A still from the opening of "Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story" (Haynes, 1988). 

By Megan Hess

 Before this year's Academy Awards season, many people had never heard of Todd Haynes. The Brown University-educated filmmaker directed Carol (Haynes, 2015), an adaptation of American suspense novelist Patricia Highsmith's The Price of Salt, in which Therese, a poor shopgirl (Rooney Mara) and Carol (Cate Blanchett), a wealthy housewife, meet and begin a clandestine, cross-country, lesbian affair.  Well-received both commercially and critically (more than much of  Haynes' previous work, at any rate), Carol amassed six Oscar nominations: Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress for Blanchett and Mara, respectively, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score. While the cast and crew of Carol came home from this year's Academy Awards ceremony with none of these awards, the film's success reminded the general public of its director's existence. 
Carol may be Haynes' most successful film about women, but it certainly isn't his first. That honor goes to Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, which Karen's brother Richard forbid Haynes from circulating soon after its initial release due to copyright issues. The 43-minute short about '70s singer Karen Carpenter's ascent to fame - and descent into anorexia - too often gets distilled down to the two elements it's best known for: its innovative usage of Barbie dolls and its contraband status.  But Superstar is so much more than a campy cult classic. This grim, touching, case study left indelible marks on Haynes' career. Without it, his resume might look much different than it does at present. 
Although most fans only think of Haynes' work on Superstar, it's important not to forget his co-writer\producer Cynthia Schneider. The two became friends while attending Brown, and kept up the relationship post-graduation, when they discussed their interest in collaborating on a film. (Davis 11-15). The combination of Carpenter's untimely death from complications of her eating disorder, and a Barbie doll advertisement Haynes saw on TV,  birthed the concept of Superstar (Davis 15-16).  The finished product got its release in 1987. At first, Haynes and his team had difficulty finding places to screen Superstar, and had many prestigious venues (including the MoMA and the Whitney Museum of American Art) turn them down (Davis 26). However, Superstar rose above this initial setback and enjoyed widespread popularity.  It was even screened at what would become the Sundance Film Festival (Davis 30). However, copyright issues caught up with the Superstar crew. First, they had a brief scuffle with Mattel over the plastic dolls used in the film. This fizzled out soon after it began; Mattel had bigger legal battles to fight at the time, and Haynes wrote them a very kind letter offering to add a disclaimer which said that the toys in the film were not Mattel products (Davis 33). The issues Richard Carpenter had with Superstar, however, would not get resolved so easily. ​

The Superstar versions of Karen and Richard.

During the production process, Haynes tried to get rights to the near-half-hour of Carpenters music used in Superstar -  after which Richard Carpenter's legal representation told him he could not use any songs, or even make the film itself. (Davis 25). Haynes ignored the and went through with the project anyway (to be fair to Richard, the film does not portray him in the most positive light.) The Carpenter estate came after Superstar in October 1989, with concerns about both copyright infringement and the misrepresentation of the Carpenters' image.  Haynes tried to negotiate with them. He wanted Superstar available for "non-commercial, non-theatrical showings" (Davis 35) and offered to donate all profits made from screenings to the Karen Carpenter Foundation for Anorexia Research.  They refused.
This setback could have snuffed out Haynes' budding career - but it didn't. He continued to make short films, and eventually moved onto feature-length projects - all imbued with the same creativity and sensitivity seen in Superstar. He returned to the pop biopic with Velvet Goldmine (Haynes, 2002) and I'm Not There (Haynes, 2007). Based on the life and career of American folk-rock singer Bob Dylan, I'm Not There subverts the standard biopic formula. Instead of one or two actors playing Dylan, it has six. Each explores a different aspect of his work and personality.

The six faces of Bob Dylan, according to I'm Not There.

