Actors’ Director — Miloš Forman
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
Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Two
#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
Laughing Matters — Jonathan Winters, “The Mad Doctor”
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. I grew up understanding … Continue reading Laughing Matters — Jonathan Winters, “The Mad Doctor”
Then Playing — Emma.; The Assistant; Swallow
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
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #419 to #417
419. Cyndi Lauper, She’s So Unusual (1983) Through the late nineteen-seventies and early nineteen-eighties, Cyndi Lauper faced a series of setbacks that reasonably should have made her decide that a prime place in the music business wasn’t meant to be … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #419 to #417
Outside Reading — A Thousand Thumb-Suckers About Civility edition
No One Expects Civility From Republicans by Michelle Goldberg Writing for The New York Times, Michelle Goldberg astutely details the abominable double standard that leads to aghast cluck-clucking any time someone says something unkind about Republicans and shrugging excuses when … Continue reading Outside Reading — A Thousand Thumb-Suckers About Civility edition
This Week’s Model — Editrix, “Chelsea”
With a spectacular guitar riff, beautifully gnarled instrumentation, and vocals that slice like piano wire that’s been repurposed as weaponry, Editrix’s “Chelsea” is exactly the anti-capitalism pile-driver we need this holiday season. Tell Me I’m Bad, the debut album from … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Editrix, “Chelsea”
Now Playing — Sound of Metal
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
Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Three
#3 — The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011) Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life is cinema a formed by memory. Or maybe it’s cinema in the shape or memory. Or cinema capturing the texture of memory. Or cinema turned … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Three
Now Playing — Mank
“There was always the feeling that you were in the presence of thwarted violence,” Orson Welles once said of the Hollywood hand he hired to help him with the screenplay of his first feature film. “It was this thrashing of … Continue reading Now Playing — Mank
Coffee for Two 