history
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Lessons from the Wasteland: Early Animation
Welcome to class! Each film on this curated watchlist will highlight either a filmmaker, sub-genre, filmmaking technique, or significant topic in order to broaden your cinematic horizons. Continue reading
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Welcome to the Apocryphal Tale of “The Carpenter’s Son” (Review)
I’m a simple man. I enjoy the art of cinema. I hear “Nicolas Cage in a faith-based horror movie,” and I’m intrigued. Continue reading
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Lessons from the Wasteland: Akira Kurosawa
Welcome to class! Each film on this curated watchlist will highlight either a filmmaker, sub-genre, filmmaking technique, or significant topic in order to broaden your cinematic horizons. Continue reading
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“The Smashing Machine” Crashes Its Way to Mediocrity (Review)
“The Smashing Machine” feels like just the first half of a larger piece of art — and it’s a pretty disappointing first half at that. Continue reading
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Lessons from the Wasteland: Live Action Fantasy
Welcome to class! Each film on this curated watchlist will highlight either a filmmaker, sub-genre, filmmaking technique, or significant topic in order to broaden your cinematic horizons. Continue reading
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The 10 Best Films of 2025, So Far: A Midyear Report
Today marks the midway point of both an unusually painful year and the most tumultuous decade in recent memory. Today, we will be examining ten films released this year that our contributors connected with, and have so far taken their… Continue reading
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Lessons from the Wasteland: Weird Westerns
Welcome to class! Each film on this curated watchlist will highlight either a filmmaker, sub-genre, filmmaking technique, or significant topic in order to broaden your cinematic horizons. Continue reading
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Lessons from the Wasteland: Flashbacks
Welcome to class! Each film on this curated watchlist will highlight either a filmmaker, sub-genre, filmmaking technique, or significant topic in order to broaden your cinematic horizons. Continue reading
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Every Best Picture Winner Ranked (Part One)
The Academy Award for Best Picture has been awarded for almost a century to the film deemed to represent not necessarily the most popular, but the most culturally relevant in that year’s cinematic lineup. Continue reading
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Remembering David Lynch
David Lynch, one of the most iconic and stylistically recognizable filmmakers of all time, passed away recently at the age of 78. Continue reading
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Our Most Anticipated Movies of 2025
There are plenty of films, whether they be original, adaptations, or sequels, that we’re looking forward to this year. Continue reading
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The 10 Best Films of 2024
Though it may not have reached the heights of years previous, 2024 has proven to be a fascinating year for cinema. Continue reading
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The Underseen Gems of 2024
Knock on Wood presents: our favorite under-appreciated masterpieces from 2024. Continue reading
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“A Complete Unknown” Embraces the Enigma (Review)
Mangold’s film, inscrutable as it is, makes the right choices to cement its legacy. Continue reading
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“Nosferatu” is the Visceral Nightmare We Deserve (Review)
As far as I’m concerned, no director has better control over their vision than Robert Eggers. Continue reading
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The 25 Best Movie Musicals of the Last 25 Years
Musicals have certainly had their ups and downs over the years, but it’s quite clear that musicals are experiencing a high water mark in entertainment spectacle and audience engagement. Continue reading
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Too Many Movies, Too Little Time: A Summary of the 2024 Fall Movie Season (Part Two)
To commemorate the conclusion of the season, we have reviewed every new release (that I have seen) that has not been previously covered on our site. Continue reading
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Awards Season Ramps Up: A Summary of the 2024 Fall Movie Season (Part One)
To commemorate the conclusion of the season, we have reviewed every new release (that I have seen) that has not been previously covered on our site. Continue reading
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Lessons from the Wasteland: Mel Brooks
Welcome to class! Each film on this curated watchlist will highlight either a filmmaker, sub-genre, filmmaking technique, or significant topic in order to broaden your cinematic horizons. Continue reading
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The Movies That Made Us – A One-Year Anniversary Celebration
Even if they weren’t the exact movie that made you a cinephile, every film fan has one (or many) that you can cite as one of the central inspirations for that passion. Continue reading
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The Monumental Journey of “The Brutalist” (Review)
