Grant Phipps

2 weeks ago | tonemadison.com | Grant Phipps |Sara Batkie

The comedown after the Wisconsin Film Festival can hit hard. Some of us may need to take a few days off from the movie binge to collect their thoughts and jot down some rousing notes or experiential rankings. Then again, others may want to continue chasing that marathon-viewing high the annual event in April fosters and head right back to the theaters. One thing is universal, though: a desire for discussion.

3 weeks ago | tonemadison.com | Grant Phipps

Oversized fluorescent lights of a vanity mirror strobe over potted cacti and a preserved arachnid. Vertical streaks of opaque, multi-colored glass shimmer like a spectral curtain before dissipating into an obscured glimpse at lower bodies in leather boots shuffling across a dive-bar floor.

1 month ago | tonemadison.com | Scott Gordon |Christina Lieffring |Grant Phipps |Steven Spoerl

Tone Madison will be making some major changes this year. But we’re not going away, nor is our commitment to fiercely independent coverage of culture and politics in Madison. Co-founder Scott Gordon will step down from his role as Publisher and Editor-in-Chief on May 1. After taking some time off, Gordon will continue to contribute to the publication as a writer and reporter.

1 month ago | tonemadison.com | Maxwell Courtright |David Boffa |Grant Phipps |Lewis Peterson

Documentaries aren’t necessarily Tone Madison‘s eminent go-to for film coverage. Scan our most recent archives, and you’re bound to come across numerous pieces on classic genre films of several shades as well as historically important art-house fare, and even some modern experimental shorts or influentially transgressive pieces. Over the past year, we’ve tried to emphasize brand-new narratives that have popped up in commercial theaters.

1 month ago | tonemadison.com | Grant Phipps |LakeFront Row

Often, the most striking aspect of an experimental short film exists beyond the creative depth of the work itself. For viewers, it can be a reflexive thrill to regard the disparity between a written synopsis and the radical techniques an artist uses to visually and aurally convey their emotional state(s) or subvert our collective, conditioned concept of narrative.