Series: Club Havana's Secret History of Cinema by Chris Fujiwara and A.S. Hamrah (January-July, 1998)
A seven-part series which highlights the best releases, most wanted "lost films," and most overrated movies of a given year — from the '30s through the '90s — complete with video clips. 1939: Conventional wisdom says the best flicks of the year were The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind. Conventional wisdom is wrong. 1946: The celebrated year of film noir. 1953: It's Roman vs. Ro-Man as we compare Roman Holiday unfavorably with Robot Monster. 1968: When 2001 and Funny Girl both come out in the same year, you know Hollywood is in upheaval. 1976: It may have been the year of America's Bicentennial celebration, but the best films of 1976 were dark, difficult, unflinching. 1983: Nostalghia, or just nostalgia for Return of the Jedi? It's 1983 all over again. 1994: Is Pulp Fiction a great, enduring film — or merely an example of that new aesthetic category of the '90s, Things That Don't Suck?
Interview: Nick Broomfield by Sarah Jacobson (June 9, 1998)
Jacobson, an acclaimed indie filmmaker, chats with the director of the controversial documentary Kurt and Courtney.
Web Filter: Quiet in the Theater! by Steven Goldman (June 2, 1998)
Are chattering moviegoers a sign of the impending apocalypse?
Interview: Legendary Cult Film Star Tura Satana by Leesa G. (May 12, 1998)
She starred in Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! and The Doll Squad. She dated Elvis. She's a grandmother now — and she could still kick your ass.
Game: Washed-Up Celebrity Dunking Booth by Randy Williams and Chris Young (March 24, 1988)
Just like the dunking booth at the fair — only you get to send has-been stars from TV, movies, and music splashing into a barrel of cold water. Dunk a star and up pops a hilarious "where are they now?" info box. Dunk them all and choose from three washed-up "virtual prizes."
Column: Expert Witnesses on the Sundance Film Festival and Spiceworld: The Movie by Sarah Jacobson and Madeleine Mant (February 17, 1998)
1) Film director Sarah Jacobson returns from the 1998 Sundance Festival and shares her thoughts on the best of the fest and new works from her peers in indie film. 2) One of the fastest-spreading clichés we've ever seen has it that Spiceworld is a "Hard Day's Night rip-off for under-12 girls" or "suitable only for ten-year old girls." We sent ten-year old Madeleine Mant to review the movie and set the record straight.
Column: Bollywood by A.S. Hamrah (January 20, 1998)
Filmmaker and critic Hamrah takes you on a wild tour through the world of modern Indian cinema.
Column: Media Role Models? (December 30, 1997)
Laurie Oullette looks back at Mary Tyler Moore's influential '70s sitcom and Leesa G interviews "feminist porn star" Nina Hartley. Are these women role models?
Allison Anders: Director and Mother of Three by Sarah Jacobson (September 3, 1997)
The director of Gas Food Lodging on movies, her kids, and how she was the first director to list daycare providers in her film's credits.
Where the Girls Are: Making Movies by Sarah Jacobson (June 12—July 16, 1997)
Jacobson chose six directors with "a good sense of subversion and rebellion served up with a generous side of hipness," and decided to investigate each woman's route to visionary filmmaking.
Web Filter: "Is "Good Female Film Roles" an Oxymoron? by Negeen Pegahi (July 10, 1997)
Why are women stronger than ever behind the camera — but still stereotyped in front of it?
Sarah Jacobson: Indie Film Darling by Heidi Olmack (March 13, 1997)
Sarah Jacobson, the 25-year-old director of Mary Jane's Not a Virgin Anymore, talks about sex, Sundance, and jacking off. And Sarah's mother has a few words to say, too.
Chungking Express by A.S. Hamrah (February 27, 1997)
Cops, bad guys and gals, and Quentin Tarantino may sound good to you, but we promise — it's much better than that.
Tarantino is a Feminist by Tina Spangler (February 27, 1997)
You may not think of feminism and Quentin Tarantino in the same sentence, but Tina Spangler argues that he's not as tough on women as one might think.
The Glamorous World of Indie Films by Gabrielle Mullem (February 10, 1997)
Our intepid reporter pursues her dream by working on the set of several independent films and finds considerably less tinsel and movie magic than she was expecting.
The Films of D.W. Griffith by A.S. Hamrah (January 10, 1997)
D.W. Griffith was the man behind the ultra-racist The Birth of a Nation, but he was also the father of modern movie-making. His works are varied at best and strained at worst, but the starkness of his depictions of period life is haunting.
Lights, Camera... Rock 'n' Roll by Michael Kaplan (November 11, 1996)
Meet up-and-coming music video/filmmakers Brett Ratner and N'Gai "Zodiac" Poindexter.
