Oscar winning filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow has proven herself to be a master of suspense, with most of her films centering around characters trying desperately by any means necessary to survive another day. Her latest collaboration with The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty screenwriter Mark Boal, the historical period drama Detroit, is no exception. Built around a sustained sequence of unease, tension, and violence both psychological and physical that will stand as one of her finest filmmaking moments, Bigelow’s look back rioting and racial injustice in Detroit during the summer of 1967 will haunt the memories of viewers for a long time.
Kathryn Bigelow
Although award winning American filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow has only directed ten theatrically released feature films across her almost forty year long career (including the forthcoming Detroit, opening in early August), her resume includes some of the most suspenseful thrillers and influential action movies ever made. Well deserving of her own TIFF retrospective this summer – Kathryn Bigelow: On the Edge (running from July 21 to August 15 at TIFF Bell Lightbox) – Bigelow’s particular brand of cinema is rousing and primal, balancing big budget spectacle with intelligent subtext in a way that few of her contemporaries are capable of matching.
Arriving this week on store shelves: Aaron Eckhart stars in the big budget alien invasion film, Battle: Los Angeles; two more Harry Potter films arrive in their gleaming Ultimate Editions for years 5 and 6 of the franchise; and a look at Point Break, which lands on Blu-ray, and Hall Pass.
Coming out this week on Blu-ray and DVD, director Kathryn Bigelow‘s The Hurt Locker debuts after months of critical acclaim, while Sam Rockwell stars in the minimalistic sci-fi drama, Moon. Other new releases include Big Fan, Fame, and Halloween II.
This has to be the quote of 2009, my friends, courtesy of Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker.
Jeremy Renner as bomb squad Staff Sergeant William James…
Opening in theatres this week, the latest film from J.K. Rowling‘s insanely popular franchise comes to life with Daniel Radcliffe starring once more in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Also opening in select theatres is one of this year’s most critically acclaimed dramas, director Kathryn Bigelow‘s The Hurt Locker.