Category: Film

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Brooks, Buzzell, Freudenthal, Matzdorff, McKay

Dan Seeger

Best Foot Forward (Edward Buzzell, 1943). Less than a decade before a certain TV series elevated Lucille Ball to the stratosphere of stardom, she was merely the “Queen of the Bs,” which makes it a little odd to see her playing herself in this film about a cadet at a military academy who convinces the redhead to come be his date for a big dance. She’s also far removed from the ditzy whirligig persona that she’d soon be known for, playing scenes instead as the smartest person in the room with a disdainful, withering comment for everyone and everything she … Continue reading Brooks, Buzzell, Freudenthal, Matzdorff, McKay

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

There was a time when Uma Thurman was an actress that demanded attention. If she was in a film, it merited at least some amount of consideration. Maybe the finished project was actually not very good (or even downright awful) but she alone made it something that at least went into the “maybe” pile when sorting out film-going options. Sadly, I’ve noticed lately that, as I spin the digital dial considering movies to add to our overstuffed DVR, the opposite is now true. Uma’s inclusion in the cast list–especially at the top of it–is a signal to stay away. I … Continue reading Spectrum Check

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Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Thirty-Eight

Dan Seeger

#38 — The Elephant Man (David Lynch, 1980) Joseph Merrick was born in Leicester, England in the mid nineteenth century. Malformed from his youngest days by an uncertain ailment–thought for years to be Neurofibromatosis type I–Merrick entered his adulthood as an abused member of a traveling freak show, touted as “The Elephant Man” and paraded about for the horrified amusement of the crowd. Abandoned, Merrick found his way to the care of a surgeon named Frederick Treves, who saw past the swollen features to the man within and endeavored to provide him with a deserved social dignity. With the added … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Thirty-Eight

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

This week, I looked to current events to help explain why I find Barbara Kopple’s masterful 1990 documentary American Dream so damn powerful. Sometimes I feel a little sad that Kopple has largely concentrated on comparatively lightweight fare for the bulk of her career, but realistically the amazing quality of first two films are enough to make her the deserving recipient of boundless admiration. I also reviewed a new documentary about exotic animals like lions and elephants kept as pets. It’s a measure of how crazy my week has been that I kind of miffed the review initially and had … Continue reading Spectrum Check

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Dugan, Lubitsch, Mangold, Reitman, Taccone

Dan Seeger

One Hour with You (Ernst Lubitsch, 1932). It’s a basic necessity to mention “The Lubitsch Touch” when evaluating one of the films from the great comic director, even if it’s simply to point out the absence of his trademark deftness in the work in question. One Hour with You is considered a fairly early effort–nearly a decade before revered classics like Ninotchka and The Shop Around the Corner, but, in the way of the era, the director already had dozens of films under his belt by this point. The film is a pretty odd duck, a soft-stepping musical about flirtations … Continue reading Dugan, Lubitsch, Mangold, Reitman, Taccone