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Cinema Purgatorio
Cultural criticism and reviews. Enduring the torments of the IP era in hope of deliverance.

Latest

Jun
01
A film reel collage of Hideo Kojima, Kurt Russell as Snake Pliskin, and Venom Snake/Big Boss. Title: Direct to Hideo. Subtitle: Film and Folly in the Games of Hideo Kojima.

Solid Start

OPERATION EXTRUDE N313. PENETRATE THE PLAYER'S OUTER HEAVEN AND CEREATE THE ULTIMATE PLAYTHING METAL GEAR!
11 min read
May
27
Tom Cruise, wearing a thick diving helmet, with red lights reflecting off the glass.

The Misinformation Age

You should choose not to accept it.
8 min read
May
19
A blocky, green-skinned, child grimaces atop a similarly blocky chicken within a boxing ring, rendered in extreme detail.

Game Overload

"Welcome to Steve's World"
13 min read
Apr
28
Lit by candles in an otherwise pitch-dark space, five people sit at a sleek dining table lit by candlelight.

Sex and Death in the Second City

"Things are getting weird."
9 min read
Apr
08
Seven fuck-ugly CGI dwarfs look shocked and terrified, with Dopey pointing directly at the camera.

Snow White and the Seven Adaptations

The foul and fairest of them all.
18 min read
Mar
28
A screenshot from The Zone of Interest. A Nazi family picnics in the grass beside a river.

Barbarism and its Discontents

On model settler farmers and exemplary pioneers.
18 min read
Mar
05
Adrian Brody stands pensively on the Oscars stage, his left arm extended, his right arm clutching his prize statuette..

Oscar Clickbait

"It's not my first rodeo, but I will be brief. I will not be egregious, I promise."
13 min read
Feb
28
Theatre Revue

Theatre Revue

2024's traffic of the stage
12 min read
Feb
18
At either side, a teenage girl and her younger sister. Between them, standing in a double doorway, their father.

Separating the National Culture From the Nation

"They not like us."
13 min read
Feb
05
The 'Don't Know Whether to Laugh or Cry' Issue

The 'Don't Know Whether to Laugh or Cry' Issue

"Either better than Citizen Kane or the worst piece of shit that anyone ever loaded on the projector."
13 min read