Playing Catch-Up — The Souvenir; Atlantics; Long Shot
The Souvenir (Joanna Hogg, 2019). Drawing heavily from her own experiences, Joanna Hogg crafts a film that captures the slippery ways problematic relationships become prisons of the participants’ own making. A student filmmaker named Julie (Honor Swinton Byrne) falls into … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — The Souvenir; Atlantics; Long Shot
Now Playing — Marriage Story
Marriage Story begins with Charlie (Adam Driver) listing the things he most appreciates about Nicole (Scarlett Johansson). Then it’s Nicole’s turn. She recites Charlie’s most admirable attributes. In each instance, a montage plays out against the voiceover, showing mundane moments … Continue reading Now Playing — Marriage Story
Laughing Matters — Monty Python, “Upper Class Twit of the Year”
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. Sometimes I think the … Continue reading Laughing Matters — Monty Python, “Upper Class Twit of the Year”
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #604 to #601
604. Green on Red, Gravity Talks (1983) Green on Red formed in Tucson, Arizona, but it didn’t take long for them to head further west, setting up shop in Los Angeles just as the city’s Paisley Underground movement and punk … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #604 to #601
Outside Reading — I Love Trash edition
Why Are Kids Obsessed With Garbage Trucks? An Investigation by Ashley Fetters I love it when a writer pursues a silly idea with resolute seriousness. For The Atlantic, Ashley Fetters explores all the possible explanations for the excitement many members … Continue reading Outside Reading — I Love Trash edition
This Week’s Model — Torres, “Gracious Day”
I do my best to write to write about the songs dropped conspicuously in this digital spot every Friday, trying to capture what about them captivated me to pluck them from the mass of new music that storms the landscape … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Torres, “Gracious Day”
Now Playing — Knives Out
I’m fairly confident Rian Johnson considers himself a traditionalist, in defiance of any evidence to the contrary. Beginning with his first feature, Brick, Johnson settled into a mode of taking a well-worn, largely bygone subgenre and spinning it around until … Continue reading Now Playing — Knives Out
The Art of the Sell — Knives Out, “Ode to the Murder Mystery”
These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art. Conceding that the most recent weekend’s box office results provide further proof that repetitive familiarity breeds riches … Continue reading The Art of the Sell — Knives Out, “Ode to the Murder Mystery”
Playing Catch-Up — The Fugitive; Little; The Odd Couple
The Fugitive (John Ford, 1947). This drama resulted from an innovation production mounted in Mexico. In collaboration with the country’s largest production facility and using a crew mostly made up of local residents, director John Ford relates the story of … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — The Fugitive; Little; The Odd Couple
Now Playing — A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
I once had a chance to meet Mr. Rogers and I blew it. Nearly twenty years ago, I got a job at Rollins College, Fred Rogers’s alma mater, location in Central Florida. Rogers was visiting campus, dropping in on a … Continue reading Now Playing — A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
