Stage musicals are built on an audience's rhythm that a camera cannot reproduce. Transfers that work rebuild the rhythm from scratch rather…
genre guides
Both are called thrillers and they produce entirely different sensations. Knowing which one you are watching changes what a scene is doing…
When a fantasy adaptation disappoints, the blame usually lands on the effects or the casting. The recurring failure is more mundane and…
True crime is the most consumed documentary format and the least examined for its costs. The people it is about are almost…
Genre Guides
Horror’s Real Currency Is Tension, Not Gore
Gore is the most visible element of horror and the least important. The films that endure work on tension, and tension is…
Documentaries carry an authority that fiction does not, and that authority is frequently unearned. Recognising the construction does not make them worthless,…
A serious drama from thirty years ago usually still works. A comedy from the same year frequently does not. The reason is…
Detailed explanation is treated as a mark of serious science fiction. The best work in the genre usually explains less, and the…
Crime is treated as a single category in every streaming menu and on every recommendation list. The two traditions inside it are…