#28 — Match Point (Woody Allen, 2005) Is the clearest measure of a filmmaker’s talent the enduring capacity to surprise? When Woody Allen made Match Point he already had several exceptional films to his credit (many dire failures, too, the … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 00s — Number Twenty-Eight
Making a film adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s revered children’s book Where the Wild Things Are seems like the height of doomed folly. As has been noted often in the long run-up to the film’s release, this is a book that … Continue reading I think you move me
The exercise from the other day simply reminded me that I need to dig out my Calvin and Hobbes collection. That’s just amazing. (Posted simultaneously to “Jelly-Town!”) Continue reading Hungry fingers in a smock sucking on a croaker’s top
There is perhaps nothing more endearing about Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut, the roller derby film Whip It, than its delighted conviction in the value of sisterhood. More specifically, it is Barrymore’s complete immersion in the concept without any hint whatsoever … Continue reading Shape it up, get straight, go forward, move ahead
I’ve never been an especially provocative person. I have my pointed opinions and passionate beliefs, but I’m also a pronounced introvert. As a matter of instinct, I’m not interested in calling attention to myself. Cars, clothes, really any outward trappings are chosen for functionality rather than flashiness or any sense of style whatsoever. This makes it a little curious that a regular member of my collegiate t-shirt rotation had the phrase “Fuck = Love” emblazoned across it. The t-shirt referenced the title of the 1989 single released by the Australian band The Trilobites. They were on an independent label Down … Continue reading One for Friday: The Trilobites, “Minibar of Oblivion”
Since we have no children romping and stomping around our home, I wonder if I can persuade some of our friends who are parents to install this item in their backyard. I found that image elsewhere and they found it … Continue reading Hey Paul, Hey Paul, Hey Paul, let’s have a ball
You are the Hanged Man Self-sacrifice, Sacrifice, Devotion, Bound. With the Hanged man there is often a sense of fatalism, waiting for something to happen. Or a fear of loss from a situation, rather than gain. The Hanged Man is perhaps the most fascinating card in the deck. It reflects the story of Odin who offered himself as a sacrifice in order to gain knowledge. Hanging from the world tree, wounded by a spear, given no bread or mead, he hung for nine days. On the last day, he saw on the ground runes that had fallen from the tree, understood … Continue reading And I feel like some bird of paradise, my bad fortune slipping away
Zombieland has everything you expect from a movie called Zombieland. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, but one constructed with a certain sense of humor, a sly awareness of the inherent ridiculousness of its colorfully devastated landscape. And of … Continue reading All you sittin’ in high places, the pieces gonna fall on you
#29 — The Aviator (Martin Scorsese, 2004) I suspect that Martin Scorsese loved making The Aviator. I have no inside information to back up this theory, no nuggets gleaned from the DVD commentary track or tales relayed about pervasive happiness … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 00s — Number Twenty-Nine
The gentleman in the above image is Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, science fiction author and crackpot religion founder. The device he’s utilizing to get measurements from his vine-ripened friend is called a Hubbard Electrometer. He apparently used it to determine that … Continue reading How it happened I don’t know, must have been the Miracle-Gro
