and how these connections pay homage to stop-motion’s foreground ability to produce fabricated stories that beautify our corporeal world from which it physically derives.

Jean Rollin’s films blur the line between dream and death, portraying women as extravagantly spectral figures who resist definition. This essay argues that his work transforms the unknowable feminine into poetic myth, mystery becomes a form of understanding beyond patriarchal narrative, rather than a base level fetishization of the female mind.

In recent years, viewers have increasingly tuned into the vapid online interfaces of TikTok and Instagram, while turning away from similar images rendered on the cinema screen. In her essay, Asha Ahn examines why contemporary film has struggled to capture modern internet culture while keeping its audience engaged, and how filmmakers are grappling with shifting perceptions of our digital lives.

Jean Rollin’s films blur the line between dream and death, portraying women as extravagantly spectral figures who resist definition. Through repetition, eroticism, and through decay of what is expected from female characters, his cinema mirrors writer Hélène Cixous’s écriture féminine—feminine writing. Fluid, nonlinear, drawing strength in its bark as its roots soak up all emotionality. Rollin’s female characters speak in symbols, not logic; their sensuality becomes power, no

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune and Dune: Part Two have divided critics over whether their environmental themes are too subtle to be effective, with some arguing that the films’ grand spectacle overshadows their ecological intent. Kallen Zborovsky-Fenster challenges this notion, contending that Villeneuve’s visual storytelling and immersive world-building make the threat of climate collapse more emotionally tangible. Through symbolic imagery rather than overt messaging, Villeneuve re

In Sam Witt’s piece, she argues that horror films critically examine the reflections of fears present in society, allowing us to share connection over our anxieties.