I’m Your Woman (Julia Hart, 2020). Set in the nineteen-seventies, I’m Your Woman casts Rachel Brosnahan as Jean, whose small-time-crook husband (Bill Heck) goes missing not long after he presents her with a baby acquired under mysterious circumstances. For their … Continue reading Then Playing — I’m Your Woman; The Vast of Night; Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
#1 — Boyhood (Richard Linklater, 2014) If the best film directors can be said to have central preoccupations that run through their entire oeuvre like a central nervous system, then Richard Linklater’s is the stealthy, patient alchemy that manifests when … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number One
Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets (Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross, 2020). Depicting the last day of operation for a Las Vegas dive bar, Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets accurately captures the wounded rhythms of a place that serves as a refuge … Continue reading Then Playing — Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets; Tenet; Lovers Rock
When Wonder Woman arrived in movie houses three and a half years ago, there was a lot riding on the amazing Amazon’s shoulders. Although superheroes were solidly established as the dominant building blocks for Hollywood blockbusters, the various films efforts … Continue reading Now Playing — Wonder Woman 1984
Does “Wonder Woman 1984” Hide Its Hero’s True Superpowers? by Jill Lepore To evaluate the new Wonder Woman movie, The New Yorker turns to staff writer Jill Lepore, who wrote an entire book on the amazing Amazon and her creators. … Continue reading Outside Reading — Fantastically Powered Princess edition
#51 — Nicole Kidman as Alice Harford in Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999) Across his storied career, Stanley Kubrick left many actors feeling broken. Nicole Kidman wasn’t one of them. “You always think, ‘Ah, I could have done better,’” … Continue reading Greatish Performances #51
Looking to start a producing career, Douglas wheedled the film rights to Ken Kesey’s book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest from his father, Kirk, who had them for years, actively certain that playing the story’s lead character was a … Continue reading Actors’ Director — Miloš Forman
#2 — Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig, 2017) For her debut feature as the sole credited director, Greta Gerwig opted for a story so personal that it clearly approaches full-on autobiography. Lady Bird is set in the California city where Gerwig … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Two
Emma. (Autumn de Wilde, 2020). Director Autumn de Wilder and screenwriter Eleanor Catton bring a touch of the rambunctious to this adaption of Jane Austen’s novel about sprightly busybody Emma Woodhouse (Anya Taylor-Joy). There’s no wholesale reinvention of the story, … Continue reading Then Playing — Emma.; The Assistant; Swallow
When Ruben (Riz Ahmed) first appears in Sound of Metal, he is behind a drum kit in a dank club, pounding out a heathen beat as Lou, his bandmate and girlfriend, howls at the microphone and scratches at her guitar. … Continue reading Now Playing — Sound of Metal
Coffee for Two 