Haynes also continued to make female-centered films with similar themes to Superstar. In Safe (Haynes, 1995) Julienne Moore plays Cathy, a 1950s' housewife struggling to uphold her "June Cleaver" image while she processes her husband's homosexuality, and her own romantic interest in the family's African-American gardener. Superstar, Safe, and Carol all deal with a dilemma many women (and men) face: the pressure to uphold societal standards when those standards feel restrictive or unnatural. Haynes has a better understanding of the female experience than many of his male contemporaries in the business, and Superstar makes that insight - something necessary for the success of his future projects -  evident. 
Many people have forgotten Superstar, but it functions as an essential part of Todd Haynes' film catalog. It got his name out in the industry - even if its technical brilliance was eventually overshadowed by the scandal - and influenced his best films.  Perhaps someday the Carpenter Estate will lift its ban on Superstar, and it can impact another generation - no longer hiding in shadows, but shining bright, as it deserves.

Works Cited
Davis, Glyn. Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story.  London: Wildflower Press, 2008. Print. 

Grace (Brie Larson) comforts Jayden (Kaitlyn Dever) after a cryptic, chilling, reveal. (Short Term 12). 

By Megan Hess

Short Term 12 (Cretton, 2013) is an unforgettable masterpiece.  Emotional, relevant, and engaging, it keeps viewers on their toes from the very beginning.  Nate (Rami Malek) has just arrived for his first day of work at Short Term 12, the foster-care facility where most of the film takes place. His co-workers tell him a humorous story about a resident escaping - partly to establish camaraderie, partly to familiarize him with the center's rules and policies. As is the norm at Short Term 12, the story doesn't end well (kind of a wake-up-call to Nate; happy endings are all he knows.) Will the film? 
Unlike her naive coworker, Grace (Brie Larson), the protagonist of Short Term 12, knows firsthand about life's hardships. Her traumatic past led her to Short Term 12, where she uses her experiences to give other young people the help she never received, but desperately needed. She has become very good at helping others deal with their pain, but refuses to acknowledge her own...until two situations arise which force her to review the past: an unexpected, unwanted, pregnancy, and the arrival of a tough young woman all too similar to that younger version of herself who she always tries to forget. 
​Short Term 12 constantly wavers between dark and light. Seemingly happy moments get swallowed up by anger and sadness. It portrays a survivor's experience well - the way simplest things can trigger strong emotions and painful memories. Cretton isn't afraid to engage with difficult issues like child abuse (both physical and sexual) and self-harm, and he does it successfully, so that it never feels preachy or overly dramatic. 

Grace opens up to Jaden in hope that she will reciprocate (Short Term 12).

Without the right cast, Cretton's excellent script and directing might not have lived up to their full potential, and Short Term 12 would have been a mediocre introduction, instead of a stellar debut. Fortunately for Cretton, he got three powerhouse leads: Brie Larson (Grace), Rami Malik, (Nate), and John Gallagher Jr. (Mason).
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Ma (Brie Larson) contemplates her dismal life in ​Room (Abrahamson, 2015).

Since her Academy-Award winning role in Room, Larson has become the newest industry darling, but many directors (Cretton included) recognized her talent long before her Oscar-winning performance. She has a long history of indie film work, with roles in Scott Pilgrim V.S The World (Wright, 2010), The Spectacular Now (Ponsoldt, 2013), Don Jon (Gordon-Levitt, 2013), and more. While she consistently delivers a solid performance in every film, Short Term 12 is one of her career highlights. She and Cretton will be working together again soon on the upcoming adaptation of Jeanette Walls' memoir The Glass Castle. 

Malek wears his character's signature hooded sweatshirt in a promotional photo for Mr. Robot (Esmail, 2015).

Malek's resume looks a little bit lackluster when compared to Larson's in terms of film work; his credits include Night at the Museum, (Levy, 2006), Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian (Levy, 2009) and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 (Condon, 2012).  However, Malek's success comes on the smaller screen, with parts in 24 (Cochran, Surnow, 2001-2010) and the Avatar: The Last Airbender (DiMartino, Konietzko, 2005-2008) spinoff, The Legend of Korra (DiMartino, Konietkzo, 2012-2014) before his leading role in the USA Network's sleeper hit, Mr. Robot, where he plays a character vastly different from his bit part in Short Term 12.  With Mr. Robot, this versatile talent has proved himself as an actor to watch, and someone who has grown past the sort of parts he used to get in film - but Cretton knew his worth all along. Perhaps he will call on him again for another future project.

