Category: Film

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

While I abandoned the Interweb all this week, I still had a couple fingerprints show up here and there. My one contribution that landed at Spectrum Culture was a review of 3 Backyards, the long-gestating follow-up to the fine Judy Berlin from writer-director Eric Mendelsohn. Sadly, I didn’t have many kind things to share, but it did provide further proof for the theory that Edie Falco is always worth watching. I was supposed to contribute to the the feature on the country’s best microbreweries, but in my rush to leave last week, I goofed up in submitting my piece. It … Continue reading Spectrum Check

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A Week of Fridays: I Am the World Trade Center, “Big Star”

Dan Seeger

Andrea Keller is a pro at guest blogging, a phenomenal photographer and plainly my favorite person in the world to spend time with. I’ve learned a lot over the years from everyone I’ve shared this space with this week, but none more than her. She’s top-notch in every way, and I’m not just typing that because I’m sure she’s spent the week I’ve been gone both fixing a toilet and watching more episodes of I Love Lucy than she’d probably care to count. She probably liked the toilet work far more. Hopefully, her fellow Cakers will reward her accordingly and … Continue reading A Week of Fridays: I Am the World Trade Center, “Big Star”

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

When last we did this check, I was a meager contributor to the Spectrum Culture site. This week was a far different matter, with my words cropping up all over the place. First, there was my latest contribution to our WTF feature. My previous outing, I opted for horror films, but this time I went for one that was scary in an entirely different way: Otto Preminger’s 1968 disaster Skidoo. If only I could have watched it anew before writing, but the Preminger estate works overtime to keep this one as far from the public eye as possible. Another bit … Continue reading Spectrum Check

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Boorman, Capra, Jarecki, Koster, Lang

Dan Seeger

No Highway in the Sky (Henry Koster, 1951). This murky little thriller casts James Stewart as an American engineer working with Great Britain’s Royal Aircraft Establishment. He’s convinced that the design of the flagship Reindeer airliner is tragically flawed, causing the tail to fall off after a certain number of hours in flight. His worries comes to an head when he’s taking a transatlantic journey on the plane in question and discovers it’s nearing the fatal number of logged hours. It’s a fun premise, but the film unfortunately lacks either the ratcheted up suspense of an Alfred Hitchcock thriller or … Continue reading Boorman, Capra, Jarecki, Koster, Lang

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The Unwatchables: Alice in Wonderland

Dan Seeger

No director is in more dire need of a change of pace than Tim Burton. He needs some little story with two, maybe three characters just sitting around a simple, largely unadorned room. They should talk to one another, quiet little chats about their place in the world. There should be no music score and no special effects. Maybe then, just maybe, he’d be able to find his way back to making a movie with an ounce of humanity in it again. Until then, it’s safe to presume that he’ll follow his worrisome trend of grabbing onto well-established properties and … Continue reading The Unwatchables: Alice in Wonderland

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Arnold, Coppola, Nadel, Smight, Wallace

Dan Seeger

Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, 2009). At it’s strongest, Arnold’s film is as scrappy as its protagonist, a teenage girl in lower class Britain who pushes against what little disinterested authority exists in her life. The film expertly gets at the way passion burns to the surface so quickly at that age, while also considering how simple, inelegant endeavors like hip hop dancing can fuel dreams of escape. As an observant, uncompromising character study, the film is sharp and sensational. As it gets more plot driven, especially in a misguided third act, it falters terribly. The one thing that’s consistent throughout … Continue reading Arnold, Coppola, Nadel, Smight, Wallace