Then Playing — Foreign Correspondent; The Rape of Recy Taylor; In Fabric
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
Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Thirty-Eight
#38 — Hugo (Martin Scorsese, 2011) Martin Scorsese has long been a more versatile filmmaker than he is given credit for. Much as everyone reveres the tales of thugs and gangsters (and I am among the dutifully reverential), Scorsese has … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Thirty-Eight
Then Playing — Zombieland: Double Tap; Hale County This Morning, This Evening; A Separation
Zombieland: Double Tap (Ruben Fleischer, 2019). This sequel to Ruben Fleischer’s winning horror-comedy of a decade earlier isn’t good, but its pedestrian nature is almost charming. It calls to mind a bygone era, when new installments of film series were … Continue reading Then Playing — Zombieland: Double Tap; Hale County This Morning, This Evening; A Separation
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #528 to #525
528. Any Trouble, Where Are All the Nice Girls? (1980) “Any Trouble we had difficulty with, because they just looked so ordinary and people were really kicking back on the ordinariness of them,” Stiff Records promotional ace Sonnie Rae said … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #528 to #525
Outside Reading — The Answers We Need edition
What Have Epidemiologists Learned About the Coronavirus? by Isaac Chotiner As the most committed members of the reckless-idiot brigade start to push back against sincere efforts to preserve the public health, taking to the street with their weaponry and Confederate … Continue reading Outside Reading — The Answers We Need edition
This Week’s Model — Katie Malco, “Brooklyn”
“Brooklyn,” the new single from U.K. singer-songwriter Katie Malco, starts out slow and relatively spare. Against her prowling guitar and a steady, stealthy drum beat, Malco start sharing memories of time spent with a friend, against the many backdrops of … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Katie Malco, “Brooklyn”
Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Thirty-Nine
#39 — Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami, 2010) Fittingly, Certified Copy had its genesis in a ruse. Lore has it that Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami was chatting with his friend Juliette Binoche, disguising a fictional story he’d concocted as an anecdote … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Thirty-Nine
Now Playing — Never Rarely Sometimes Always
The story at the heart of the new film Never Rarely Sometimes Always is small and enormous all at once. With a low-key dramatic restraint and workaday simplicity that evokes independent filmmaking of the nineteen-eighties and earlier, writer-director Eliza Hittman … Continue reading Now Playing — Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Then Playing — Bacurau; Maiden; Through a Glass Darkly
Bacurau (Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles, 2020). A wooly mash-up of a modern Western, a riff on The Most Dangerous Game, and a roaring revenge potboiler, this Brazilian film is gonzo is all the right ways. Well, it’s probably … Continue reading Then Playing — Bacurau; Maiden; Through a Glass Darkly
Beers I Have Known — Ale Asylum FVCK COVID Pilsner
This series of posts is dedicated to the many, many six packs, pony kegs and pints that have sauntered into my life at one point or another. I am lucky enough to divert my fretting away from my own household’s … Continue reading Beers I Have Known — Ale Asylum FVCK COVID Pilsner
Coffee for Two 