#18 — Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975) First, a consideration of the pleasure and reward of a perfectly chosen line of dialogue. One of the most famed elements of Steven Spielberg’s sophomore feature film, Jaws, is the way that the technical … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 70s — Number Eighteen
I was back to a fairly typical week for Spectrum Culture, beginning with a movie review. Unfortunately, it wasn’t much a movie. On the surface of it, the film is one of those desperately quirky efforts that is among the most painful material a modern fan of independent cinema is routinely saddled with. It’s even more of a mess than that. I also had a music review go up this week. The record I reviewed is a prime example of one that doesn’t necessary spring to mind when considering the best, most vital or most challenging music of the year, … Continue reading Spectrum Check
For about two decades, David Koepp has been a screenwriter sought after for his apparent ability to polish blockbuster material into workable shape, a reputation that probably began in earnest after he assisted mightily in the process of adapting Michael … Continue reading I can’t go on so I give in, gotta get myself right outta here
The Postman Always Rings Twice (Tay Garnett, 1946). This adaptation of James M. Cain’s 1934 novel is a film noir classic. It’s an exemplar of the form, and perhaps the perfect introduction to the dark charms of the sub-genre built around the basest of human instincts and the shadows in which the manifestation of those urges are obscured, if only because it spells out its duplicitous so plainly. It’s also, sad to say, only a middling film, unfurling its plot with a rushed anxiousness that sometimes leaves behind necessary depth and character development. Tay Garnett’s directing is moody, but also … Continue reading Garnett, Gondry, Hitchcock, Sturges, Susser
This week at Spectrum Culture, I didn’t have a single new piece go up. While I’ve got a whole pile of stuff waiting to be reviewed (four movie screeners and, I think, the same number of new music releases), the site had a low-content week, which honestly couldn’t have come at a better time for me since my work week has been, to put it mildly, exhausting. In place of a weekly recap, it seems like a fine time to offer up a sort of “greatest hits.” Not only because I’ve got a spare week, but because we’re fast approaching … Continue reading Spectrum Check
#19 — Being There (Hal Ashby, 1979) A few months ago, I wrote about Hal Ashby’s Being There, proposing it as an excellent choice for the film geek debate over which work represented the true end of the artistic boom in … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 70s — Number Nineteen
It was another modest week for me at Spectrum Culture. I only had one full piece go up there, a review of the new album from the Gaslight Anthem. When I was younger, I found it odd that there weren’t more bands emulating Bruce Springsteen, given his significant success. Now that there are a couple who clearly use his music as a touchstone, I actually find it just as strange. His distinctive sound, fueled by rock ‘n’ roll bombast, seems to be harder for bands to transcend than, say, that of the Velvet Underground, which dozens upons dozens of groups … Continue reading Spectrum Check
#20 — Days of Heaven (Terrence Malick, 1978) The legend and legacy of Days of Heaven begins with the lush, vivid, painfully beautiful imagery. The second full-length feature from director Terrence Malick, the film was and is renowned for its … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 70s — Number Twenty
Piranha (Alexandre Aja, 2010). It’s remarkable that a film that so overtly embraces its own willful trashiness can still be dour, flatfooted and boring as hell. Richard Dreyfuss’s early cameo as a scruffy boater who’s a victim of carnivorous fish is only the first overt reference to Steven Spielberg’s superlative Jaws. The entire plot about the vicious water-dwellers is essentially lifted from the earlier feature, with the family vacation crowds in a terrorized tourist tour replaced by ribald Spring Breakers, all the better to fill the screen with R-rated nudity. It’s gory, ridiculous and almost deliberately inept. It’s also no … Continue reading Aja, Cameron, Hanks, Ophüls, Saladoff
I had the blessed relief of a very light week at Spectrum Culture. The only piece of mine that went up was a review of the new film from Fernando Meirelles, which takes him yet further from the spectacular promise of his debut. I thought things couldn’t get much more dire than Blindness. Little did I know he’d adopt the multi-strand pile-up of coincidental misery typified by Babel and its tiresome brethren a few years ago. Luckily, I have a week off from movie reviews. After this one, I feel like I need it. Continue reading Spectrum Check
Coffee for Two 