I’ve been running behind on my music reviews and the studios have been running behind on getting me screeners, so I only had one piece up at Spectrum Culture this week. It was my second contribution to our Best Living Directors series, this time offering an evaluation of Pedro Almodóvar.

I wasn’t part of the selection process for our list, but I’m very pleased with it. For one thing, there’s good diversity and a strong sense of history to it. These sorts of tallies are so often of the moment and crassly devoted assembled choices that are perceived as ever so cool. It’s also commonplace to see picks and placements that come across as little more than desperate attempts to stir up online chatter. And, if you’re Entertainment Weekly, all of these flaws are part of your list. I’m pleased to contribute to a celebration that includes Claire Denis over the likes of Quentin Tarantino and David Fincher.