There were few actors who could take full command of a film like Albert Finney. Immediately intimidating, Finney was a bull among fawns. But he was also nimble, cunning, authentic, and playful. He didn’t work all that often, yet racked … Continue reading From the Archive — Miller’s Crossing
I’m fully prepared to defer to John Darnielle if he posits differently, but I think there’s no story from Greek mythology with more of an indie rock vibe than that of Sisyphus. The story of a egotistical king who was … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Andrew Bird, “Sisyphus”
Director Yorgos Lanthimos surveys society and sees corroded souls, all of them sending out alternating waves of hurt and affront, like sonar that delivers wounds. He also, to the benefit of misanthropic cineastes everywhere, finds the resulting eternal struggle to … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2018 — Number Six
L7: Pretend We’re Dead (Sarah Price, 2016). A nifty video scrapbook posing as documentary, this film traces the career of the L.A. hard rock band L7. Largely avoiding details of personal entanglements, L7: Pretend We’re Dead dutifully ticks off the … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — L7: Pretend We’re Dead; Cold War; Green Book
Shirkers is a movie that never was. Or maybe was, then wasn’t, then was again. And then, well after its journey seemed fully, decisively over, a dusty path ending at a sheer cliff face, Shirkers became an entirely different type … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2018 — Number Seven
“In those days, I knew nothing of what I’ve come to know of the upper classes, who seemed to my mind then either fat people in dusty wigs, half recumbent or mounted upon some unfortunate horse, in paintings with gilded … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature
780. China Crisis, What Price Paradise (1986) When China Crisis set out to record their fourth album, What Price Paradise, they were coming off a release that supposedly conferred upon them a sort of official endorsement from the upper echelon … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #780 to #777
As hype builds for the forthcoming release of the new big screen blockbuster Godzilla: King of the Monsters (complete with intense scrutiny of every fragment of available information), I will give over a few digital column inches to sharing anew … Continue reading From the Archive — Godzilla
Here’s the thing about working in higher education, as I did for about fifteen years: You get to feel booming pride for a whole fleet of young adults who go out and start putting dents in the world. Sometimes, that … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Emily Reo, “Strawberry”
Satire is punishingly hard to master on the big screen. It’s a tricky puzzle in any medium, but there’s an added degree of difficulty when the tapestry is so large and dynamic. Many skilled filmmakers have taken large gashes in … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2018 — Number Eight
Coffee for Two 