Ed Rampell

Ed Rampell is an LA-based film historian and critic, author of "Progressive Hollywood: A People’s Film History of the United States," and co-author of "The Hawaii Movie and Television Book." He has written for Variety, Television Quarterly, Cineaste, New Times L.A., and other publications. Rampell lived in Tahiti, Samoa, Hawaii, and Micronesia, reporting on the nuclear-free and independent Pacific and Hawaiian Sovereignty movements.

LATEST ARTICLES BY Ed Rampell

Culture

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Freudian ‘Frankenstein’ on stage in Pasadena
August 21, 2019 By Ed Rampell
A Noise Within’s (ANW) Frankenstein is one of the most striking plays I’ve ever seen.
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Culture

‘Fefu and Her Friends’: Fornés’s feminist odyssey at the Odyssey
August 16, 2019 By Ed Rampell
With its cast of eight, Fefu is well acted and not without humor—although it is more of the ironic, sardonic sort than the laugh-out-loud brand found in most comedies.
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Culture

‘Fast & Furious’ presents ‘Hobbs & Shaw’: Samoa gets the ‘Black Panther’ treatment
August 1, 2019 By Ed Rampell
Hobbs & Shaw does for Samoa what Black Panther did for Africa with Wakanda.
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Culture

‘At War,’ class struggle film coming soon to a theater near you
July 22, 2019 By Ed Rampell
At War is very realistic and well-made—at times it seems like a documentary, and the cast is largely composed of nonprofessional actors.
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Culture

From the Hollywood Fringe Festival 2019: ‘Tales From the Powder Room’
July 9, 2019 By Ed Rampell
Sisterhood is still Powder-ful. All Powder to the people!
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Culture

‘An Enemy of the People’: Ibsen’s righteous rage and indignation updated
June 27, 2019 By Ed Rampell
I often look askance at adaptations executed for mainly commercial reasons, poetic license perpetrated without the consent of dead bards. But sometimes they work.
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Culture

‘The Edge of Democracy’ sheds light on Brazil teetering on the brink
June 17, 2019 By Ed Rampell
Unlike documentarians like Michael Moore, whose proletarian persona is a recurring part of his docs, Costa can’t keep up with her material.
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Culture

Welles and Melville masterpiece ‘Moby Dick’ revived: Thar she blows!
June 10, 2019 By Ed Rampell
It’s worth mentioning that this production coincides with the bicentennial of Herman Melville, born August 1, 1819, in New York City.
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