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Benjamin Allen

Columnist — Class of 2023

Number of articles: 13

First Article: May 1, 2020

Latest Article: May 14, 2021

Movies

The Oscars’ work is far from over

A little over a year ago, Bong Joon-Ho’s “Parasite” won the Oscar for Best Picture. 2019 was undoubtedly a great year for films—from Taika Waititi’s “Jojo Rabbit” to Sam Mendes’s “1917”—and yet, “Parasite” was still the clear choice for recognition.

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Quarantine Cinema

Please stop asking for director’s cuts

After watching six hours of footage expanded from what was previously one two-hour movie, I can say that “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” is vastly better than the original theatrical release of “Justice League.” A film that was meant to make millions was fumbled so badly by those involved that it took four years before the intended cut was seen by fans.

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Quarantine Cinema

The importance of Black stage-to screen adaptations

It’s safe to say that the majority of present-day moviegoers steer clear of stage-to-screen adaptations. There are films in this subgenre that would be considered classics, like Elia Kazan’s “A Streetcar Named Desire” and Milos Forman’s “Amadeus” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” but there is something about the intimacy of watching the film version of a work originally performed as a stage play that turns many audiences off.

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Quarantine Cinema

“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” and the limitations of political comedy

Jak sie masz! The days are now in the single digits as we wait for the election, and Sacha Baron Cohen decided it was a perfect time to release his new political comedy, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.” Although I was thoroughly excited to watch the film, I noticed that there were great differences between the two Borat films.

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Quarantine Cinema

“The Forty-Year-Old Version” and the nightmare of being a marginalized creator

Over the past few weeks, I have constantly been thinking about the movies that studios are putting on the backburner to release when theaters are completely reopened. I am excited to see Cary Joji Fukunaga’s “No Time To Die,” Edgar Wright’s “Late Night in Soho,” Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” and, honestly, I am curious about Malcolm D.

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Why we must keep the movie theater experience alive

Movie theaters are currently experiencing a grueling face-lift, and it seems the two reasons would be COVID-19 and “Trolls World Tour.” If a Justin Timberlake animated film musical is a catalyst for change within a multi-billion dollar industry, we are truly living in the end times.

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