A young John Gallagher Jr. (left) with his Spring Awakening co-stars, Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff. 

John Gallagher Jr. has something his other co-stars don't: a Tony Award. He won it for his role as the sensitive, troubled, schoolboy Moritz Steifel in the original Broadway cast of Spring Awakening (Mayer, 2006-2009). He also starred in the original Broadway production of the Green Day rock opera American Idiot (Mayer, 2010-2011). 
Like Malek, Gallagher Jr.'s resume includes a lot of TV work. One of Aaron Sorkin's favorites, he had parts in both The West Wing (Sorkin, 1999-2006) and The Newsroom (Sorkin, 2012-2014). He also played a main role in the HBO miniseries based off of Elizabeth Strout's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Olive Kitteridge (Choldenko, 2014). Another underutilized talent, Gallagher's theater training gives him an extra depth especially evident in Short Term 12. More directors (both onstage and off) would do well to cast him. He makes his return to the Broadway stage this year in the Roundabout Theater Company revival of the Eugene O'Neil classic Long Day's Journey Into Night​. 

The highly skilled  actors in Short Term 12 can't take all the credit for its success.  Cretton has an eye for the human experience which makes him a valuable commodity in an industry ever-focused on sequels, explosions and spandex. Don't be surprised if, in a few years, he has an Oscar nomination - for writing, directing, or both.  Short Term 12 - a film whose only flaw is a little bit of predictability  -   has set the bar very high for Cretton.  I hope he keeps exceeding our expectations.

By Emmanuel Gundran

Film and video games are two completely different media with different relationships to their audiences. Film is a passive medium, meaning that the audience does not have any direct impact on the experience, while video games are an active medium, meaning that the audience can directly impact the experience through decision-making. Though they are so distinct, in recent times these two media have changed by exchanging certain traits with each other.

Early video games such as Pong (Atari, 1972) started out with nothing but direct impact from the audience, but this would change in the years to come. Games like Ms. Pac Man (Bally/Midway, 1981) and Donkey Kong (Nintendo, 1981) included short scenes that moved the game forward to the next level. These scenes could be as simple as the big monkey Donkey Kong stealing the damsel-in-distress away from your clutches and to the next floor of the building. Jumping forward a decade and a half, the Sony Playstation toted games with not only fully-rendered CGI scenes but also voice acting. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Konami, 1997) featured characters with voices accompanied by text on-screen. Because it was such a recent development at the time, the voice acting in the game was not refined like voice acting in gaming today. Voice acting would become a common inclusion in high-budget video games and more professional actors in the film industry would be hired for projects.

While the impact of film on the gaming industry is much more detectable, gaming has also changed the film industry in recent times. Andy Serkis, an actor well known for his roles as computer-generated characters, argues that the relationship between film and gaming has been reversed, especially in the digital department. "There was probably a time when people in the games industry wanted to emulate films, but now it's very much the other way around: the technology is driven by video games...virtual production, pre-vis, many of the tools we use in the film industry have come out of the games industry." Peter Gornstein, a global cinematic director at Crytek, praises the recent Xbox One for its innovations in digital visual technology and allowing developers to bridge over the 'uncanny valley,' "the idea that, in computer-generated realism, little details that are slightly off render proceedings creepily unrealistic."

On a smaller scale, YouTube has also been developing a 360 perspective feature that allows the viewer to interact with the video by looking around the surroundings on-screen. This new development would thus bridge the gap between the passive and active media from the other side: making a passive medium more active. CorridorDigital's video, "Where's Waldo 360" places the viewer in different locations and allows them to search for Waldo within a time limit. A video or short film on YouTube can now feel more like an active, immersive video game. As technology advances, film and gaming will continue to change together and offer more unique experiences.

