Future ACC Studio offers opportunities for Pitt students
By Stephen Cuddy | Staff Writer
May 30, 2018
Filed under Sports
After claiming two conference championships, hiring new basketball coaches and entering the 2018-19 season with a promising young quarterback, Pitt Athletics seem to be entering a period of success. Further proof of that success is is the promise of a new media studio and the projected August 2019 ...
‘Deadpool 2’ delivers laughs and action
By Victoria Pfefferle-Gillot | For The Pitt News
May 22, 2018
“Deadpool 2,” released May 18, claims to be a family movie, despite leading with a murder — no different than movies like “The Lion King” or “Bambi,” according to the title character. But based on its R rating and crude jokes, it’s safe to say “Deadpool 2” doesn’t qualify. ...
Pitt Film Fest features city-wide student work
By Vikram Sundar | Staff Writer
April 17, 2018
While maintaining a long-distance relationship with his girlfriend in Indiana, Pennsylvania, senior Mark Conner spent many a lonely road trip listening to the cassette tape she had given him — Fleetwood Mac’s “Tango in the Night.” It was during these trips that he came up with the idea for his ...
Isle of Dogs delights with animation, disappoints with representation
By Vikram Sundar | Staff Writer
April 11, 2018
Wes Anderson has once again proven himself to be one of the most visually innovative auteurs in cinema with his latest film, “Isle of Dogs.” Set in a futuristic Japan, “Isle of Dogs” tells the tale of a headstrong 12-year-old boy named Atari, voiced by Koyu Rankin, who searches for his beloved d...
Former Film Row finds new life in start-up
By Joanna Li | Staff Writer
April 4, 2018
Filed under Culture, Movies, Top Stories
As a teenager, movie fanatic Drew Levinson noticed a run-down brick building with a familiar logo — 24 stars circling a mountain — as he passed it on his way to crew practice from Taylor Allderdice High School. The building sat in the back of his mind until 2009, when he stumbled across a film...
Ready Player One: Riddled with nostalgia
By Vikram Sundar | Staff Writer
April 3, 2018
Film deity and acclaimed director Steven Spielberg takes audiences on a two-hour-and-19-minute nostalgia fever dream with his latest film, “Ready Player One.” Based on Ernest Cline’s popular novel of the same name, Spielberg’s adaptation of “Ready Player One” was shaping up to be the defini...
Reopening the tomb: “Tomb Raider” returns with tired tropes
By Derek Wagner | For The Pitt News
March 20, 2018
The original “Tomb Raider” film, “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” released in 2001, as well as its equally disastrous 2003 sequel, successfully banished the franchise to cinematic purgatory for 15 years. While reboots and remakes made up the majority of films over the past decade, “Tomb Raider” ...
“Spectacles” film series considers religion in film with “My Name is Khan”
By Vikram Sundar | Staff Writer
March 15, 2018
Moviegoers and religious scholars gathered for a film screening Tuesday in the hopes of viewing religion through a cinematic lens. Spectacles — a film series that analyzes religious and cultural motifs in movies — screened “My Name is Khan” in room 407 of the Cathedral of Learning from 7-...
Pitt film fanatics offer 2018 Oscar predictions
By Vikram Sundar | For The Pitt News
March 1, 2018
Members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the film industry will recognize some of the most well-crafted, impactful films of the year at the Oscars Sunday night. But Hollywood’s biggest night will also likely be consumed by social issues such as the Time’s Up movement, which H...
“Annihilation” renovates past sci-fi thrillers
By Derek Wagner | For The Pitt News
February 27, 2018
As my friend and I walked out of the theater after seeing Director Alex Garland’s new film “Annihilation” — both trying to wrap our heads around what we had just witnessed — my friend said, “I feel like this is how audiences felt after seeing ‘2001’ in theaters for the first time.”...
Black Panther revitalizes the stagnant superhero genre
By Vikram Sundar | For The Pitt News
February 20, 2018
Director Ryan Coogler enters new territory with “Black Panther,” peeling back old layers of the formulaic superhero narrative to reveal fresh and exciting elements rarely seen in the genre. Following the enormous box office success of Marvel’s latest entries — “Guardians of the Galaxy Vo...
“Phantom Thread” weaves a tale of style and strange love
By Vikram Sundar | For The Pitt News
February 8, 2018
Leading man Daniel Day-Lewis sews his way into our hearts once again in the stylish, yet heartfelt “Phantom Thread.” Written and directed by filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, “Phantom Thread” is an engrossing portrait of the posh, self-indulgent realm of fashion-driven aristocrats in impove...
Pitt alumni produce ‘Body Farm’ film
By Joanna Li | Staff Writer
January 16, 2018
Filed under Culture, Movies, Top Stories
When a friend offhandedly suggested that Brandon Keenan — a 2005 graduate of Pitt’s media communication program — research the strange topic of body farms, he quickly discovered a potential story unfolding before him. Keenan, 34, has now seen the production of his first feature film, a psycholog...
Student film taps into storytelling
By Madeline Gavatorta | Staff Writer
January 12, 2018
When 47-year-old Jason Swauger suffered a partial tear of his hamstring from a split gone wrong during the filming of “A Tap Dancer Murders Her Father,” student director Caleb Porto didn’t want to continue. “Even though he was fine, I was so done with the film. I didn’t want [another inj...
Panel discusses women’s menstrual hygiene
By Anandhini Narayanan | Staff Writer
November 15, 2017
Filed under 2. Featured, Campus, News
When Pittsburgh City councilwoman Natalia Rudiak received an email from the Department of Public Works — an organization dedicated to maintaining Pittsburgh’s infrastructure — about putting pad dispensers in the vicinity of public pools, she had to explain to them why their idea wouldn’t work....
