Dunkirk is exactly the film Christopher Nolan needed to make at this point in his career. I’m not referring to whatever artistic compulsion the writer-director may have felt in his pulsing, creative soul. Instead, I mean this is the sort … Continue reading Now Playing — Dunkirk
“None of us could stand it if every place were a grizzled Chicago or a bilgy Los Angeles — towns, like Gotham, of genuine woven intricacy. We all need our simple, unambiguous, even factitious townscapes like mine. Places without challenge … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature
There may be no clearer demonstration of the artistic failure of Luc Besson’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets than my exhausted disdain for nearly every bit of it. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that … Continue reading Now Playing — Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
Citizen Jane: Battle for the City (Matt Tyrnauer, 2017). This documentary is the sort of non-fiction filmmaking that willingly, happily tips toward hagiographic agitprop, treating its central figure as a beam of inspiring light rather than a complicated person. As … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — Citizen Jane: Battle for the City; Concussion; The Debt
13. The Replacements, “Alex Chilton” It’s probably fair to say that “Alex Chilton” remains the most iconic song ever delivered by the Minneapolis band the Replacements. There is probably comparable safety in declaring that the song would not be nearly … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 13 – 11
And so we come to the fourth and final piece I wrote for the “Movies That Shoulda Been Summer Blockbusters” episode of 90FM’s The Reel Thing, back in June 1991. At this point, I suspect Midnight Run is considered a minor classic … Continue reading From the Archive: Midnight Run
I mean it with complete sincerity and accompanying appreciation when I insist that the Rainmakers were the perfect band for the student-run radio station where I spent my collegiate years. While I and my cohorts were committed to the rebellion … Continue reading One for Friday: The Rainmakers, “Spend It on Love”
Dominant as Marvel Studios have been on the movie landscape the past decade or so — without a doubt, the success of their model of narrative interconnectivity has completely transformed how most of commercial filmmaking works — their ride has … Continue reading That Championship Season: Agent Carter, Season Two
I’m glad there’s a place in the pop universe for the music made by Haim. There is no claim being made here that the trio of sisters from Los Angeles are delivering something wildly transgressive or otherwise deviously edgy in its … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Something to Tell You
Sometimes comedy illuminates hard truths with a pointed urgency that other means can’t quite achieve. Sometimes comedy is just funny. This series of posts is mostly about the former instances, but the latter is valuable, too. For reasons that are … Continue reading Laughing Matters: The Ben Stiller Show, “A Few Good Scouts”