By Emmanuel Gundran

The Star Wars movie franchise makes a comeback with this fresh new start to a future trilogy. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Abrams, 2015) is the first Star Wars film to pick up from the story that Return of the Jedi (Marquand, 1983) capped off. Therefore, being a part of the original trilogy's main story, this film revives the formula that Star Wars (Lucas, 1977) created and revitalizes it with a new, yet familiar, story, compelling characters, exciting action, and shocking twists.

The Force Awakens (Abrams, 2015) brings back the overall story structure of Star Wars (Lucas, 1977) but makes the content new enough for it not to feel rehashed. The film follows Rey (Daisy Ridley), a lone scavenger on the desert planet of Jakku, who meets Finn (John Boyega), a rogue Stormtrooper, and Han Solo (Harrison Ford), a smuggler with a heart of gold, and sets off on an adventure to save the galaxy from the First Order that plans to control it using their planet-devastating space station, Starkiller Base. Meanwhile, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), a high-ranking leader of the First Order, is trying to snuff out the Resistance against the First Order and tracking down Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), the last of the peace-keeping Jedi knights.

J.J. Abrams explains that the film's structure was made similar to the first Star Wars movies' structure on purpose saying to Hollywood Reporter, "What was important for me was introducing brand new characters using relationships that were embracing the history that we know to tell a story that is new — to go backwards to go forwards." The role that each new character plays in The Force Awakens (Abrams, 2015) mirrors in some way a role that a character from Star Wars (Lucas, 1977) plays. For example, both Rey and Luke Skywalker are young people living on a desert planet looking for a higher sense of purpose, and both Han Solo and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness) are the wise, old mentor who guides the protagonist on their journey to defeat evil. However, each character has a unique personality from their counterpart that makes them feel fresh and new. Han Solo may be yet another wise mentor, but unlike the calm, peaceful Obi-Wan, he's still as reckless as he was back in his younger smuggling days, which makes for some comedic moments with him and his partner Chewbacca.

As is expected with Star Wars films, The Force Awakens (Abrams, 2015) comes packed with tense sci-fi action. As a return to tradition and an homage to the original trilogy, this film uses plenty of practical effects from fully-built set pieces, to model miniatures, animatronics, real explosions, and more. When you see the Millennium Falcon flying over the desert sands of Jakku or an explosion on a battlefield, there's a unique feeling that what you're seeing is actually right in front of you. After the use (or arguable overuse) of CGI in the Star Wars films from The Phantom Menace (Lucas, 1999) to Revenge of the Sith (Lucas, 2005), seeing physical special effects in this film is refreshing and makes the action real. Production designer Darren Gilford spoke at a Comic-Con panel saying that Abrams' goal, "was authenticity and being as true to the original trilogy as possible. And he felt the prequels were flawed by the fact that they had every [CG] tool known to mankind and used everything at their disposal."

Like The Empire Strikes Back (Kershner, 1980), this film comes packed with some shocking story twists. J.J. Abrams, when talking about the films' villain, Kylo Ren, told Entertainment Weekly before the film's release, "There are many implications to ...Kylo Ren’s history. If he had a different name before...maybe we’ve heard it before. Maybe we know… his parents?" The film explores themes of family and faithfulness to one's own identity through the character of Kylo Ren, as he aspires to be like Darth Vader, one of the greatest and most terrifying leaders in the galaxy. Meanwhile, characters like Finn and Rey, unlike other Star Wars characters, do not have last names, which leaves their backstories open for this film and the other two in the trilogy to explore.

​Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Abrams, 2015) should be a good time for anyone either casually or faithfully following the Star Wars franchise and a welcome new addition to the saga.

Sources Cited:

Breznican, Anthony. Entertainment Weekly. Entertainment Weekly, August 12, 2015. Web. March 3, 2016
Desowitz, Bill. Thompson on Hollywood!. IndieWire, July 13, 2015. Web. March 3, 2016
McMillan, Graeme. The Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter, March 3 2016. Web. March 3, 2016