Hey, remember the Oscars? They happened last year? They might get cancelled? Sometimes women win them by pretending to be ugly, even if they aren’t ugly, and sometimes if they are? Well, the nominations came out today (surprise! No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood led the tally) and Bwog awards show […]

Merry Christmas and happy holidays from all of us at Bwog! Were your presents not intellectually-stimulating enough? No worries! As our gift to you, we give you Bwog film connoisseur Christian Kamongi’s cinematic picks of 2007, just a little something something to casually reference in 2008. 10. The Wayward Cloud Tsai-Ming Liang’s visceral sing-along porno […]

The December issue will be here soon, hopefully before you all scatter for the holidays. For now, a little teaser while you wait. Margot at the Wedding Directed by Noah Baumbach 93 minutes Now playing   It’s hard to miss the academic snobbery of Noah Baumbach’s characters in Margot at the Wedding. In his follow-up […]

Looking for an intellectually rigorous way to procrastinate during reading week? Scrabulous isn’t doing it for you? Bwog film expert Christian Kamongi shares his picks for the Pasolini, Ophuls, and Sembene retrospectives. Heretical Epiphanies: The Cinematic Pilgrimages of Pier Paolo Pasolini Marxist, poet, homosexual, pious Catholic, and renowned intellectual Pier Paolo Pasolini is one of […]

Sure it’s been out for a while, but Anton Corbijn’s Ian Curtis biopic Control is still screening. Bwog correspondent Jamies Johns reviews the film and philosophizes on the nature of the rockumentary. Most of us know the story by now: Ian Curtis, lead singer of post-punk outfit Joy Division, hung himself at the age of […]

Bwog’s resident film aficionado Learned Foote talks about the new film Bella and also includes mini-reviews of previews! Who says you can’t judge a movie by its trailer? Bella is about a former soccer player (Eduardo Verástegui) with a tragic past—though I’ll try to avoid too much plot description. After his crazy capitalist brother (Manny […]

As the New York Film Festival comes to a close, Bwog contributor Christian Kamongi gives his take on one of the films that may soon hit a theater near you. The Man From London (Official Selection for Competition at the 60th Annual Cannes Film Festival and the 45th New York Film Festival)   Release Date: […]

The thrilling conclusion of Bwogger Christian Kamongi’s interview with NYFF head and Columbia professor Richard Pena. Christian Kamongi: Speaking of American independent cinema, I’ve noticed that two of the three American comedies are in the tradition of Whit Stillman’s Mannerist comedies (The Darjeeling Limited and Margot at the Wedding [pictured, right]), and there are two features […]

To kick off a week of New York Film Festival coverage, Bwog cinema correspondent Christian Kamongi sits down for a two-part interview with Richard Peña, head of the NYFF and Columbia film professor. Christian Kamongi: How do you think the lineup for this year’s 45th New York Film Festival reflects any particular positive trends in […]

In which Bwog newbie Thomas Rhiel ascends to the height of filmmaker fandom. Critics seem to have lost much of their patience with Wes Anderson (He’s elitist! Self-important! Maybe even racist!), but I admit it: I can’t get enough. I want my characters quirky, forlorn, and constantly smoking. I want my frames symmetrical and colorful, […]

Sophomores Mike Molina and Rob Stenson (the kids who brought you this hilarity), along with Jeff Schwartz, are launching a crusade for as-yet-largely-nonexistent independent film at Columbia. It’s called Project Bluelight, modeled off the real-life Project Greenlight, which makes movies happen from storyboard to screening. Bwog interrogated them last night via e-mail. Do you have […]

In which Learned Foote, one of those delightfully over-eager first years (and a legit film reviewer), muses on Nicole Kidman’s latest risky venture. No sarcasm intended whatsoever�Invasion of the Body Snatchers, in which weird alien intelligence hits Earth and stealthily creates duplicates of the people we know and love,  should definitely be remade every twenty […]

South by Southwest (SXSW), the annual film and music festival in Austin, Texas, ends today—and BW culture editor Paul Barndt got himself a press pass (see, bwogging has its benefits). The music part is higher profile, but it’s a pain–unless running around Austin to catch half-hour sets at crowded bars is your idea of a […]

Herein dumpeth Bwog various unrelated chunks of news, information, and gossip… SoA Films Score Big Three films produced by School of the Arts alums have received major accolades. At the Sundance Film Festival, Padre Nuestro, written and directed by Christopher Zalla and produced by Ben Odell (both SoA ’04) took the Grand Jury Prize for best dramatic […]

Albert Maysles, with his brother and co-director David, is responsible for some of the most famous and influential documentaries of all time. If you haven’t heard of him, just pick up Grey Gardens at Kim’s. The story of two of Jackie Kennedy’s lesser-known relatives living in a crumbling Long Island mansion, it has inspired a […]