When I say something is the greatest something of a something, I do not say so lightly. Thus: Blow Out is the greatest American movie about America of the 1980s. This is heavy stuff, I know.
Writing about any De Palma movie is a rare thrill for me, given the space he occupies in popular culture today and given how much ink, digital and real, has been accorded to dissecting his work since forever ago. So I jumped at the opportunity to write about Blow Out, his best movie*, for its 40th anniversary.
You can read the full piece over at Paste Magazine.
*My most basic film critic opinion, so there.
A Constant Visual Feast 
Andy, your take on ‘Blow Out’ was pitch perfect. DePalma had such a unique aptitude for creating suspense. That noted, I think ‘Blow Out’ owed some of its success to two thematically similar films—namely, Antonioni’s
‘Blow-Up’ and Coppola’s ‘The Conversation.’
I’ve had “Blow-Up” mentioned to me before; it didn’t come up in the piece because it isn’t really germane to “Blow Out”s function in America cinema, and I’m sure that the comparison has been written to death anyways.
Yeah, it’s really only relevant in a film history type class. I mentioned those movies, so you can check them for your own edification, if you felt so inclined. A lifetime ago, I used to be a heavyweight film enthusiast, until video games took over my life—and I have since given up video games, too. Life is strange, Andrew. Anyhow, writing about those movies the other day stirred up some fond memories of my school days, so thank you for helping make that happen!