A little more than twenty years ago, Whit Stillman and Jane Austen were hot on the filmmaking circuit at the same time. The former was the writer-director behind a pair of very well-regarded and somewhat atypical indie house hits, both … Continue reading Now Playing: Love & Friendship
This was written for my former digital home. That’s about all I have to add this week. The new documentary Wordplay is strongest in the final section, when its focus remains fixed on the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament held annually … Continue reading From the Archive: Wordplay
These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art. There was a time when I loved seeking out new movie posters. Anytime I make the trek to one of the multi-screen bunkers on the edges of Madison, I prowled the hallways looking for new additions to the wall. It got even better when I managed a movie theater. Every day the mail delivery would bring a new handful of slender cardboard tubes stuffed with rolled up one-sheets. For me, it was a like a magical Christmas tree … Continue reading The Art of the Sell: “Flesh and Bone” poster
There was a time when Premiere magazine was invaluable. When the digital asphalt was still drying on the information superhighway, coverage of movies wasn’t nearly as pervasive as it is now. Besides the obvious lack of anxiously competing websites, the mainstream media was also less likely to sully their pages or airwaves with excited previews of upcoming films or, even more sordid, widespread discussion of box office expectations and results. While Premiere was hardly the sole outlet providing such information, they were generally doing it better and more inventively than anyone else. For example, when it came time to offer a preview of the … Continue reading From the Archive: Dying Young
Thanks to a rigorous strategy of willful media blindness (which is mightily difficult for me to pull off in the midst of my almost compulsive consumption of the entertainment news and reviews blipping across the internet), I sat down to … Continue reading Now Playing: The Lobster
Last week, when I was mulling over which old review should be plopped into this space, I came very close to selecting I’m Not There, as if something was nudging me to do so. Maybe the scraggly bard of Hibbing, … Continue reading From the Archive: I’m Not There
These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of pop art. As someone who once strung trailers onto the front of films for a multi-screen theater (as if there’s any other kind these days), I have a special affection for teasers that were clearly shot separately from the features they promoted, that stood as their own little movies. Appreciating the extra effort, I opted for those over frantic assemblages of clips any chance I got. Once it was out of my control, I spiritually extended a special … Continue reading The Art of the Sell: “Strange Days” trailer
This was originally posted at my former digital home. I don’t have much to add today, save for this: Every great director deserves to have a film this strong as their final cinematic statement. It’s already become commonplace to build … Continue reading From the Archive: Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
#24 — Thora Birch as Enid in Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff, 2001) Expert portrayal of the precise brand of withering contempt found in the American teen-aged girl is, by definition, a talent of fleeting utility. While Thora Birch may have had a few other impediments in her quest for career longevity, it’s not implausible that she would have difficult time pushing past her young adult years simply because she so perfectly embodied a particular stretch in late adolescence, when the intellect slightly outpaces maturity, which in turn leads to a complete certainty that the rest of culture is disastrously backward and inane. Birch … Continue reading Greatish Performances #24
I think a case can be made that Captain America: Civil War is mistitled. The skirmish promised there is duly presented, with the crummy crossover comic book series with which it shares its name thankfully providing only the barest of inspiration. Where … Continue reading Now Playing: Captain America: Civil War
Coffee for Two 