Interstellar: Love, Time, and the Ethics of Leaving
In Interstellar (2014), Cooper leaves his children in order to help save them. The apparent clarity of that sentence conceals
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Film Essays
These essays examine how cinema engages with philosophy, politics, identity, ethics, psychology, and film theory. Through close analysis of canonical works, cult films, and contemporary releases, Matthew Jones explores the ideas beneath the surface and the questions that remain after the credits.
No Country for Old Men: Fate as an Excuse for Evil
Chigurh calls it fate. Carla Jean calls it his choice. No Country for Old Men asks whether chance can explain violence without excusing the person who commits it.
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Memento Explained: Memory, Identity and the Lies We Tell Ourselves
Christopher Nolan’s Memento is not simply a puzzle about memory. Its reverse chronology reveals how Leonard turns self-deception into an external system, allowing one version of himself to manipulate the next.
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It’s Pat (1994) Review: Androgyny and the Need to Categorize
A terrible but occasionally funny SNL film, It’s Pat reveals how gender anxiety and the need to categorize can turn curiosity into obsession.
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Shutter Island Ending Explained: Guilt, Self-Deception, and the Choice to Forget
This essay contains major spoilers for Shutter Island (2010). I remember the first time I saw Shutter Island vividly. My
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Donnie Darko: Does Sacrifice Mean Anything Without Free Will?
Donnie Darko (2001) ends by killing the young man it has spent most of its running time keeping alive. A jet
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Concrete Utopia (2023): Housing, Class, and the Ethics of Exclusion
This essay contains major spoilers. In Concrete Utopia, an earthquake destroys Seoul but leaves one piece of the old world remarkably
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Between Boys: Friendship, Desire, and Violence in Super Dark Times
Near the end of Super Dark Times (2017), Zach tries to stop Josh with the one kind of speech the boys have
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The Filthiest Person Alive: Taste, Power, and the Right to Be Vile in John Waters’ Golden Era
John Waters has been called the “Pope of Trash” so often that the title may feel like a substitute for
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Colony (2026): Cooperative Individualism Against the Zombie Hive
The following essay contains major spoilers for Colony (2026). Zombies are normally terrifying because they are mindless. In Yeon Sang-ho’s Colony, they are
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Faith, Control, and the Illusion of Choice in Heretic (2024)
This essay contains major spoilers. Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’ Heretic (2024) begins as a theological debate before gradually revealing that no
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No Safe Place: Queer Space, Religious Violence, and Survival in Leviticus
Most horror films generate fear by violating the boundary between a dangerous world and a supposedly protected interior. The killer
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Reel Life: One Dude’s Experience at Lebowski Fest
When I first watched The Big Lebowski (1998), I didn’t like it. The viewing took place sometime around 2010, while I was
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Blade Runner 2049 on What Makes Us Human
Roughly 8 years after writing my review of Blade Runner 2049, I chose to revisit the film. Upon my second
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What Pixar’s Inside Out Teaches Us About Plato’s Theory of the Soul
I had not expected a Pixar film to illuminate the nature of the human soul more vividly than a standard
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Book Review: The Philosophy of Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese is an Academy Award-winning director and legendary filmmaker noted for his profound, character-driven stories and fascinating explorations of
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Space and Isolation in Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher
The Piano Teacher (2001) is a film directed by Michael Haneke, based on the 1983 novel of the same name
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