Category: Film

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The Art of the Sell: “Toys” teaser trailer

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.  I worked at a five-screen movie theater through much of the first half of the nineteen-nineties. I eventually cajoled my way into responsibilities in the booth, taping together the feature prints that came in every week. That also gave me authority over the trailers that preceded those films. I can’t pull up specific stats, but I feel fairly confident that I attached the teaser trailer for Barry Levinson’s Toys at a ratio that exceeded all others. I … Continue reading The Art of the Sell: “Toys” teaser trailer

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Now Playing: The Birth of a Nation

Dan Seeger

There is boldness and defiance written into the DNA of Nate Parker’s The Birth of a Nation, beginning with the pointed abduction of the title from D.W. Griffith’s century-old epic that is equal parts groundbreaking and despicable. The new film is about Nat Turner (played by Parker), a Virginia slave who led an 1831 rebellion that was the bloodiest, most successful insurrection against the oppressing Southern gentry until the U.S. Civil War. Ultimately short-lived — it lasted approximately forty-eight hours — the rebellion left over fifty whites dead before it was over. A roughly equal number of enslaved blacks were arrested … Continue reading Now Playing: The Birth of a Nation

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College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 136 – 134

Dan Seeger

136. Swans, “Love Will Tear Us Apart” For some fans of Swans, the betrayal of principles began with a cover of “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” To the degree that the track — or tracks, really — represented a distinct turning point, they’re not entirely wrong. Michael Gira started Swans in the countercultural swirl of New York’s early-nineteen-eighties no wave scene, releasing a succession of abrasive, challenging albums and EPs. By the middle of that decade, pierced eyebrows were already raising as the hardest, most bruising edges were buffed off, a process accelerated by the inclusion of keyboardist and vocalist Jarboe on the … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 136 – 134

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Now Playing: Queen of Katwe

Dan Seeger

The story moves in familiar ways. With few exceptions, most moviegoers will be able to tick off the main narrative beats of Queen of Katwe in advance. The young, beset heroine Phiona Mutesi (newcomer Madina Nalwanga) finds some respite from the burdens of her hardscrabble life when she happens upon a group engaged in a competitive pursuit. Originally viewed by her new cohorts as a irritating neophyte, she quickly proves to be a prodigy, approaching the game she’s taken up with uncommon insight and sparkling inspiration. There will be highs. There will be lows. But surely there will be triumph in … Continue reading Now Playing: Queen of Katwe

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From the Archive: Batman Returns

Dan Seeger

I suppose I should hold this in reserve until the Saturday that Ben Affleck’s directorial effort with the character arrives, but we’ll use this to draw a contrast between a time that I was actively excited at the prospect of a Tim Burton film rather than the current sad state that finds my preemptive exhausted at the thought of sitting through his latest exercise in whimsical gloom. And, hey, there’s a Donald Trump reference in here, too. So, you know, timely. This was written during the summer that my on-air colleague and I decided we would take a break from the weekly … Continue reading From the Archive: Batman Returns

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Laughing Matters: Martin Scorsese in “The Muse”

Dan Seeger

Sometimes comedy illuminates hard truths with a pointed urgency that other means can’t quite achieve. Sometimes comedy is just funny. This series of posts is mostly about the former instances, but the latter is valuable, too. This will be two straight weeks with a clip from an Albert Brooks movie in the space. That seems fine to me. As we traipse into the annual part of the film calendar overstuffed with fare that is desperately seeking Oscar, there are little flares of especially intriguing news here and there. For example, after months of speculation as to whether or not Martin … Continue reading Laughing Matters: Martin Scorsese in “The Muse”

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From the Archive: The Vanishing

Dan Seeger

The review was written for my college student-run newspaper. I’d watched the 1988 Dutch original, so I’m not precisely sure why I neglected to note that the inferior remake was directed by the exact same person: George Sluizer. That seems like a pertinent detail for a film critic to share.  The Vanishing is a prime example of how Hollywood can take a great idea and completely muck it up. Based on an intriguing and unsettling 1991 Dutch film of the same name, The Vanishing involves a man’s obsession with his girlfriend’s mysterious disappearance while on vacation. Kiefer Sutherland gives a strong … Continue reading From the Archive: The Vanishing

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Laughing Matters: “The Desert Inn has heart!”

Dan Seeger

Sometimes comedy illuminates hard truths with a pointed urgency that other means can’t quite achieve. Sometimes comedy is just funny. This series of posts is mostly about the former instances, but the latter is valuable, too. What can I type? This is on my mind tonight. Previous entries in this series can be found by clicking on the “Laughing Matters” tag. Continue reading Laughing Matters: “The Desert Inn has heart!”

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Branagh, Brooks, Leigh, McGrath, Trank

Dan Seeger

Cinderella (Kenneth Branagh, 2015). It’s grading on the most generous of curves, but as a crass attempt to develop a new revenue stream for a beloved Disney animated class, the live action Cinderella isn’t so bad. It’s certainly a damn sight better than the grotesque senses assault of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, which basically established this type of cinematic tomb raiding. Similarly, Kenneth Branagh’s directing is more tightly controlled and snappily efficient than anything else he’s done in ages, the stricter corporate oversight perhaps taming his penchant for dragging indulgence. Most of the acting is merely perfunctory, save for … Continue reading Branagh, Brooks, Leigh, McGrath, Trank