Top Ten Movies of 2019 — Number Nine
With a graceful intensity, writer-director Joanna Hogg traces the rough surface of a romance in The Souvenir. Resolutely autobiographical (Hogg doesn’t take the usual director’s tack of downplaying the personal nature of her storytelling, noting she meticulously recreated her own … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2019 — Number Nine
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #580 to #577
580. The Untouchables, Wild Child (1985) Well before the advent of Kickstarter campaigns, the Los Angeles band the Untouchables figured out a way to draw an advance from the enthusiasm from their fans. When the group was playing shows to … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #580 to #577
Outside Reading — Gender Specific edition
The Third Rail of Calling ‘Sexism’ by Rebecca Traister The endless frustration of the media’s coverage of political campaigns continued this past week as policy discussions (not to mention the ongoing criminality of the amoral marauders currently occupying the White House) were largely set aside to eagerly pursue an inconsequential squabble between two candidates who almost entirely agree. Even putting aside the likelihood that the reportorial astonishment about freshly unearthed behind-the-scenes discussion was likely hogwash, there was an especially nettlesome aspect to the need to contrive drama. Think pieces and cable pundit pontification proliferated, all musing about the electability of … Continue reading Outside Reading — Gender Specific edition
This Week’s Model — U.S. Girls, “Overtime”
“Overtime,” the new song from U.S. Girls, isn’t all that new. A version of the song cropped up earlier, on the 2013 EP Free Advice Column. Meg Remy, the creative force behind U.S. Girls, decided to revisit “Overtime” for the … Continue reading This Week’s Model — U.S. Girls, “Overtime”
Now Playing — 1917
What hath Alfonso Cuarón wrought? When the director peppered his masterful film Children of Men with action sequences that unfolded in long, unbroken takes (or at least appeared to so), he was hardly the first director to employ the technique. … Continue reading Now Playing — 1917
Top Ten Movies of 2019 — Number Ten
With a rare and gratifying exuberance for the abundant possibilities found in genre-based storytelling, writer-director Rian Johnson proved anew his mighty abilities to slyly invert tropes with Knives Out. A modern polish on the twisty mysteries tapped out by Agatha … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2019 — Number Ten
Top Ten Movies of 2019 — An Introduction
Now that the Academy has weighed in on the top achievements in the cinema for the 2019 calendar — with some suspect choices, I’d say — it’s time for me to do the same. As I usually do, I’ll tick … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2019 — An Introduction
Women Belittled — Thoughts on the Oscar Nominations
“Congratulations to those men,” Issa Rae said pointedly and gracefully this morning, immediately after listing the five contenders in the directing category for this year’s Academy Awards. The annual announcement of new nominations is always going to be a hash … Continue reading Women Belittled — Thoughts on the Oscar Nominations
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #584 to #581
584. The Cure, The Walk (1983) The Cure were on the verge of collapse in 1983, and that’s naturally when they enjoyed their most commercially successful year to that point. Bassist Simon Gallup left the band in late 1982, prompting … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #584 to #581
Outside Reading — But You Can’t Stay Here edition
Lived in Bars by Helena Fitzgerald Writing for Good Beer Hunting, Helena Fitzgerald offers this absolutely marvelous appraisal of bar culture with a bracing honesty about the complicated intermingling of reasonable social norms and a potential problematic developed reliance on … Continue reading Outside Reading — But You Can’t Stay Here edition
