Articles written by Daniel Stephens - Page 4

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About me - Daniel Stephens

I'm a full time writer living in England. I currently run film and culture website Strange Conversation and I'm the Editor of a construction trade magazine printed and distributed throughout the UK and Ireland. In the past I was a staff writer for the UK's

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Home & Garden > Architecture Strange building structures from around the world: 2 of 8
Daniel Libeskind's Jewish Museum in Berlin is an interesting piece of architecture. As with all 'strange' works of building design - from Frank Gehry's dreamlike concepts to Le Corbusier's International Style - Libeskind's twisted metallic-framed museum has been as much derided as it has praised. It's simultaneously weird wh... More..
Entertainment > Movie Analysis Movie analysis: Women in horror films: Ripley, the alien, and the monstrous feminine: 1 of 4
Looking at feminist writer Laura Mulvey's analysis of the classical Hollywood film it is interesting how Alien (Scott, 1979) defies her claims about scopophilia, in that the film both subverts her ideas about voyeuristic visual pleasure and narcissistic visual pleasure. (Mulvey, 1975/1989, pg. 353) Mulvey claims that scopoph... More..
Entertainment > Movie Reviews Movie reviews: Spellbound: 1 of 4
An early scene involving an elderly couple, where Granny has to tell her hard of hearing husband the answer to a question three times, stinks of Christopher Guest-style mocumentary hilarity. Even a following scene with the same couple where Granddad declares that Mexican's 'are not all bums and tramps' but some are indeed 'r... More..
Entertainment > Movie Analysis Movie analysis: The Ring Two (2005): 1 of 4
Director Hideo Nakata's presence at the helm of Dreamworks' sequel to their own remake of Nakata's earlier Japanese original Ring, must have been quite a scoop for the studio. After all, his influential work in Japan had revitalised the horror film in the east, whilst the west happily retread old ground. It's a shame then th... More..
Entertainment > Movie Reviews Movie reviews: The Relic: 1 of 4
Penelope Ann Miller stars as an evolutionary biologist who, after her colleague goes missing when on the hunt for a mysterious mythical creature named the 'Kothoga', finds herself at the center of a murder investigation, of which the killer in question decapitates its victims. With a boat from South America found with the en... More..
Entertainment > Movie Reviews Movie reviews: The Departed: 13 of 48
I looked at the running time before beginning to watch Martin Scorsese's 2006 crime-drama and thought it might be too long. My girlfriend certainly thought so - she was asleep after half an hour and woke up with about forty minutes left. As I tried to bring her up to speed with what had happened, I found myself breathlessly ... More..
Computers & Technology > Consumer Electronics (Other) The race: Blu-ray DVD vs. HD DVD format: 5 of 18
I remember the minute I set eyes on my shiny new DVD player. It was back in 2001. The player a Pioneer DV717 was the same size as two VHS players placed on top of each other but it looked ten times as sophisticated with enough inputs and outputs to make robot Johnny Five of Short Circuit fame blush. I was in awe as I placed ... More..
Entertainment > Movie Genres What are your favorite movie quotes of all time: 7 of 25
Whenever I think of favourite movie quotes two things cross my mind. One, the line from Aliens when Hudson (Bill Paxton) utters "Game over, Man, game over"; and two, the wish that I could be that guy who remembers all his favourite quotes to quip at any social gathering I might be attending. Both these things - the quote and... More..
Entertainment > Movie Reviews Movie reviews: Death Sentence (2007): 4 of 14
It you want to see a movie that so perfectly encapsulates deux ex machina look no further than James Wan's Death Sentence. It's an unoriginal piece of filmmaking that hinges on one of the biggest horror clichs in the book. It's a shame because director Wan definitely has an eye for action and suspense. Indeed, Death Sentence... More..
Entertainment > Movie Reviews Movie reviews: A Mighty Heart: 2 of 7
A Mighty Heart (Michael Winterbottom, USA/UK, 2007) Dir. Michael Winterbottom; starring Angelina Jolie, Dan Futterman, Archie Panjabi, Mohammed Afzal, Mushtaq Khan A Mighty Heart immediately followed Michael Winterbottom's 2006 venture into middle-eastern war zones The Road To Guantanamo. Both films share similar themes: the... More..