Author Archives: Ted Hicks

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About Ted Hicks

Iowa farm boy; have lived in NYC for 40 years; worked in motion picture labs, film/video distribution, subtitling, media-awards program; obsessive film-goer all my life.

Happy New Year 2017: Duck and Cover

2016 has been a good year for films, but not so great otherwise. Too many people have died, famous and not so famous. The weird voodoo of the presidential election, which seemed to take place in an alternate Bizarro World … Continue reading

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Movie Poster Art for Art’s Sake

            _________________________________________________________ Some time ago I was looking for posters for a particular film when I chanced upon others that immediately got my attention. Some of these were for films I’d never heard of before. … Continue reading

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“Dog Days” – A Pilgrim’s Progress

Dog Days is a six-part comic web series on YouTube that follows the misadventures of a fledgling dog walker named Max Miller. It was created and written by Sam Rubinoff, a stand-up comedian for five years and a dog walker … Continue reading

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“Hell or High Water” – The Real Deal

Hell or High Water is one of the best films of the year so far. I’ve seen it twice in one week, drawn back by the excellence of the filmmaking, writing, and performances — the whole package. I anticipated the … Continue reading

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From Kubrick to Murnau – Notes on Four Great Films

Film Forum, here in New York, is currently showing a series called “Return of the Double Feature,” which offers two features for the price of a single admission. This series runs through September 13th. Each pair of films is linked … Continue reading

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“Be curious. Stand up. Keep your eyes open. Don’t blink.” – Robert Frank

What a terrific year this has been so far for documentaries. I just saw another great one, Don’t Blink – Robert Frank, directed by Laura Israel. I wish I had time to write a more finished piece, but we’re leaving … Continue reading

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Varieties of Human Experience: Recent Documentaries

In the last ten to twenty years, in addition to informing us in a journalistic sense, the best documentaries have been artistic expressions in their own right. The ones I’ve seen lately have been outstanding, uplifting, deeply moving, and extremely … Continue reading

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The Supercharged Art of Walter Molino

Last week a friend of mine in Minneapolis, Mark Ryan, sent me a series of illustrations by Walter Molino, an Italian comics artist and illustrator. I’d never heard of this guy, but was totally blown away by his work. I’ve … Continue reading

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“Tale of Tales” Pt. 2 – Supplemental Material

This may be a deeper dive than anyone who hasn’t already seen Tale of Tales will want to take, but here it is for those who do. First is more information about the work of Giambattista Basile, author of the film’s … Continue reading

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“Tale of Tales” – Once Upon a Time…

Tale of Tales presents three dark and bloody fairy tales — truly fantastic and quite wonderful flights of the imagination — yet it feels very real. Directed by Matteo Garrone, this is a lucid dream of a movie, an elaborately … Continue reading

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