#8 — Burning (Lee Chang-dong, 2018) Burning, directed be Lee Chang-dong, has the pulse of a thriller and the aura of an aching, soulful meditation on life. Like the best thrillers — or at least the most honest ones — it … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Eight
These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art. This Art of the Sell post has not been paid for by Warner Bros. I’m assuming they … Continue reading The Art of the Sell — “The Candidate” movie poster
Since great television comedy always begins with the script, this series of posts considers the individual episodes that have claimed the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series over the years. “Election Night,” the final episode of … Continue reading Golden Words — Veep, “Election Night”
When it comes to the many memorable moments Sean Connery registered on film, I have an odd personal favorite. It is in Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables, the film that won Connery an Academy Award, for playing Chicago cop Jimmy … Continue reading Sean Connery, 1930 – 2020
437. Fabulous Poodles, Mirror Stars (1978) For reasons that are hard to discern, Epic Records thought the Fabulous Poodles had the potential to become a major rock band in the U.S. The quartet certainly had the chops, playing tight renditions … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #437 to #435
A Big-Screen Small Business Fights an Epic Battle for Life by Nicole Sperling It pains and angers me that the abject refusal of certain leaders to deal realistically with the global pandemic is leading to the likely destruction of the … Continue reading Outside Reading — Darkening Screens edition
On “Angelina,” the new single from the L.A. band Kitten, they build a breezy pop sound and deploy a burrowing, irresistible hook to create a perfect song of summer. And why shouldn’t they? The summer never ends where they live, … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Kitten, “Angelina”
#9 — Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach, 2013) In the ten year stretch of films covered by this survey, I think there may be no single scene that thrills me more than the one that begins with a title card that presents … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Nine
The Woman Who Ran (Hong Sang-soo, 2020). Gam-hee (Kim Min-hee) is on a sort of urban walkabout, visiting different friends who, it seems, she hasn’t encountered in quite some time. She notes repeatedly that her husband prefer the two of … Continue reading Then Playing — The Woman Who Ran; Gemini Man; 21 Bridges
Like Jonathan Demme before him, Spike Lee isn’t particular interested in the audience. When Demme directed Stop Making Sense — still, and likely forever, the correct conclusion to any debate about the greatest concert movie ever made — he notably … Continue reading Now Playing — American Utopia
