One of the favorite parlor games of movie devotees is trying to discern which films and filmmakers have the greatest impact and influence in any given era. For example, at different times, I’ve heard it argued that the most significant … Continue reading Secretly I been tailing you like a fox that preys on a rabbit
#25 — Hoosiers (David Anspaugh, 1986) A couple of years ago, I saw Gene Hackman with his regular writing partner Daniel Lenihan at a book reading. When it came time for the Q & A portion of the event, the … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Twenty-Five
The Tree of Life couldn’t have come from anyone other than Terrence Malick. The primacy of directorial authorship is touted for all sorts of filmmakers, but Malick moves with such a distinct creative rhythm that it’s difficult to imagine anyone … Continue reading Burn bright through the night, two pockets lead the way
Stroszek (Werner Herzog, 1977). There’s certainly no reason to expect anything less than inspired lunacy from a Werner Herzog movie, especially one he made back in the nineteen-seventies when thew rules of cinema were falling away like worn paint from a waterlogged wall. Stroszek follows a German man whose perilous romance with a prostitute causes him to move with her and his elderly neighbor to, of all places, rural Wisconsin. From there, Herzog’s examination of the general travails of the downtrodden trying to forge better lives takes on the added harsh tinge of the false promise of the American dream … Continue reading Bailey and Barbato, Bogdanovich, Herzog, Kurosawa, Margolis
Just a couple things from me went up this week. I reviewed the new album from Memory Tapes, which was very strong. It’s actually one of those albums that makes wish I had a radio shift since most of the songs on it would be perfect to drop in the middle of a set to enliven it. I also tapped out another very positive review, this time for the movie Terri, which contains what I think is John C. Reilly’s best performance to date. Strangely, I wasn’t supposed to receive this movie. The promotional folks said they weren’t sending out … Continue reading Spectrum Check
#26 — Hairspray (John Waters, 1988) The first time I saw Hairspray, it was in black-and-white. I was at the house of a college friend, watching the movie on his big console TV with suspect technical dependability. The color wasn’t … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Twenty-Six
We had a long holiday weekend and a pronounced need to purge our overloaded DVR with some of the uglier offerings taking up space. Under those circumstances, our household holds the belief that there’s one clear avenue to follow. We … Continue reading Bad Movie Night — The Sorcerer’s Apprentice/Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
This week, I was all over the site, beginning with a movie review of a offbeat new documentary about, at least in part, the collision between man and nature in the American south. It’s a movie built on so much abstraction that it was a challenge to write about. It was also tough to write about the new New York Times documentary, though for different reasons. It’s a fairly straightforward work and picking out what does and doesn’t work with it was correspondingly straightforward. However, I have such an investment in trumpeting the continued valued of traditional mass media, that … Continue reading Spectrum Check
Sometimes I secretly wish Werner Herzog narrated all movies. Hell, I’d go see that new Transformers assault if it had running commentary from Herzog. (“And then the being that began as a motorcar undergoes a metamorphosis. He is now a … Continue reading Horses in my dreams, like waves, like the sea
#27 — Ordinary People (Robert Redford, 1980) It’s worth considering Robert Redford’s place in the entertainment firmament when made Ordinary People in 1980. It was his first film as a director, so he was completely untried and untested in that capacity, … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Twenty-Seven
Coffee for Two 