Documentary filmmakers Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar live in Dayton, Ohio, one of many Midwestern U.S. cities that has historically counted on manufacturing to provide gainful employment for the citizenry. When the community’s auto manufacturing facility shut its doors, in … Continue reading Now Playing — American Factory
The Immortal Story (Orson Welles, 1968). Funded by French broadcasters, The Immortal Story was one of the featured directed by Orson Welles after he’d been effectively exiled from Hollywood. Under thick makeup better suited for the stage, Welles also plays … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — The Immortal Story; Operation Finale; The Blue Gardenia
#45 — Peter Fonda as Ulee Jackson in Ulee’s Gold (Victor Nuñez, 1997) For most of his tenure as a public figure, Peter Fonda was a better icon than actor. He served as the more genial familial representative of the … Continue reading Greatish Performances #45
668. The Rave-Ups, The Book of Your Regrets (1988) The Rave-Ups had the misfortune of discovering how a little taste of success could lead to nasty legal entanglements in the cutthroat music industry. Earthier rock ‘n’ roll players on the … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #668 to #665
Americans Are Sad About Politics. Who Could Blame Them? by Clare Malone Writing for FiveThirtyEight, Clare Malone explores the exhausting nature of the current culture for politically attuned citizens, defined by a cascade of norm-shredding outrages and out-and-out criminal actions … Continue reading Outside Reading — Red and White and Black and Blue edition
I’m supposed to be too cynical to enjoy a rock song that espouses uplift. Reared on the slashing defeatism of college rock heroes who wielded buzzing guitars like impenetrable shields, I am meant to feel my strongest kinship with songs … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Michael Kiwanuka, “You Ain’t The Problem”
There are many lamentable choices strewn about the history of the Academy Awards, especially when subsequent career choices of individual winners cast a dank shadow on their trophies. Although I’m loathe to offer it as a definitive conclusion, it’s possible … Continue reading The Unwatchables — Savages
Don’t You Think You’ve Had Enough? is the third full-length release from the L.A.-based band Bleached, and I think it might be their first recording that truly shows off their talent. Prior outings have been imbued with a thrilling, devil-may-care … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Don’t You Think You’ve Had Enough?
The Uninvited (Lewis Allen, 1944). Based on a Dorothy Macardle novel, director Lewis Allen’s feature directorial debut is widely cited as the first movie to depict ghosts as spectral entities that might actually exist in the world, moving amidst living … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — The Uninvited; The Last Black Man in San Francisco; Tickled
It’s a simple tenet, too often ignored. The more specific a work of art, the more likely the piece resonates with a thoroughly enmeshed truthfulness that approaches the universal. A film doesn’t need to be autobiographical to qualify, nor is … Continue reading Now Playing — The Farewell
Coffee for Two 