Sometimes in pop culture there are clear end points, and they can provide insights to a whole series, oeuvre, or discography. Sword of Trust has a hooky comedic premise. A gruff Birmingham pawn shop proprietor named Mel (Marc Maron) is … Continue reading The Last One — Sword of Trust
American Made (Doug Liman, 2017). Now that Tom Cruise has moved entirely into the phase of his career that involves constantly putting his own well-being in peril to the delight of the audience, more serious fare — even something as … Continue reading Then Playing — American Made; Dark Phoenix; Hellboy
#35 — Holy Motors (Leos Carax, 2012) It takes a peculiar skill to make a movie that’s utterly bonkers and yet marvelously lucid, simultaneously reckless and tightly controlled. French director Leos Carax went a long time between films before Holy … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of 10s — Number Thirty-Five
#36 — Short Term 12 (Destin Daniel Cretton, 2013) After Destin Daniel Cretton graduated from college, he worked in a group home for at-risk youth. Firsthand experience with depicted subject matter isn’t entirely necessary to make a compelling feature film, … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Thirty-Six
Alita: Battle Angel (Robert Rodriguez, 2019). Based on a nineteen-nineties manga series, Alita: Battle Angel is right in line with all the other sci-fi lite and reductive girl power product that bears the sticky fingerprints of James Cameron, who produces … Continue reading Then Playing — Alita: Battle Angel; A White, White Day; Harlan County, U.S.A.
#37 — Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Edgar Wright, 2010) In adapting movies from other works, fidelity to source material can trip up even the most skilled directors. There’s a natural instinct to hew closely to whatever is being transferred … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Thirty-Seven
Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade, 2016). German filmmaker Maren Ade puts pathos and comedy together in a way that’s borderline magical in Toni Erdmann. The title character, as it were, is a pseudonym commonly adopted by Winfried (Peter Simonischek) when he’s … Continue reading Then Playing — Toni Erdmann; Wildlife; The Seagull
In her recent book Ninth Street Women, Mary Gabriel briefly recounts the story of a misattributed painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A portrait of Charlotte du Val d’Ognes, the piece was originally thought to be the handiwork of … Continue reading Now Playing — Beyond the Visible – Hilma af Klint
A National Death Wish: How Science, Education, and the Future Were Sacrificed For Profit and Power by Jared Yates Sexton As Jared Yates Sexton meticulously argues in his new essay, published by The Muckrake, where we are at now is … Continue reading Outside Reading — Is Our Children Learning? edition
Foreign Correspondent (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940). Alfred Hitchcock’s second Hollywood picture is basically a trial run for all slam-bang entertainments that would follow in his career. On the leading edge of World War II, a New York newspaper sends a metro … Continue reading Then Playing — Foreign Correspondent; The Rape of Recy Taylor; In Fabric
Coffee for Two 