The Girl Next Door
When the Trailers Promised Something Wilder In 2004, the trailers for The Girl Next Door positioned the film as a teenage fantasy come true. The marketing campaign featured a tagline that suggested, “You never forget your first girl next door,” marketed the fantasy, ‘girl next door,’ and suggested a steamy, humorous take on the film. […]
Desire
The Whispers Before the Premiere When the film Desire was first announced, many were curious to see what the film was about. Considering the film is written by Erika Halvorsen, who is adapting one of her novels, many were optimistic about the film keeping a raw authenticity about the themes of betrayal, desire, and complexities […]
After We Fell
After We Fell: When Fiction Mirrors the Actors’ Own Journeys. After We Fell, the third part of Anna Todd’s “After” series, falls into this category. After We Fell seems to be like any other dramatic love story: a tale of passion, jealousy, heartbreak, and family secrets. But when you look closer, the film becomes a […]
Crazy, Stupid, Love
The Anticipation of Love and Laughter When the film ‘Crazy, Stupid, Love’ was made and publicized for the first time in 2010, it had the potential to be something great. Glenn Ficarra and John Requa planned it to be a rom-com with Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone and Marisa Tomei as a […]
Indecent Proposal
Love, Money, and Life After: Behind Indecent Proposal The release of Indecent Proposal sparked multiple conversations regarding love, value, and the interchangeability of desire. It was the first big story bought and adapted by the director Adrian Lyne who was known for “Fatal Attraction.” Indecent Proposal was a major success and introduced a new multilayered […]
Revolutionary Road
Revolutionary Lives: Behind the Camera of Revolutionary Road During the film’s first viewing, it was impossible to ignore the persistent gaze of the public to the fragile marriage that was the focus of the film, or to the reignited public passion for DiCaprio and Winslet after Titanic, or to the unflinching and critical gaze of […]
Priscilla
Priscilla: the Road, the Drag, and the Human Stories Behind the Screen When the film Priscilla was released, it was more than a vibrant a cross-country trip. It was a movie about a celebration, a commemoration about ones identity, a novel commemoration of the true virtue of friendship, and true courage to genuinely live. The […]
The 40 Year Old Virgin
Finding Humor in Vulnerability: The World of The 40-Year-Old Virgin When The 40-Year-Old Virgin was released in 2005, it was challenged not only as a comedy about a man attempting to come to terms with bonding, but as a film that attempted, though imperfectly, to combine crude comedy with heartfelt examinations of introspection, self-worth, and […]
Lust Stories 2
When Intimacy Became Conversation: The Ripple Effect of Lust Stories 2 The anthology was not just another contribution to Netflix’s growing library of movies in 2023. Lust Stories 2 was a polished and fearless anthology. The follow-up to the bold 2018 original anthology had to live up to expectations in the industry which was grown […]
Virgin Territory
When Virgin Territory premiered in 2007, it was described as a romantic adventure comedy taking place in 14th-century plague-stricken Italy. However, behind the film’s youthful exuberance and cheeky title, it incorporated a peculiar mixture of bawdy humor, medieval romance, and chaotic improvisation that was boundless on and off the screen. It was a project that […]