It has been a mere three years since Tom Holland took his first swings as Spider-Man, bringing the character into the Marvel Cinematic Universe proper in Captain America: Civil War. It seems as though the young English thespian has been … Continue reading Now Playing — Spider-Man: Far From Home
High Life (Claire Denis, 2019). For her English-language debut, French director Claire Denis doesn’t play it safe. High Life is a science fiction film about a small group on a shoebox-shaped spaceship that has an exterior vaguely resembling a wood … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — High Life; The Long, Hot Summer; The Hate U Give
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
Coffee for Two 