ScribeHard on Film Posted by Michael Nazarewycz on July 27, 2016

(The text of this review originally appeared at Way Too Indie.) Ask a random sampling of movie buffs to name a famous costume designer and the first response will most likely be Edith Head, and rightfully so. With 35 Oscar nominations to her name (eight of which went on to...   read more

ScribeHard on Film Posted by Michael Nazarewycz on June 15, 2016

Gender inequality in filmmaking is a critical issue.  To help bring it to light at a local level, in September 2015, with generous help from my local theater, I programmed and hosted the three-day, 10-film Directed By Women Film Festival.  The event featured screenings of films ranging from Oscar-w   read more

ScribeHard on Film Posted by Michael Nazarewycz on February 26, 2016

Late in 2013 I became a member of Film Independent. One of the great privileges of that membership is the opportunity to vote in the Film Independent Spirit Awards. This is my chance to support and celebrate the industry I so enjoy, and to be an active participant in a...   read more

ScribeHard on Film Posted by Michael Nazarewycz on February 25, 2016

It’s almost Oscar Sunday, aka my last “official” day to consider 2015 films for my Best Of list.  (I extend the date to Oscar Sunday because many films are released late in a true calendar year, and then sometimes only in NY and LA, so it takes them time in the...   read more

ScribeHard on Film Posted by Michael Nazarewycz on December 20, 2015

All the President’s Men is an important film to me as it’s one of the first “serious films” I remember renting as a young teen, when more and more catalogue titles became available on VHS during the ascension of the home video market in the 1980s.  That film is the reason wh   read more

ScribeHard on Film Posted by Michael Nazarewycz on December 10, 2015

There are three types of Christmas Movies. The first are Christmas Movies where the holiday is either the central focus of the film or integral to the tale (A Christmas Story, The Bishop’s Wife, White Christmas). The second are Christmas Movies where the holiday is neither the central focus   read more

ScribeHard on Film Posted by Michael Nazarewycz on December 2, 2015

With a recent history of films that includes entries like the Vengeance trilogy, The Chaser, I Saw the Devil, and others, South Korea has been at the forefront of stark thrillers that aren’t afraid to challenge viewers with violent acts, desperate themes, tragic characters, and bleak endings.   read more

ScribeHard on Film Posted by Michael Nazarewycz on November 21, 2015

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 is the fourth and final installment of a four-part trilogy (trilogies now come in fours when the third book is split into two films).  Below is a recap of how we got here. You may skip the next three paragraphs if you are...   read more

ScribeHard on Film Posted by Michael Nazarewycz on November 12, 2015

There’s this thing called the “27 Club.”  The notion of it began when musicians Brian Jones (The Rolling Stones), Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison all died between 1969 and 1971, each at age 27 when they passed.  While other musicians of some repute died at 27, both be   read more

ScribeHard on Film Posted by Michael Nazarewycz on June 29, 2015

I’ve always been fascinated by horror-themed urban legends.  Although the details change from retelling to retelling (and surely each varies greatly from its original incarnation), the core sense of fear is always present, whether borne from the ramifications of saying “Bloody Mary&#822   read more

ScribeHard on Film Posted by Michael Nazarewycz on June 11, 2015

As I was growing up, the films I consumed – even the films with the most gravitas – were mostly mainstream fare.  It wasn’t until my early 20s (when I worked at a video store) that I started paying closer attention to arthouse and independent films.  (It was such a different lands   read more

ScribeHard on Film Posted by Michael Nazarewycz on June 6, 2015

I cut my horror movie teeth when I was a 1970s pre-teen.  That diet consisted mostly of late-night b-grade fare, with a weekly feast of Creature Double Feature offerings on Saturday afternoons.  (Almost all of it was on glorious UHF, by the way.)  The selections, dating from the ’40s to...   read more

ScribeHard on Film Posted by Michael Nazarewycz on June 3, 2015

My first recollection of a film with post-apocalyptic themes was something I saw on UHF one lazy summer afternoon when I was a kid.  The film was Ranald MacDougall‘s The World, the Flesh, and the Devil (1952), about three strangers who find each other after a nuclear holocaust wipes the rest   read more

ScribeHard on Film Posted by Michael Nazarewycz on May 28, 2015

My earliest recollection of ice hockey dates back to when I was about six years old, when my Babchi’s beloved Philadelphia Flyers – more notoriously known as the Broad Street Bullies – won the first of two back-to-back Stanley Cups. (Her favorite player was center Orest Kindrachuk   read more

ScribeHard on Film Posted by Michael Nazarewycz on May 1, 2015

The knock on the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has been that despite how well they might be made, they are still treated more like product than art.  But in 2012, writer/director Joss Whedon did what many thought was impossible: he made real art out of all that product...   read more

ScribeHard on Film Posted by Michael Nazarewycz on March 9, 2015

One of my early assignments for DVD Verdict was to review the Blu-ray for the independent horror film Resolution.  The film is impressive, particularly in how it breathes new life into old horror tropes to produce a film-watching experience I wan’t expecting.  It’s co-directed by Justin   read more

ScribeHard on Film Posted by Michael Nazarewycz on February 27, 2015

They used to call Will Smith “Mr. July” because of his string of successful big-budget summer popcorn movies that began in the mid-1990s (most notably 1996’s Independence Day and 1997’s Men in Black).  And career numbers certainly support Smith’s overall success.  Acco   read more

ScribeHard on Film Posted by Michael Nazarewycz on February 13, 2015

Late Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once famously said of pornography, that while he couldn’t necessarily define it, “… I know it when I see it.” The same can be said for good onscreen chemistry. (You thought I was zigging. I zagged.) Good chemistry – a kind of m   read more

ScribeHard on Film Posted by Michael Nazarewycz on January 16, 2015

Critiquing a film based on an actual person always brings with it the risk that the critique will be misinterpreted (or, in some cases, misrepresented) as a critique of the person.  When the story on which the film is based brings with it its own controversy, the risk can increase....   read more

ScribeHard on Film Posted by Michael Nazarewycz on December 28, 2014

When I was a junior in high school, I excelled at chemistry.  I don’t know why, really; it was just something I was good at.  When it came time to choose classes for my senior year, I thought, “Hey – physics!  Same teacher as chem and everything!  How hard can...   read more