Top Ten Movies of 2020 — Number Four
Promising Young Woman holds fury in its bones. The feature directorial debut of Emerald Fennell has the structure of a revenge thriller and the spirit of a black comedy. Embedding with Cassie Thomas (Carey Mulligan) as she exacts elaborate schemes … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2020 — Number Four
Then Playing — The Day I Will Never Forget; Örökbefogadás; The Nest
The Day I Will Never Forget (Kim Longinotto, 2002). I don’t think I’ve encountered a documentary as uncompromisingly grueling as The Day I Will Never Forget. Director Kim Longinotto favors plain, direct reportage, which makes the film’s most harrowing moments … Continue reading Then Playing — The Day I Will Never Forget; Örökbefogadás; The Nest
Top Ten Movies of 2020 — Number Five
In Sound of Metal, Riz Ahmed melts into the lead role with an intensity that’s almost unnerving. Ahmed plays Ruben Stone, the drummer in a blistering hard rock band called Blackgammon. Night after night, he sits behind his kit, slapping … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2020 — Number Five
Promising Young Directors — Thoughts on the Oscar Nominations
In this upside-down movie year that sprawled beyond the boundaries actually set by the calendar, it makes sense that the Oscar nominations would bring their own unique set of surprises. What makes the morning especially discombobulating for this long-time Oscar … Continue reading Promising Young Directors — Thoughts on the Oscar Nominations
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #380 to #378
380. XTC, Mummer (1983) Not long after the release of Mummer, the sixth album by his group XTC, Andy Partridge mused on the band’s place in the pop-music infrastructure. “I like people to kind of discover XTC,” explained Partridge. “An … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #380 to #378
Outside Reading — The Emerald Standard
Seattle’s Virus Success Shows What Could Have Been by Mike Baker “If the rest of the United States had kept pace with Seattle, the nation could have avoided more than 300,000 coronavirus deaths.” That sentence, from this piece of New … Continue reading Outside Reading — The Emerald Standard
This Week’s Model — CIVIC, “Tell the Papers”
Based in Melbourne, Australia, the band CIVIC has been kicking around for a couple years, building a strong local following among those who are happiest when they’re leaving a cramped club with sweat-drenched clothes and ringing ears. EPs have been … Continue reading This Week’s Model — CIVIC, “Tell the Papers”
Laughing Matters — The Kids in the Hall, “Preacher”
Sometimes comedy illuminates hard truths with a pointed urgency that other means can’t quite achieve. Sometimes comedy is just funny. This series of posts is mostly about the former instances, but the latter is valuable, too. It’s always a good … Continue reading Laughing Matters — The Kids in the Hall, “Preacher”
Top Ten Movies of 2020 — Number Six
Garrett Bradley’s documentary Time is awash in the uncommon power that comes from a moral outrage expressed with tough simplicity. The film spends most of its time with Sibil Fox Richardson, who carries her family through the reverberating pain of … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2020 — Number Six
Top Ten Movies of 2020 — Number Seven
I think it’s beautifully fitting that the year’s most poignant, insightful film about living in the U.S. is largely in a language other than English. Writer-director Lee Isaac Chung draws on his own history for Minari, the story of a … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2020 — Number Seven
Coffee for Two 