Cinematic Universes; and Universal Studios’ failed attempts to make them ‘Cinematic Universe’ is a concept we’re all painfully aware of, due to how often it has taken over our movie industry in the past decade. I’m not one to argue that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the ‘scum of the Earth’ like Martin Scorsese and…
Frantic: A Classic Thriller based on Foreign Anxieties
Frantic: A Classic Thriller based on Foreign Anxieties Any international who’s moved to the Netherlands has undoubtedly had to face some of the weirdness/awkwardness that comes automatically with being a stranger in a foreign country. Every place, every country has its own unique elements that can make it intimidating for foreigners, visitors, tourists, expats. As…
The Confusing Chronology of the Alien Sequels
By Romke van der Veen Just recently a new ‘Alien’ movie was announced, this time to be produced (not directed) by Ridley Scott. But this news got little media attention. Why is this? For a franchise that was once considered some of the best science-fiction out there. A franchise that produced blockbusters and even one…
Ukraine and the Charge of the Light Brigade
By Romke van der Veen There are certain regions of the world, which have historically been at the convergence point of conflicting cultures. Ukraine has been one of these frontiers; a place of tensions between powers, not unlike the Balkans, Caucasus or the Arabian Peninsula have to an even greater degree. In Mackinder’s ‘Heartland Theory’…
Blue Thunder – The Foregone Era of Smart Popcorn Flicks
By Romke van der Veen Many today might associate older action films with the cheesy, cliché and overly loud schlock that appeared in the 80s with Rambo, Die Hard and Commando. It isn’t inaccurate, the trend of the loud and violent action blockbusters, which have remained a staple of action and even some thrillers alike….
Why Do We Know Friday the 13th?
By Romke Van Der Veen With another Halloween that has come and gone, I was reminded of some of the holiday’s most infamous icons and horror in general. Jason Voorhees, I’m sure you’ve heard that name alongside that of Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers (from Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween, respectively). But why? These names are commonly known…
Keanu Reeves: Acting Hero or Action Hero
By Romke van der Veen With the release of Matrix 4 this winter, we could say this decade marks the return (of sorts) of Keanu Reeves into the limelight as our beloved action star. He is a celebrity that has amassed immense notoriety and fame for what is, in fact, only just a handful of…
The Conflict of Historical Filmmaking
Romke van der Veen When you’re depicting history in movies, or portraying a historical event, making a biopic or period-piece, you are always confronted with walking the line between drama, historical accuracy, or even documentarian type filmmaking. A great example of this conflict is the 2008 German film, Baader Meinhof Complex. Now, German historical films…
Some Thoughts on the Women’s Prize for Fiction
By Marije Huging In March, the longlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, the UK’s most prestigious book award for women writers, for which the winner gets 30 000 pounds, was released. The drama that ensued earlier this month regarding the prize has something larger to say about literary prize culture, and it’s entering into…
In Praise of Ali Smith and Leonora Carrington
By Marije Huging There was once a man who, one night between the main course and the sweet at a dinner party, went upstairs and locked himself in one of the bedrooms of the house of the people who were giving the dinner party. There was once a woman who got locked up in a…
Olivia Laing and Loneliness at UCR
By Marije Huging ‘Loneliness is difficult to confess; difficult too to categorise. Like depression, a state with which it often intersects, it can run deep in the fabric of a person (…) Like depression, like melancholy or restlessness, it is subject too to pathologization, to being considered a disease. It has been said emphatically that…
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
By Marije Huging When at home, I often admire my dogs, who nap approximately 12 to 14 hours a day, with a sense of jealousy. With no immediate dangers surrounding them, the animals manage to relax and be comfortable 50 % of their day- whilst me, on the other hand, cannot exactly say the same…
Beating the Winter Blues
By Marije Huging During the last week of a UCR semester, my head usually feels strangely detached from my body, like a little homunculus living in an empty shell. This is what exams, presentations, and what seems like an endless array of papers (that I actually wrote in two days) feel like. During this time,…
Smallest cinema of the Netherlands!!!!
By Marije Huging When walking drearily on the almost-empty streets of Middelburg after a 16:00-18:00 class, you realize that you forgot to buy food. So you go to the supermarket in the dark to pick up ready-made pasta, a vegetable for nutrition, and some candy, which you can open on the way back for comfort…
Whilst Online Shopping Sites Are Doing Well in This Season, Local Businesses Are Not Exactly Thriving.
By Marije Huging I must say, writing about Arts & Culture whilst the government has just shut down the entire sector is not the easiest thing. As I was about to write something about the opening of the smallest cinema in the Netherlands located in Middelburg (!!!), the cinemas closed, so an opening is not…
Explaining Things to My Hamster
By Marije Huging On many evenings during corona, sitting alone in my room – or, not entirely alone- I pass the time by watching series. In lonesome solitude one night (except for the company of a small rodent), I began to reminisce of my time as a fourteen-year-old girl, addicted to Gossip Girl, which in…
The Upside Down and the instagrammable museum experience
By Marije Huging This summer, the largest Instagram museum in Europe, started by a popular Dutch Youtuber Anna Nooshin, opened its doors in Amsterdam. ‘’The Upside Down’’ experience contains 15 rooms filled with 25 decorum and installations, all made for people to take the perfect picture for Instagram. The opening of this grand establishment also…
A Millennial’s Struggle to Read
by Alice Fournier “In a secular age,” writes Ceridwen Dovey in a The NewYorker article, “I suspect that reading fiction is one of the few remaining paths to transcendence.” The article, published in the newspaper’s section ‘Cultural Comments’ and titled, “Can Reading Make You Happier?” had me wondering this exact same question. I don’t remember…
Emily is Away: Choice and Acceptance in Indie Games
By Luc Aboubadra Do our choices really matter? Is the world really a blank canvas on which you can paint your fate? If you could rewrite your past by making different decisions, would that positively influence your present? I’m pretty sure anyone reading those lines has already asked themselves those questions, and many similar ones…
Toxic Pillows and Potatoes
By Gabrielle Gonzales Understanding modern art is a difficult undertaking – and contemporary art is more challenging still. It’s no surprise, then, that a visit to a modern and contemporary art museum or gallery can seem a daunting experience for many. It’s not exactly like the national gallery or encyclopedic museum where you know exactly…