Author: Dan Seeger

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Top Ten Movies of 2016 — Number Ten

Dan Seeger

There is a splendid modesty to The Witch, the feature debut from writer-director Robert Eggers. Positioned with false comfort as “A New-England Fable,” the film progresses with a stern leanness, as if its a spiritual sequel to Meek’s Cutoff, Kelly Reichardt’s saga of tragic pioneers. Set in the seventeenth century, The Witch covers the hardships of a family struggling to make do out in the rural outskirts after being cast out of their community. The tension increases when the family’s infant goes missing while being looked after by eldest daughter Thomasin (marvelous newcomer Anya Taylor-Joy), a vanishing that happens in … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2016 — Number Ten

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Top Ten Movies of 2016 — An Introduction

Dan Seeger

We can say this: 2016 was memorable. Aside from a history-making improbability delivered by the Chicago National League ball club in the fall, though, I’m confident most folks are going to look back at the those twelve months of broader global culture — popular, political, and social — with a measure of contempt. The only way 2016 doesn’t stand as a banner year for misery, is if 2017 is even worse. So far, it’s on track. A year so thoroughly scorched by overwhelmingly miserable news can make the very act of retrospective celebration feel hollow and pointless. And yet here we are. As … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2016 — An Introduction

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Now Playing: 20th Century Women

Dan Seeger

20th Century Women, the third feature from director Mike Mills, raids his own history in compelling fashion. He has employed this creative tactic before. Though Mills earned some praise for his debut, Thumbsucker, it was his sophomore effort, Beginners, that stirred more effusive plaudits on the way to securing an Academy Award for Christopher Plummer. The latter effort was heavily autobiographical, drawn from Mills’s experience with a father who came out of the closet late in life. 20th Century Women turns its attention to the other figure that looms above Mills on the family tree. Set in 1979, the film follows Jamie (Lucas … Continue reading Now Playing: 20th Century Women

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CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 91 – 89

Dan Seeger

91. The Replacements, “I Will Dare” Paul Westerberg had a “Stop the presses!” moment after he finished off songwriting chores on “I Will Dare,” though he would have been referring to the hydraulic presses that bring a vinyl record into shape. Hootenanny, the second full length album from Westerberg’s band the Replacements, was in its final mastering stage when he called up Peter Jesperson, head of the group’s record label. “I got a call from Paul saying, ‘I’ve just finished the best song I’ve ever written. We need to record it now,’” said Jesperson. “But the record was already done, so … Continue reading CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 91 – 89

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From the Archive: Little Man Tate

Dan Seeger

Because today I want to this space to feature a film directed by a bad-ass woman. This was written for our weekly movie review radio show in the fall of 1991, which was a helluva year for Jodie Foster. Thankfully, she was duly awarded for her accomplishments. It’s pretty easy to figure out what attracted Jodie Foster to Scott Frank’s screenplay Little Man Tate, the story of a youngster with pronounced talent who’s showered with attention because of that gift, and who has a deep, special bond with mother. It sounds remarkably like the story of Little Woman Foster, the … Continue reading From the Archive: Little Man Tate

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One for Friday: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, “Loyal to My Sorrowful Country”

Dan Seeger

Ted Leo wrote “Loyal to My Sorrowful Country” in response to the first term of George W. Bush, another Republican president who took possession of the Oval Office despite receiving fewer votes than his opponent. Though “Now that Georgie’s reign’s begun” is right there in the lyrics, the track feels highly pertinent today. Though my name of bygone years In the land, in the land I’ll uproot it without tears And I’ll change it if I can And, no more shall I be loyal to my sorrowful country No more shall I be loyal to my sorrowful country Rousing, fierce, … Continue reading One for Friday: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, “Loyal to My Sorrowful Country”

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The Art of the Sell: “Give Yourself a Pat on the Bock”

Dan Seeger

These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art.  It is a certain season. And as I try to find ways to distract myself from the pending collapse of the nation, a sad prediction bolstered by every congressional session with a prospective cabinet member, I can at least take solace in the knowledge that Point Bock is once again being offered in America’s Dairyland. I’ve waxed ineloquently on the longstanding appealing of this dark wonder before. It always arrived in the heart of winter, usually serving as … Continue reading The Art of the Sell: “Give Yourself a Pat on the Bock”

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My Misspent Youth: The Thing by John Byrne and Ron Wilson

Dan Seeger

I read a lot of comic books as a kid. This series of posts is about the comics I read, and, occasionally, the comics that I should have read. As I’ve confessed many, many times in this digital space, there was no character who held greater sway over me during the years that my time was most clearly monopolized by superhero comics than bashful Benjamin J. Grimm, also known as the ever-lovin’, blue-eyed Thing. The craggy colossus of the Fantastic Four, the first family of Marvel Comics, was a character I’d follow just about anywhere. I religiously purchased the title featuring … Continue reading My Misspent Youth: The Thing by John Byrne and Ron Wilson

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Now Playing: Elle

Dan Seeger

Though I’m going to go ahead and follow my usual practice of typing out a bunch of words, I think the ideal way to evaluate the new film Elle is with an artfully constructed infographic. This helpful guide would take individual moments from the film and measure whether their inner being is guided more by the aura of French cinema or by the ruddy instincts of director Paul Verhoeven. The scene in which a woman confronts the new, young lover of her ex-husband and the two of them conclude that, with the tension of an initial encounter out of the … Continue reading Now Playing: Elle