#35 — Husbands and Wives (Woody Allen, 1992) Woody Allen insists that his films aren’t autobiographical. Even though he’s arguably he has clearer sole authorship of his films than any other American director of the past thirty years, and those … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 90s — Number Thirty-Five
In case you need a creative outlet for the evening ahead: Continue reading I wish you’d listen when I tell you now: baby, let your hair grow long
#36 — Magnolia (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1999) The trailer for Magnolia billed it as “A P.T. Anderson Picture.” It was the writer-director’s third feature, and the follow-up to 1997’s Boogie Nights, the film that first garnered him significant attention and … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 90s — Number Thirty-Six
I’m a bad sleeper. I’ve been a bad sleeper for years. That’s actually an official diagnosis. Back in the mid-nineties, my problems were so pronounced that I sought out a sleep disorder specialist, went to several appointments with her, wore a bizarre contraption on my noggin one night so she could get data on what my sleep patterns were like. In the end, she said there was nothing wrong with me that was nameable or treatable. She shrugged her shoulders and said, “Some people are just bad sleepers.” At the time, I was compounding my difficulties by working fifty to … Continue reading One for Friday: Bic Runga, “Get Some Sleep”
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (John Ford, 1949). The film is the second of Ford’s loose “Cavalry Trilogy.” It’s well-regarded, as are most of Ford’s collaborations with John Wayne, but, while it may be a sort of cinematic sacrilege to say so, the film is little more than a plain-footed entertainment. That assessment seems more damning than it is. The film is expert and buoyant and infused with a nice mix of wit and charm, all qualities that seemingly came naturally to John Ford when he was more concerned with making something simply satisfying than a work of grave importance. … Continue reading Beresford, Fletcher, Ford, Hawks, Twohy
There’s more, and it’s all funny. Continue reading Tolling for the rebel, tolling for the rake
Sequels invariably inspire comparisons, weighing the merits of what’s flickering on the screen against the adventures that came before. This seems to be especially true for superhero sequels, maybe because there’s an echo of the comic reading experience, where every … Continue reading Everything you say is like iron; it smashes me up but it’s brittle inside
There are a few things that will always entertain me. Continue reading My eyes have seen the years and the slow parade of fears without crying
#37 — Shall We Dance? (Masayuki Suo, 1996) Part of the appeal of foreign films is the glimpse they can provide of a different culture. There’s a distancing angle to this as a film-goer, a sense that perhaps having a … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 90s — Number Thirty-Seven
Some days I’m fully prepared and excited to string together a whole bunch of words. Some days all I want to do is post a picture of a monkey reading a comic book. Okay, it looks more like a magazine … Continue reading I know that Saturday’s got what it takes, babe
