Megan Rapinoe Cannot Make This Any Clearer by Barry Petchesky This piece was written and published before Megan Rapinoe scored two goals to lift the U.S. women’s national team past their French rivals in the World Cup quarterfinals, cementing her status … Continue reading Outside Reading — The Right Thing edition
So maybe here’s where the story ends? Nearly twenty-five years after Toy Story launched Pixar into the field of feature film production and almost a decade past Toy Story 3, which seemed to provide an ideal conclusion to the franchise, … Continue reading Now Playing — Toy Story 4
Cop Car (Jon Watts, 2015). Like the product of a mysterious third Coen brother who got some of Steven Spielberg’s DNA spliced into him in utero, Cop Car begins with a simple premise, predicated on the wonderstruck and impulsive decision … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — Cop Car; The Predator; The Case Against 8
#43 — Jean Arthur as Bonnie Lee in Only Angels Have Wings (Howard Hawks. 1939) By most accounts, Jean Arthur was miserable making Only Angels Have Wings. One of many aces director Frank Capra had in his usual deck, Arthur … Continue reading Greatish Performances #43
These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art. Back in the nineteen-eighties, movie theaters had to work a little harder to remind patrons that they … Continue reading The Art of the Sell — John Waters “No Smoking” PSA
An Oral History of Vincent D’Onofrio’s Perfect Men in Black ‘Sugar Water’ Scene by Rachel Handler Look, it’s probably a stretch to call this article an oral history, since it’s really comprised of nothing more than two interviews — with … Continue reading Outside Reading — I Want a Little Sugar in My Cup edition
Martin Scorsese’s side career as a documentary filmmaker has largely been a verification of all the stuff anyone would suspect he adores, from the Rolling Stones to erudite New York institutions. A director with nothing truly left to prove, but … Continue reading Now Playing — Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese
Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray, 1955). The debut feature from Bengali director Satyajit Ray is a marvel of deep empathy and refined visual storytelling. Based on a novel by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, Pather Panchali focuses on the struggles of a rural family … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — Pather Panchali; Pocketful of Miracles; Free Solo
For her feature directorial debut, Olivia Wilde wanted to up the intensity of a high school movie. Screenwriter Katie Silberman was brought in to rework a script that had already passed through a few word processors, and she says Wilde’s … Continue reading Now Playing — Booksmart
Marty (Delbert Mann, 1955). Boasting an exemplary Paddy Chayefsky screenplay of downbeat eloquence, Marty manages to examine small-scale lives without a whiff of condescension. Marty Piletti (Ernest Borgnine) is a thirty-four-year-old butcher who lives in the Bronx with his mother (Esther … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — Marty; A Kid Like Jake; The Lego Batman Movie
Coffee for Two 