#32 — Body Heat (Lawrence Kasdan, 1981) No genre belongs so decisively and completely to the era of its greatest heyday like film noir. Even westerns, the exemplar of movie genres that evolved from ubiquitous to scarce, still work fine … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Thirty-Two
Given that Muppet-related videos make regular appearances at this humble little corner of the Web, it feels a little weird to refrain from embedding the trailer to the upcoming revival film, The Muppets. But then again, I did link to … Continue reading If you’re a human being, take a break from the race
This week, I finally starting working on the backlog of record reviews I need to work through by offering up an assessment of the new album by the U.K. band Let’s Wrestle. It was one of those tricky instances of having to write about something when my primary reaction to it is “Eh, it’s okay.” What’s actually harder is writing about a film that’s terrific. Invariably, I feel like my words are inadequate. Lu Chuan’s new movie is tough, uncompromising and beautifully made. I am pleased that I wrote the review without ever using the word “epic.” That was intentional. … Continue reading Spectrum Check
The mighty Marvel movie machine marches on with the one with the unveiling of Thor. Based on a comic book character that’s been around for just about as long as the Marvel imprint has, the film toggles back and forth … Continue reading I’m just looking for a faith waiting to be followed
(Though it wasn’t intended for such a purpose, I could never come up with a better image to encapsulate the thoughts I’m trying to express below. I must give due credit to the illustrator.) After all the trailers unspooled at … Continue reading I nearly didn’t recognize you, then my heart unwound
#33 — Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg, 1988) By the time he made Dead Ringers, David Cronenberg was already an established master of depicting the mushy, gristly fallibility of human flesh, and doing so with frightening ingenuity. He’d made heads explode … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Thirty-Three
This week I took my first crack at the Revisit feature over on the music side of things, which proved to be far more difficult for me. I initially thought I’d write about R.E.M.’s Out of Time this year stands as the twentieth anniversary of its release and, despite being a major success, it seems to be one of the forgotten albums by the band. I thought it would be interesting to give it a fresh listen, separated from the saturation play it experienced at my college radio station upon release. I may still try writing that piece at some … Continue reading Spectrum Check
#34 — The Princess Bride (Rob Reiner, 1987) It is a just a fairy tale, of course. By definition, it’s frivolous and inessential; the sort of thing told to a small child to help them drift off to sleep. When this … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Thirty-Four
This week, I reviewed a new film that stars John Hawkes as artist Stan Herd. Hawkes is good as always; the movie has some issues. I also contributed an entry to this week’s List Inconsequential, which focused on the best film adaptations of William Shakespeare’s works. The super-secret, DVD commentary track backstory on this one is that it was initially intended to be the best and the worst of Shakespeare adaptations, but everyone wanted to write about their favorites. I’ve actually had a hard time thinking of a film bad enough to be singled out for the that sort of … Continue reading Spectrum Check
#35 — Atlantic City (Louis Malle, 1980) I’m always struck by the grand seediness that shapes the film Atlantic City. Louis Malle’s film shows how the once glamorous metropolis of the title is rotting from the inside out: buildings falling … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Thirty-Five