“The Brutalist” speaks beautifully and honestly to America’s betrayal of immigrants and the broken promise of the infamous (some might say mythical) American Dream. Continue reading
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“Gladiator II” is Too Focused on Legacy (Review)
Ridley Scott’s movies are typically visually and tonally excellent, creating memorable images and sequences, but he doesn’t really elevate material. Continue reading
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Lessons from the Wasteland: Symmetrical Composition
Welcome to class! Each film on this curated watchlist will highlight either a filmmaker, sub-genre, filmmaking technique, or significant topic in order to broaden your cinematic horizons. Continue reading
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Live from 1975, it’s “Saturday Night!” (Review)
Complex and controversial history aside, it’s undeniable that SNL changed the landscape of television and entertainment as a whole. This is the perfect time for a movie like this. Continue reading
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The Most Exciting Film Festival Premieres of 2024
Film festivals happen throughout the year, but the premieres ramp up from the end of the summer through the beginning of fall. Continue reading
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Everything We Didn’t Review: A Summary of the 2024 Summer Movie Season
To commemorate the conclusion of the season, we have reviewed every new release (that I have seen) that has not been previously covered on our site. Continue reading
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Lessons from the Wasteland: Long Takes
Welcome to class! Each film on this curated watchlist will highlight either a filmmaker, sub-genre, filmmaking technique, or significant topic in order to broaden your cinematic horizons. Continue reading
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The Wasteland Spotlight: The 2024 Tribeca Film Festival
If you’re looking for new outlets for checking out films, this article series is a perfect way to seek out new channels to dive into. Continue reading
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Lessons from the Wasteland: Stanley Kubrick
Welcome to class! Each film on this curated watchlist will highlight either a filmmaker, sub-genre, filmmaking technique, or significant topic in order to broaden your cinematic horizons. Continue reading
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Ro’s Colored Glasses: Revisiting the Time-Traveling Antics of “Mr. Peabody and Sherman”
Ro’s Colored Glasses is a series where I re-examine these films from my childhood with a more refined and educated perspective, and re-evaluate them as fairly and objectively as possible (if there even is such a method). Continue reading
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Lessons from the Wasteland: Narration
Welcome to class! Each film on this curated watchlist will highlight either a filmmaker, sub-genre, filmmaking technique, or significant topic in order to broaden your cinematic horizons. Continue reading
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Looking Ahead to the 2025 Oscars
Every year, when the Academy Awards are done and over with, the minds of curious cinephiles are always thinking ahead. It will be nearly a year before next year’s ceremony, but it’s never too early to start predicting – especially… Continue reading
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How To Win Your 2024 Office Oscar Pool
A time-honored office tradition is slinging money on the Oscars. Because, and let’s be honest, one of the most simple joys in life is upstaging your co-workers. And this year’s Oscars are right around the corner, set to air the… Continue reading
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Ten Takeaways from the 2024 Oscar Nominations
Another year, another round of Oscar nominations to over-analyze until the glorious cycle repeats itself next awards season. Let us embark on this journey together as we discuss ten snubs, surprises, musings, and takeaways from the 2024 Oscar nominations. Continue reading
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If I Picked the Oscars: A Dream of 2024
If you had control over the Academy Awards…what would you nominate? It’s a question that’s almost certainly run through the minds of every cinephile, and instead of hopelessly dreaming this year, I decided to put them into words. Continue reading
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The 10 Best Films of 2023
By all accounts, 2023 was an incredible year for film. Our contributors saw a cumulative hundreds of films from January to December, but there were some clear favorites. What follows is the combined Knock on Wood Top 10 of 2023. Continue reading
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The Underseen Gems of 2023
While some films garner awards attention and spread rapidly across the zeitgeist through word-of-mouth, the majority find it difficult to break through the myriad of new releases. Each of our writers will take you on a journey through some of… Continue reading
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“Napoleon” Has a Complex
Whatever your opinions are about historical epics, overlong movies, and surrealist performances that clash with the film’s tone, “Napoleon” will get you thinking, for better or for worse, about what you just saw. Continue reading
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