J Paul Johnson
J Paul Johnson is Professor Emeritus of English and Film Studies at Winona (MN) State University. Since retiring in 2021 he publishes Film Obsessive, where he reviews new releases, writes retrospectives, interviews up-and-coming filmmakers, and oversees the site's staff of 25 writers and editors. His film scholarship appears in Women in the Western, Return of the Western (both Edinburgh UP), and Literature/Film Quarterly. An avid cinephile, collector, and curator, his interests range from classical Hollywood melodrama and genre films to world and independent cinemas and documentary.
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in EpisodesCape Fear Episode 8 Recap: “Los Tiempos de Dios son Perfectos” for Max Cady
The following recap contains spoilers for Cape Fear Episode 8, “Los tiempos de Dios son Perfectos” (written by Alan Page Arriaga and directed by Stephen Williams). As Episode 7 of showrunner Nick Antosca’s re-imagining of Cape Fear drew to a close, Tom (Patrick Wilson) and Anna Bowden (Amy Adams) engineered a scheme, with the help […] More
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Cape Fear Episode 7 Recap: A “Mongrel” Never Forgets Its Master
The following recap contains spoilers for Cape Fear Episode 7, “Mongrel” (teleplay by André Jacquemetton and Maria Jacquemetton; story by André Jacquemetton and Maria Jacquemetton and Greg Goetz; and directed by Jon S. Baird). In what seems like somewhat of a surprise for showrunner Nick Antosca’s twisting, turning series re-imagining Cape Fear, Episode 7, “Mongrel,” […] More
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Cape Fear Episode 6 Recap: Playing “Possum”
The following recap contains spoilers for Cape Fear Episode 6, “Possum” (written by Brian Evenson and directed by Trey Edward Shults). Faith—Nevaeh Valentine’s mother—is dead. Anna Bowden, having discovered the body, left fingerprints on the weapon, and fled the murder scene covered in the victim’s blood without notifying authorities, would seem to be a prime […] More
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Cape Fear Episode 5 Recap: “Faith” No More for the Bowdens
The following recap contains spoilers for Cape Fear Episode 5, “Faith” (written by Steven Piet and directed by Peter Blake). Cape Fear‘s previous episode charted the ways in which two new-to-this narrative’s characters, both of them closely connected to Max Cady, continued to disrupt the Bowden family’s already-tenuous harmony. In what is shaping up to […] More
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Cape Fear Episode 4 Recap: “Pierced” Pokes, Prods, and Provokes
The following recap contains spoilers for Cape Fear Episode 4, “Pierced” (written by Tara Shivkumar and directed by Reed Morano). In Episode 4 of Apple TV’s new Cape Fear series, based on the book The Executioners and its two film adaptations, showrunner Nick Antosca further explores and develops the thorny Savannah storyscape his characters inhabit. […] More
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Cape Fear Episode 3 Recap: “Phantom Sensations” Persist
The following recap contains spoilers for Cape Fear Episode 3, “Phantom Sensations” (written by Alan Page Arriaga and directed by Amanda Marsalis). “Phantom Sensations,” following Cape Fear‘s audacious two-episode premiere, has the Bowden family on tenterhooks. Anna and Tom’s (Amy Adams and Patrick Wilson) marriage is strained, in part by Tom’s drug use. Sullen son […] More
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Cape Fear Remake Comes to Apple TV With Provocative Two-Episode Debut
Where have you been, Max Cady? One of cinema’s most ruthless, charismatic villains returns, this time to the small screen, in Cape Fear, a ten-episode miniseries debuting globally June 5 on Apple TV with its first two episodes. Nick Antosca’s re-imagining is loaded with big-name big-screen talent: it’s executive produced by Academy Award winners Martin […] More
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Irma Vep Episode 8: “The Terrible Wedding”
The following contains spoilers for Irma Vep Episode 8, “The Terrible Wedding” (written and directed by Olivier Assayas) With this final episode, Olivier Assayas resolves most, though not all, of his dizzying series’ conflicts, in the process leaving room for his own personal theorizing about the meaning of cinema—and for a surprising big-name cameo. Like Assayas’s […] More
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Irma Vep Episode 7: “The Spectre”
The following contains spoilers for Irma Vep Episode 7, “The Spectre” (written and directed by Olivier Assayas) So far, practically every episode of Irma Vep since its first has heightened the stakes and conflicts among the cast and crew of the film—or is that series?—René Vidal (Vincent Macaigne) has been directing. In Episode 7, “The Spectre,” events […] More
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Irma Vep Episode 6: “The Thunder Master”
The following contains spoilers for Irma Vep Episode 6, “The Thunder Master” (written and directed by Olivier Assayas) This deliciously funny, occasionally frightening, and often thoughtful series is reaching a boiling point, and I’m going to miss it when it concludes. With this week’s and just two more episodes to go, Olivier Assayas has set in […] More
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Irma Vep Episode 5: “Hypnotic Eyes”
The following contains spoilers for Irma Vep Episode 5, “Hypnotic Eyes” (written and directed by Olivier Assayas) “Hypnotic Eyes” opens with a gaze. The gaze belongs to Vampires arch-rival Moreno, he of those infamous hypnotic eyes. It’s one that reminds of the centrality of the gaze to so much film theory writer-director Olivier Assayas’s characters will […] More
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Irma Vep Episode 4: “The Poisoner”
The following contains spoilers for Irma Vep Episode 4, “The Poisoner” (written and directed by Olivier Assayas) What happened to Edmond? At the end of last week’s Episode 3 of Olivier Assayas’s eight-part HBO series adapting his 1996 film Irma Vep, the actor (played by Vincent Lacoste) passed out, apparently from injury suffered in an on-set […] More
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