Top Fifty Films of the 50s — Number Eleven
#11 — Paths of Glory (Stanley Kubrick, 1957) War films have long been a staple of Hollywood, a situation only compounded by the staggering surplus of stories that could be culled from WWII, a global conflict that could be forever … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 50s — Number Eleven
College Countdown: Rockpool’s Top 20 College Radio Albums, November 1988, 12
12. Mission of Burma, Forget Among the things that characterize the typical college radio experience for a student programmer, it’s possible that the most frustrating is a melancholy longing for the music that was released sometime in the five to … Continue reading College Countdown: Rockpool’s Top 20 College Radio Albums, November 1988, 12
From the Archives: Misery
Since writing this, nearly twenty-four years ago (good gravy, I think I need to sit down), I’ve decided that Stand By Me is probably more like Rob Reiner’s third best movie. There are a couple of his films that are clearly better, but they don’t have the same tinge of somber importance to them, so I downgraded them at the time. However, I stick with Stand By Me as the best film adaptation of a King work, by a wide margin. Sorry, Shawshank disciples. It’s interesting to think back on this film as the effective introduction of Kathy Bates and … Continue reading From the Archives: Misery
One for Friday: Sicilian Vespers, “I Want to Talk to a Squirrel”
Everyone deserves to have an album like Sicilian Vespers’ self-titled debut in Heavy Rotation when they first join a college radio station. It should be wild and challenging. It should be tuneful but relentlessly weird. It helps if the lead vocals are best described as an acquired taste, especially if even that heavily compromised compliment is itself charitable. It should be, in short, something that could only be heard (and valued and respected) on college radio. For me, that record was the self-titled debut from Sicilian Vespers. The creation of David and Francis Rifugiato, brothers who were indeed born in … Continue reading One for Friday: Sicilian Vespers, “I Want to Talk to a Squirrel”
Top Fifty Films of the 50s — Number Twelve
#12 — Throne of Blood (Akira Kurosawa, 1957) Apparently, the official translation of the original Japanese title of Akira Kurosawa’s revisioning of Macbeth is Spider Web Castle. This isn’t purely metaphor, since the game of thrones being played in the … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 50s — Number Twelve
Great Moments in Literature
“I had solved nothing, but I felt clever in making progress. And feeling clever, I’ve always thought, is just a sigh away from being cheerful.” –Ian McEwan, Sweet Tooth, 2012 “YOU WHO DWELL HERE ARE ALL THE SAME! YOU THINK YOU ARE THE ONLY RACE INHABITING THIS PLANET! YOU NEVER SUSPECT THAT ANOTHER — MORE POWERFUL SPECIES MIGHT SHARE YOUR PLANET WITH YOU! DO YOU PRESUME TO THINK THAT HUMANS ARE THE ONLY INTELLIGENT LIFE EARTH HAS SPAWNED!” –Stan Lee, FANTASTIC FOUR, Vol. 1, No. 46, “Those Who Would Destroy Us!” 1966 Continue reading Great Moments in Literature
Bad Movie Night — Battleship/John Carter
As I noted recently, it’s been a long time since our household made the proper commitment to a good ol’ fashioned Bad Movie Night. Our tradition is long and honored: a double feature, preferably with some sort of link and … Continue reading Bad Movie Night — Battleship/John Carter
Beautiful girl, lovely dress, where she is now I can only guess
As I started gathering some digital resources to provide supporting research in writing about the new film Gone Girl, I was briefly taken aback when reminded that Gillian Flynn’s novel of the same name came out just two years ago, … Continue reading Beautiful girl, lovely dress, where she is now I can only guess
College Countdown: Rockpool’s Top 20 College Radio Albums, November 1988, 13
13. Michelle Shocked, Short Sharp Shocked I’m going to flip the script for this week’s entry. Usually, I track through where I was at in my musical growth when I first encountered the record featured, talk about the actual merits … Continue reading College Countdown: Rockpool’s Top 20 College Radio Albums, November 1988, 13
From the Archive: Carlito’s Way
I’m overjoyed that I’m presenting a review in which I use the word “downright” twice. As the Gone Girl think pieces begin to pile up, let’s revisit the last decent work of a director who has genuine threads of misogyny running through his work, shall we? This was written for the Reel Thing Reports that ran a couple times a day on WWSP-90FM after my graduation necessitated retiring the weekly program of the same (or same-ish, to be accurate) name. Almost all of director Brian De Palma’s films include at least one passage that is put together with such impressive … Continue reading From the Archive: Carlito’s Way
