Edel, Farrow, Hitchcock, Jordan, Siegel

August 4, 2010 Dan Seeger

His Kind of Woman (John Farrow, 1951). How many other actors completely own a genre of film the way that Robert Mitchum does film noir? It’s like he was born into a delivery room filled with murky shadows and cigarette smoke, the doctor instructing the nurse to slap his bottom by growling, “Give him what’s comin’ to him, and make him sing when you do it.” He moves through this story of scheming and duplicity at a Mexican resort as if he’s walking through his own front door, tossing of aloof wisecracks with the ease of a guy who’s already … Continue reading Edel, Farrow, Hitchcock, Jordan, Siegel

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Control yourself, take only what you need from it

August 2, 2010April 30, 2019 Dan Seeger

The thing about out-of-the-ordinary family structures is that they’re typically not odd to the people existing within them. Certainly being outside the norm of society’s rigid (but loosening) definition of what makes a family can cause some dismay and feelings … Continue reading Control yourself, take only what you need from it

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I’ve been licked, washed up for years and I merely survive because of my pride

July 22, 2010April 30, 2019 Dan Seeger

There’s no shortage of material out there designed to pry into the personal lives of famous figures. There’s even a whole battalion of individuals who are famous for no other reason than their willingness, even needy enthusiasm, to have cameras … Continue reading I’ve been licked, washed up for years and I merely survive because of my pride

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I had too much to dream last night

July 20, 2010August 3, 2017 Dan Seeger

The word “inception” actually means the beginning of something, that start of a journey, the first part of a major undertaking. In Christopher Nolan’s new film, Inception, the word has an additional definition in its role as a bit of … Continue reading I had too much to dream last night

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To them ghosts in the train yard, all them ghosts in my drink

July 15, 2010April 30, 2019 Dan Seeger

The more fantastical a movie is, the more likely it will be heaped with praise for the vivid realization of its setting. Whether it’s Peter Jackson’s J.R.R. Tolkien adaptations, the Wachowski brothers’ plunge through payphone lines to reach the Matrix, … Continue reading To them ghosts in the train yard, all them ghosts in my drink

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It’s that little souvenir of a colourful year which makes me smile inside

July 1, 2010November 27, 2017 Dan Seeger

Roger Ebert recently asserted that “Pixar is the first studio that is a movie star.” While it’s possible to quibble with that “first” designation–MGM in its glory years comes to mind as a contender for that honor–the celebrity of the … Continue reading It’s that little souvenir of a colourful year which makes me smile inside

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Bunuel, Elliott, Gast, Hill, Weide

June 29, 2010June 29, 2010 Dan Seeger

Easy Virtue (Stephan Elliott, 2008). Based on a play by Noel Coward, Easy Virtue has all the requisite pieces to help the Priscilla, Queen of the Desert director get his artistic sensibilities back on track after the disastrously bad thriller Eye of the Beholder. The story about an English gent bringing his headstrong new American wife home to meet his snobbish, disapproving family is abundant with basic, effective dramatic conflict, and the source material guarantees that the screenplay will be filled with admirable wit. The finished product is sadly in a perpetual state of overexertion, everything ratcheted up to a … Continue reading Bunuel, Elliott, Gast, Hill, Weide

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Now’s the time that we need to share so find yourself, we’re on our way back home

June 24, 2010April 30, 2019 Dan Seeger

I admire Nicole Holofcener’s consistency. I don’t mean that every one of her efforts is uniformly strong, nor does she tread the same ground the same time out. Instead, Holofcener operates with a certainty of vision, a commitment to using … Continue reading Now’s the time that we need to share so find yourself, we’re on our way back home

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I’m fit to be dyed, am I fit to have you?

June 21, 2010November 5, 2018 Dan Seeger

On the basis of Niels Arden Oplev’s film adaptation of it, I don’t think I’d enjoy reading Stieg Larsson’s freakishly successful novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I don’t mean that as a condemnation of the film. On the … Continue reading I’m fit to be dyed, am I fit to have you?

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Beautiful queen with your beautiful gene

June 7, 2010February 10, 2018 Dan Seeger

Writer-director Vincenzo Natali sets up the story in his new film Splice to head down some dark, twisty roads. The second most surprising aspect of the film is that he willingly follows through, taking routes to their logical, if decisively … Continue reading Beautiful queen with your beautiful gene

Coffee for Two

Tag: 2010 movies

Edel, Farrow, Hitchcock, Jordan, Siegel

Control yourself, take only what you need from it

I’ve been licked, washed up for years and I merely survive because of my pride

I had too much to dream last night

To them ghosts in the train yard, all them ghosts in my drink

It’s that little souvenir of a colourful year which makes me smile inside

Bunuel, Elliott, Gast, Hill, Weide

Now’s the time that we need to share so find yourself, we’re on our way back home

I’m fit to be dyed, am I fit to have you?

Beautiful queen with your beautiful gene