Author: Dan Seeger

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Outside it’s a bright night, there’s an opera at Lincoln Center, movie stars arrive by limousine

Dan Seeger

Blow Out (Brian De Palma, 1981). De Palma is a fascinating figure to me. He emerged with the film school generation of the seventies, standing shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Scorsese, Coppola and Spielberg, indeed earning the most rapturous reviews bestowed upon any of them by the grand doyenne film critic of the era. To this day, there are a fleet of people who will proudly stand up and talk about every scrap of his output as if it were the needs to be studied with the unwavering attention usually reserved for the peak offerings of Welles or … Continue reading Outside it’s a bright night, there’s an opera at Lincoln Center, movie stars arrive by limousine

Books1 Comment

Great Moments in Literature

Dan Seeger

“Sunrise–generally a rural event, in cities a mere abstraction–is still an hour and a half away. The city’s appetite for Saturday work is robust. At six o’clock, the Euston Road is in full throat. Now occasional motorbikes soar above the ensemble, whining like busy wood saws. Also about this time come the first choruses of police sirens, rising and falling in Doppler shifts: it’s no longer too early for bad deeds. Finally she rolls over to face him. This side of the human form exhales a communicative warmth. As they kiss he imagines the green eyes seeking out his own. … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature

Film2 Comments

Hollywood, you got a lot of pretty things, I saw a lot of movie stars with diamond rings

Dan Seeger

Divorce American Style (Bud Yorkin, 1967). I had my reasons for watching this, but expectations of quality wasn’t one of them. That’s fortuitous since hints of quality were hard to come by in this comedy steeped in creaky examination of social issues. Four years before he transformed television with All in the Family, Norman Lear copped an Oscar nomination (with Robert Kaufman) for penning this screenplay that centers on one man careening towards divorce from his combative wife. The film’s point of view is scattered and confused, seemingly in an attempt to cover every bit of ground in consideration of … Continue reading Hollywood, you got a lot of pretty things, I saw a lot of movie stars with diamond rings

Music3 Comments

One for Friday: Voice of the Beehive, “Little Gods”

Dan Seeger

I keep reaching back to college radio days for these “One for Friday” posts. There are multiple reasons for this. Given my preference to post material that’s entirely out of print, looking to an era fifteen to twenty years past that predates the electronic disbursement of music (which will eventually keep everything in print) is a practical necessity. But that time, that place also feels like it represents the last miked gasp of a certain type of radio. Specifically, it feels like the end of the eighties and the beginning of the nineties represented one of the last times that … Continue reading One for Friday: Voice of the Beehive, “Little Gods”

FilmLeave a comment

Like an old late movie show, you’ve seen it all before

Dan Seeger

The Other Boleyn Girl (Justin Chadwick, 2008). Chadwick’s feature directorial debut suffers from many of the problems that make costume dramas one of the most dreaded of film sub-genres. It shoves needlessly complicated castle intrigue to the forefront in place of thoughtful plotting and intricate characterization. It is marked by static visuals that accomplish little more than sustained examination of the efforts of the costume designers and art directors. And actors emote wildly, flinging words aimlessly at one another with little apparent interest in finding depth in the language. Simply, it entirely forgoes imagination and probing details in favor of … Continue reading Like an old late movie show, you’ve seen it all before