On the record
Film criticism, discoveries, and explainers
Film writing and legal discovery
Spotlight
In this issue
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Why Some Movie Backgrounds Are Blurry: Depth of Field Explained
A practical explanation of depth of field and how aperture, focal length, camera distance and sensor or film format shape what appears sharp in a movie frame.
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Why Anamorphic Lenses Make Movies Look Different
How anamorphic lenses squeeze a wide field of view onto an image area and why their flares, bokeh, distortion and focus behavior became part of cinematic visual language.
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What Shutter Angle Means in Movies — and Why 180 Degrees Is So Common
An evidence-informed guide to shutter angle, exposure time and motion blur, including why the 180-degree convention remains a useful cinematography reference.
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Why Movies Shot at 24 FPS Look Different From 30 or 60 FPS
Why 24 frames per second became strongly associated with cinema, how frame rate changes motion rendering, and why higher frame rates can make familiar movie movement feel unusual.
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Resident Evil (2026) Review: Zach Cregger Finally Gets the Game
Zach Cregger strips Resident Evil back to survival-horror basics, with Austin Abrams turning one terrible night in Raccoon City into a funny, vicious sprint.
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Spider-Man: Brand New Day Review: Peter Parker Grows Up, Even If Marvel Won’t
Tom Holland gives Peter Parker a more bruised, adult edge in Brand New Day, a sequel with real emotional weight trapped inside familiar franchise machinery.
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The Odyssey Review: Christopher Nolan Goes to War With Myth
Christopher Nolan turns Homer’s epic into a huge, tactile story about war, memory and the dangerous power of storytelling, led by Matt Damon as Odysseus.