The Big Picture Magazine
David Mamet, the great American man of letters, once said: “The genius of Jaws is the ability to terrify us with a shot of empty ocean.” When those yellow barrels pop up, it only adds to the terror, ratchets it up, taking us beyond “simple” storytelling towards multi-faceted layers of myth and mystery, beyond: “What lies beneath?” […]
The Big Picture is committed to giving young, emerging writers a voice in the world of film criticism. In this feature, student writers from around the world share their insights on contemporary film and new releases.
UFO Abduction now more commonly referred to as The McPherson Tape is a ground breaking science fiction horror movie shot in 1988. Set in 1983, it concerns the McPherson family who, while celebrating a child’s birthday party, find themselves under siege from alien beings. The film has a strange and chequered history that is perhaps […]
*Spoiler Alert: Main plot-points revealed below. With the likes of 1980s throwback fare such as Stranger Things, Cobra Kai and the IT film series pleasing both Gen Z and X’ers, the time no doubt felt right for a new Ghostbusters movie with kids front and center. This latest instalment (effectively a sequel to 1989’s Ghostbusters […]
In this, our first Big Picture podcast, Editor-in-chief Gabriel Solomons and Editor Thomas Puhr discuss the 1982 horror classic Poltergeist, picking apart various themes, focussing on hidden meanings and revealing some insights about the film’s poster and iconic objects such as the television, toy clown and the haunted house itself at the centre of all […]
This quarantine provided the time to finally view Martin Scorsese’s remake of Cape Fear (1991), originally shot by director J. Lee Thompson (1962) and based on John D. MacDonald’s The Executioners (1957). The innocent 90s-child in me can’t help but happily recall the iconic Simpsons spoof, “Cape Feare,” with Sideshow Bob tied under the family’s […]
Practically every notable bit of movie memorabilia has been bought for some obscene sum by some obsessive fan. But the sale of the Rosebud sled was special: the buyer who forked out a fortune for it wasn’t bidding on behalf of an ostentatious movie museum-cum-café or an anonymous Charles Foster Kane-esque collector – he was […]