These posts are about great acting performances sustained across the full run of a television series. Keri Russell as Elizabeth Jennings in The Americans (2013-2018) When The Americans made its debut on FX, a mere five years ago, its premise … Continue reading The Long Haul —Keri Russell in The Americans
True story: When I was a wee child, springing from bed far too early once per week because I was excited to watch Saturday morning cartoons, I soothed the anxiousness that arose when I switched on the set to be … Continue reading Programming Note — TV Week
864. Visage, Visage (1980) The new wave band Visage had their origins in the simple, noble act of trying to bring David Bowie music to the people. Steve Strange and Rusty Egan (the lead singer and drummer, respectively) successively set … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #864 to #861
This was written for my former online home, as part of a recurring feature I dubbed “Flashback Friday.” It amazes me that we’ve reached a point nearly fifty years after the break-up of the Beatles and the scruffy fella see … Continue reading From the Archive — The Beatles
Thirty years ago, in 1988, Close Lobsters released the EP What is There to Smile About. It was part of a very typical strategy to take every measure to ensure not too much time passed between new recordings for bands … Continue reading One for Friday — Close Lobsters, “What is There to Smile About”
Younger generations could be forgiven if they were filled with fury over the planet that has been knocked into disrepair for them. I truly believe that history will incredulously record that the greater political society knew of all the ways … Continue reading Now Playing — Inventing Tomorrow
Any documentarian depicting a current, ongoing social hardship has an inherent added challenge in the filmmaking process. Simply put, reality doesn’t always play along. The desire to wrap up stories with some level of finality — not necessarily tidily, but … Continue reading Now Playing — Crime + Punishment
Director Crystal Moselle’s debut feature was a documentary, the acclaimed depiction of isolated, movie-obsessed brothers called The Wolfpack. It is fitting, then, that Moselle’s first full-length fiction offering is reliant on the foundational skills of observation and spinning a compelling narrative out of the distinctive individuals she meets when traversing the big world with a keen eye. Skate Kitchen takes its name from a crew of young women skateboarders in New York City who Moselle first encountered by chance, recruiting them for the short film That One Day before fleshing out the material to cover the requite ninety-plus minutes. The … Continue reading Now Playing — Skate Kitchen
The following should be an obvious point: The setting of a movie is important. By this, I don’t mean that only films settled into certain locales can have value. It’s that the setting — whatever the setting — should inform … Continue reading Now Playing — Support the Girls
868. Laurie Anderson, United States Live (1984) ”Since I tour a lot, especially in Europe, ‘I’ve frequently found myself sitting across the dinner table from people who ask me, ‘How can you live in a country like that?,’” Laurie Anderson … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #868 to #865
Coffee for Two 