Eric Melin is a freelancer for the Lawrence Journal-World and lawrence.com. He writes the Scene Stealers blog.
Recent Stories
The films of the Free State Festival
Because of all the other media and art-related events and activities, it may be easy to forget that the Free State Festival started as the Free State Film Festival. Here’s a preview at some of the movies showing this year.
KU professor spotlights pair of influential filmmakers in new books
Douglas Fairbanks and Peter Weir are two filmmakers who have fascinated Kansas University film studies associate professor John Tibbetts for a long time.
2014 Summer Movie Preview: Sci-fi spectacles take over
With three superhero movies, a monster-movie reboot, and a Biblical epic being released in the last two months, the summer movie season seems to have started extra early this year.
Wolf pack: Women filmmakers come together to mentor youths
When most new organizations first get together, they vote on a committee, draft some policies and have meeting after meeting to decide what to do next. WOLF didn’t do that. It started by making an original short-film anthology.
Spring film releases have summer feel
As the summer movie season becomes more and more crowded, Hollywood’s tentpole movies have started crowding into the spring.
'Jayhawkers' brings a legend back to life
Film tells story of how Wilt Chamberlain changed Lawrence on and off court
Broad, sweeping biographical films that try to sum up a person’s entire life in two hours rarely ever get it right. That’s why the best thing that happened to Kevin Willmott’s movie “Jayhawkers” was not being able to raise the $12 million dollars they needed.
The alternative Oscars
Awarding the best, worst and weirdest achievements in film
In the spirit of awards season, and after some serious reflection on the past year in films, I’d like to present my own particularly dubious set of awards: the Alternative Oscars, if you will. And the winners are … (Warning: Some light spoilers ahead.) By Eric Melin
Eric Melin's 10 best movies of 2013
2013 was an embarrassment of film riches, and the best movies of the year are all over the place in terms of budget, scope, genre and style.
Fall movie preview: Plenty of buzz surrounds upcoming releases
Never fear, Oscar is here, and this fall’s lineup of award hopefuls and risky independent cinema is enough to get any film fan excited. Here’s a look at what’s ahead for the remainder of 2013:
World air guitar champ returns home with rock star status
Lawrence's Eric Melin, aka "Mean Melin," recounts winning the Air Guitar World Championships and how his return home was "pretty much the best moment ever."
