David Smith

Birmingham

Weddings + Portraits + Concerts + Events + Places | Photography with a Cinematic Approach | Credits: NY Times, Rolling Stone, etc.

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Articles

FROM THE ARCHIVES | Athol Fugard: All is not, and never will be, lost

1 month ago | mg.co.za | David SMith |David Smith

In his first performance back on a Johannesburg stage, 82-year-old Athol Fugard is a white-bearded, cardigan-clad dynamo, crackling and fizzing with theatrical life force. Later that August night, leaving the Market Theatre, he suddenly looks his age, sunken beneath a flat cap and seeking to exit untrumpeted through the draughty foyer. Perhaps he is pushing himself too far. But the following morning, in a discreet guesthouse down a discreet street, Fugard is firing again.
Forgotten game The Sydney Mystery is a nostalgic must-play

Dec 3, 2024 | gameshub.com | David SMith |David Smith

Scrolling on Bluesky last Tuesday afternoon, I came upon a post by user Mel Stefaniuk about an FMV adventure game called The Sydney Mystery. This happenstance post led me down a Google rabbit hole, desperate to play this unique and seemingly lost piece of Australian game development from the turn of the century. For nearly three years I ran one of the biggest games sites in the country, and part of my job was discovering obscure Australian games. I’d never heard of The Sydney Mystery before.
‎‘Longlegs’ review by David Smith • Letterboxd

Jul 12, 2024 | letterboxd.com | David Smith

Longlegs earns its stars from me for presenting a never-ending feeling of ominous dread. This is accomplished by placing the film in a dreary Pacific Northwest setting, and a great uncomfortable performance from Maika Monroe. When the audience meets Monroe's character, we sense that something heavy is weighing on her internally. The other great performance in this film is from Nicolas Cage, who channels multiple sources to create the character of Longlegs and is at his weirdo best.
‎‘MaXXXine’ review by David Smith • Letterboxd

Jul 4, 2024 | letterboxd.com | David Smith

What would you do to make sure you end up in the life you feel you deserve to have? That is a central question at the heart of Maxxxine and the entire X film series as presented by director Ti West. The issue being is that there are a lot of other questions Ti West asks or at least ponders, thus running out of time and room to properly address them all.
‎‘The Wizard’ review by David Smith • Letterboxd

Jun 30, 2024 | letterboxd.com | David Smith

I'm photographing a Jenny Lewis concert tonight, so I felt this would be an appropriate pre-show film.
‎‘Desperately Seeking Susan’ review by David Smith • Letterboxd

Jun 26, 2024 | letterboxd.com | David Smith

"Desperate. I love that word. It's so romantic."Look, I'm already going to rate this movie high because it features the single greatest song Madonna ever made. "Into the Groove" is such a vibe, and I'd hop into a time machine RIGHT NOW to go to the nightclub where the song is playing in the movie. Bars and clubs really aren't my thing anymore, but I'd make an exception in this case.
‎‘The Bikeriders’ review by David Smith • Letterboxd

Jun 24, 2024 | letterboxd.com | David Smith

“Working yourself into a shoot” is a phrase that comes from professional wrestling, but has bearing in an everyday sense of things. In professional wrestling, a “shoot” is something that is “real”, meaning something that isn’t scripted or pre-determined. “Working” is when two wrestlers are performing. “Working yourself into a shoot” is when wrestlers do such a good job at performing that they start to blur the lines of fantasy and reality, and they start to believe what they’re doing is for real.
‎‘Batman’ review by David Smith • Letterboxd

Jun 23, 2024 | letterboxd.com | David Smith

"Where does he get those wonderful toys?"Everyone has "those" films that were foundational elements in their lives, especially as a movie lover. I'm not talking about the best movies a person has seen. I'm talking about the most important or influential films. That's a big difference. Let's go back to the summer of 1989. I just finished 1st grade, and I remember starting to see what I would soon discover was the Bat Signal popping up more and more.
A ★★★★½ review of Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)

Jun 16, 2024 | letterboxd.com | David Smith

Warner Brothers Executive: "So, Mr. Dante, we want you to do a sequel to Gremlins."Joe Dante: "Fantastic. I have some great ideas for it."Warner Brothers Executive: "That's good. We're hoping they're very much in line with the first film.
‎‘Gleaming the Cube’ review by David Smith • Letterboxd

Jun 12, 2024 | letterboxd.com | David Smith

We used to be a proper country. We used to make films where Christian Slater skates his way through late 80s Anaheim/Orange County to find out who killed his adopted brother and then gets young Tony Hawk, driving a branded Pizza Hut truck, and a small army of skateboarders to help. Just a wonderful and bracing jolt of nostalgia for a film I remember watching with my dad and sister during a summer vacation years back.