Category: Film

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I dreamed i was in a hollywood movie and that I was the star of the movie, this really blew my mind

Dan Seeger

Somebody Up There Likes Me (Robert Wise, 1956). By all accounts, this is the film that made Paul Newman a star. The most intriguing thing about that is that his performance here has little of the charismatic verve that drove later work in films like Hud or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It’s a thick, meaty character piece as Newman plays boxer Rocky Graziano as his pummels his way from backstreet destitution to the heavyweight championship of the world. Newman brings integrity to his character’s brutishness, subsuming his natural sparkle in favor of a honest portrayal of simpler man. … Continue reading I dreamed i was in a hollywood movie and that I was the star of the movie, this really blew my mind

Film4 Comments

Here comes the movies with dialogue so cool — why did they never tell me to speak like that in primary school?

Dan Seeger

Breaking and Entering (Anthony Minghella, 2006). Unexpectedly standing as the last feature film from Minghella, Breaking is evidence that we’ve lost someone from the dwindling population of directors interested in crafting films for grown-ups. With its tricky plot, its examination of delicate matters such as the growing chasm between economic classes and its unapologetic willingness to let the messiness of life seep into its framework, it’s hard to imagine that anyone ever expected this to become a substantial earner at the box office. Yet there it is, playing out with delicate insight and unfussy emotion. There’s a quiet ache to … Continue reading Here comes the movies with dialogue so cool — why did they never tell me to speak like that in primary school?

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The sun is up looks like a perfect day to put our soldiers on a cake parade

Dan Seeger

One week from tonight we get on an airplane pointed north, making our annual trek to The City of Wonderful Water for one of the biggest, oddest college radio fundraisers you could ever imagine. We’ve been swamped with preparation for the event (which is part of the reason I’ve been relying of shorter posts in this space of late). I’ve previously noted the documentary that was made about this contest and my team’s surprisingly prominent place in it. Turns out this documentary will be showing on Wisconsin Public Television fairly soon, and, as part of that airing, one of the … Continue reading The sun is up looks like a perfect day to put our soldiers on a cake parade

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Outside it’s a bright night, there’s an opera at Lincoln Center, movie stars arrive by limousine

Dan Seeger

Blow Out (Brian De Palma, 1981). De Palma is a fascinating figure to me. He emerged with the film school generation of the seventies, standing shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Scorsese, Coppola and Spielberg, indeed earning the most rapturous reviews bestowed upon any of them by the grand doyenne film critic of the era. To this day, there are a fleet of people who will proudly stand up and talk about every scrap of his output as if it were the needs to be studied with the unwavering attention usually reserved for the peak offerings of Welles or … Continue reading Outside it’s a bright night, there’s an opera at Lincoln Center, movie stars arrive by limousine

Film2 Comments

Hollywood, you got a lot of pretty things, I saw a lot of movie stars with diamond rings

Dan Seeger

Divorce American Style (Bud Yorkin, 1967). I had my reasons for watching this, but expectations of quality wasn’t one of them. That’s fortuitous since hints of quality were hard to come by in this comedy steeped in creaky examination of social issues. Four years before he transformed television with All in the Family, Norman Lear copped an Oscar nomination (with Robert Kaufman) for penning this screenplay that centers on one man careening towards divorce from his combative wife. The film’s point of view is scattered and confused, seemingly in an attempt to cover every bit of ground in consideration of … Continue reading Hollywood, you got a lot of pretty things, I saw a lot of movie stars with diamond rings

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Like an old late movie show, you’ve seen it all before

Dan Seeger

The Other Boleyn Girl (Justin Chadwick, 2008). Chadwick’s feature directorial debut suffers from many of the problems that make costume dramas one of the most dreaded of film sub-genres. It shoves needlessly complicated castle intrigue to the forefront in place of thoughtful plotting and intricate characterization. It is marked by static visuals that accomplish little more than sustained examination of the efforts of the costume designers and art directors. And actors emote wildly, flinging words aimlessly at one another with little apparent interest in finding depth in the language. Simply, it entirely forgoes imagination and probing details in favor of … Continue reading Like an old late movie show, you’ve seen it all before

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The movie star, well she crashed her car, but everyone said she was beautiful even without her head

Dan Seeger

Syriana (Stephen Gaghan, 2005). For his sophomore directorial effort, Gaghan returns to the sort of multi-thread, big issue storytelling that won him a screenwriting Oscar for Traffic. The result is dense, resolutely intellectual and dramatically inert. The unapologetic complexities of the film are admirable, but Gaghan almost entirely ignores the human element. Even the few details seemingly intended to flesh out the characters beyond their pawnlike roles in the major schemes of international intrigue come across as mere convolutions. As a treatise on the current ways of the world Syriana has some power. It could have used some more adept … Continue reading The movie star, well she crashed her car, but everyone said she was beautiful even without her head