Cats come into the spotlight at Pittsburgh’s first cat film festival
By Prachi Patel / Staff Writer
November 13, 2017
Filed under Culture
Laura Greenawalt tossed a handful of popcorn into her mouth and eagerly glanced up at the blank movie theater screen, waiting for the lights to dim, the film to begin and for her cat, Schuster, to become momentarily famous. Greenawalt and Emily Starr, both residents of Lawrenceville, came out to a Friday...
Fast Films: UPTV hosts 24-hour film festival
By Siddhi Shockey / For The Pitt News
October 2, 2017
The screen fades to black after the character of Meriwether Lewis gets impaled — by his future self. Lewis uses a power strip as a makeshift time machine and travels back to when he launched a knife into the woods. When he arrives in the past, he appears in the woods and inadvertently becomes the tar...
Films Challenge Existing Perspectives
By Janine Faust | Assistant News Editor
September 14, 2017
Filed under Campus, News, Top Stories
The theater screen faded to black. Afterward there was no scuffling of feet, no whispers or laughter. Instead, the audience remained relatively quiet as several panelists took their seat at a table on the stage. Elizabeth Miller waited until after Gwen's Girls Executive Director and panel moderator...
Asian-American film festival comes back to PGH
By Lexi Kennell / Culture Editor
September 6, 2017
In an age when the United States prides itself on diversity but is plagued with racism, it’s important to support arts from all different cultures. Opportunities to do just this are everywhere, as long as we keep an eye out for them. The 12th annual Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival will sc...
Songs over storyline: music fuels Edgar Wright’s “Baby Driver”
By Matt Maielli / Contributing Editor
June 27, 2017
After watching Edgar Wright’s new film “Baby Driver,” I have no doubt Wright would be a ton of fun at karaoke night. Wright’s newest film prioritizes its soundtrack — packing a whopping 30 tracks — more than any other feature films to come out in the past few years, aside from James Gunn’...
‘A Bigger Splash’ rides wave of passion
By Nick Mullen / Staff Writer
May 17, 2016
Filed under Movies
After a year of cycling through international festivals, Italian director Luca Guadagnino’s English-language “A Bigger Splash” has made its way to American theaters. As a dialogue-laden, lengthy slow-burner, “A Bigger Splash” relies heavily on quietly mounted suspense and intense character study. ...
Marvel v DC: the battle for the multiplex
By Ian Flanagan / Culture Editor
May 10, 2016
Eight years after “Iron Man” set the stage — and perfected Marvel’s new brand — Disney’s unprecedented superhero franchise is still running like clockwork. Disney released the 13th entry in its hugely popular canon, “Captain America: Civil War,” last Friday to universal praise and a ...
State budget woes vary among filmmakers
By Elaina Zachos / Staff Writer
December 8, 2015
Lights, camera, no action on the state’s budget is shoving film production crews out of Pittsburgh, hurting the hospitality industry and pulling the curtains on the city’s reputation as the next Hollywood. With Pennsylvania’s state budget in flux since July, the state’s reserved $60 million film...
‘Lone Survivor’ encapsulates complexities of modern war
By Shawn Cooke / Staff Writer
January 29, 2014
Filed under Archives
You could argue that the climax of “Lone Survivor” occurs just halfway into the movie.After Marcus Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg) and his team of Navy SEALs are discovered by three mountain herders (two boys and an old man), they are presented with three options: set them free — which could compromise ...
‘The Wolf of Wall Street:’ Scorsese’s dumbed down ode to stock market’s criminal element
By John Lavanga / A&E Editor
December 21, 2013
Filed under Archives
“The Wolf of Wall Street”Directed by: Martin ScorseseStarring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot RobbieGrade: B-It wasn’t more than a year ago that audiences found Leonardo DiCaprio taking a high-profile step away from his now-ubiquitous heartthrob persona to play the disturbin...
’12 Years a Slave’ an unwavering glimpse at Antebellum South
By Brett Murphy / Senior Staff Writer
November 4, 2013
Filed under Archives
"12 Years a Slave"Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brad Pitt, Lupita Nyong'oDirected by: Steve McQueenGrade: ADangling from a noose, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) tiptoes in the mud until sundown, fighting strangulation. While the cicadas buzz overhead and ch...
A tale of two monsters: how societal anxiety influences horror
By Vincent Smith / Staff Writer
October 30, 2013
Filed under Archives
Apparently “The Walking Dead” is more popular than football. According to the New York Times, the season-four premiere of the graphic-novel-turned-television-sensation garnered 16.1 million viewers, surpassing any NFL game aired this year.The American public loves zombies — or at least connects with the fear tha...
‘Captain Phillips’ skillfully retells true tales of piracy
By Andrew Fishman / Staff Writer
October 16, 2013
Filed under Archives
“Captain Phillips”Starring: Tom Hanks, Barkhad AbdiDirected by: Paul GreengrassGrade: B+ “Have a safe trip.”This simple farewell is spoken to loved ones nearly every time they leave on a flight or a trip. It’s what Captain Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks) was told by his wife, Andrea (Catherine K...
Joseph Gordon-Levitt makes directorial debut with ‘Don Jon’
By Dylan Abbott / For The Pitt News
October 9, 2013
Filed under Archives
"Don Jon"Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne MooreDirected by: Joseph Gordon-Levitt B+Joseph Gordon-Levitt bares all in his feature-film directorial debut, “Don Jon,” an R-rated rendition of love and relationships in the 21st century — “Porn and Prejudice,” if you will...