There’s no shortage of material out there designed to pry into the personal lives of famous figures. There’s even a whole battalion of individuals who are famous for no other reason than their willingness, even needy enthusiasm, to have cameras … Continue reading I’ve been licked, washed up for years and I merely survive because of my pride
Break of Hearts (Philip Moeller, 1935). Katherine Hepburn was a mere twenty-eight when this thin romance was released, just a few films into her storied career. She already had an Oscar and at least one solid hit to her credit, but doubters were plentiful. This was one of the string of flops that famously got her labeled “box office poison.” If nothing else, the film is evidence that Hollywood didn’t really know what to do with her yet, shoving the camera into her face to capture a dewy glisten that may have been the standard of the day for leading … Continue reading Anderson, Charles, Krasinski, Miller, Moeller
The word “inception” actually means the beginning of something, that start of a journey, the first part of a major undertaking. In Christopher Nolan’s new film, Inception, the word has an additional definition in its role as a bit of … Continue reading I had too much to dream last night
Dear Facebook: I know your vast reach in the social networking field means that you have an abundance of information at your non-corporeal fingertips, but please refrain from providing me with knowledge that, frankly, I’d rather not have. I’m not … Continue reading An Open Letter to Facebook
And now…on with the countdown… 30. Enya, “Caribbean Blue” How odd to think that the doyenne of lush, languid music seemingly best used to slow a racing pulse in an dentist’s chair had a place on college radio playlists. A … Continue reading College Countdown: Winter 1991, 30-26
#24 — Sling Blade (Billy Bob Thornton, 1996) Before he was a tabloid fixture as Angelina Jolie’s second husband, before he was the go-to actor for mildly befuddled raunchy comedy heroes, before he was just another movieland refugee pursuing a … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 90s — Number Twenty-Four
There’s currently no shortage of ways to find out about new music, but it was a very different situation when I was a student programmer at the college radio station in the early nineties. We had ready access to most new music at the station (and least most new music that was likely to suit our collective taste), but the sheer quantity of it made it easy to miss good new stuff. So sometimes a little outside reading was beneficial. Much as I’ve decried Rolling Stone in various electronic spaces over the years, the deeper you dug into their reviews … Continue reading One for Friday: Apollo Smile, “Dune Buggy”
The more fantastical a movie is, the more likely it will be heaped with praise for the vivid realization of its setting. Whether it’s Peter Jackson’s J.R.R. Tolkien adaptations, the Wachowski brothers’ plunge through payphone lines to reach the Matrix, … Continue reading To them ghosts in the train yard, all them ghosts in my drink
The Flight of the Red Balloon (Hsiao-hsien Hou, 2007). Taking its inspiration from the acclaimed 1956 short film by Albert Lamorisse, Hou’s feature is ravishing in its sedate patience. It captures the little struggles in a normal life–the squabbles with a tenant neighbor, the jockeying with family members over needs and expectations, the juggling of responsibilities that comes with being a single parent–with a watchful, concerned eye. He structures scenes so that they play out without an edit. The camera slowly tilts or pans, taking it all in like a languid, quizzical animal. Occasionally, a strangely resolute and ubiquitous red … Continue reading Claudel, Hou, Towne, Truffaut, Truffaut
I’m so very tired. In lieu of pithy observations, I’ll provide something different to help occupy the time. Continue reading So stay on my arm, you little charmer
