Tag Archives: film
English professor and film preservationist Scott Simmon breathes life into early cinema
(Originally written for Steve Magagnini’s Journalism class, UC Davis, November 2011) It’s hard for Scott Simmon to contain his enthusiasm for movies. He bounds around his spacious English department chair office in Voorhies (guarded by his assistant, Mary, and a bowl of candy) grabbing books he’s written about early Westerns and the great director King […]
The Ghastly Love of Johnny X (2013)
(Originally published in LA Weekly) Turn on your spaceships and fire up the jukebox. In writer-director Paul Bunnell’s supremely ridiculous tale, 1950s-style rebel Johnny X (Will Keenan) and his coed gang of dropouts, the Ghastly Ones, are exiled to Earth from their faraway planet. Their crime, it seems, is performing selfish deeds involving a powerful […]
Lights, camera, Davis
(originally written for Steve Magagnini’s Journalism class, UC Davis, November 2011) Late one night last winter, anyone studying in the basement of Shields Library would have borne witness to an unusual sight: A tall, lanky guy running around the stacks holding a video camera. That was senior Technocultural Studies major Kyle Dickerson making his second-ever […]
Forbidden Games (1952)
From the ages of about one to 12, half of my world existed within the confines of my imagination. I spent hours there, drawing inspiration from everyone and everything around me to build vast stories that would occupy my hours of playtime. Once involved in a game, it was tough to leave it. Most summer […]
Robin Migdol 