It’s tempting to say that Quentin Tarantino has too many ideas, but that’s not quite right. Certainly every one of his films has been overstuffed, at least after his comparatively lean debut, 1992’s Reservoir Dogs. Even the one film of … Continue reading Got you in his chains, will he set you free someday?
Before getting down to pros and cons of Sacha Gervasi’s Hitchcock, let’s spare a moment of sympathy for Toby Jones. Pushing ten years ago, the veteran character actor got what seemed like a plum role that also had the benefit … Continue reading They will become psychotic, and they won’t make an ideal husband or wife
The various promotional efforts for Judd Apatow’s new film, This is 40, position it as the “sort-of sequel to Knocked Up.” The reasoning behind this is simple enough, reflecting the fairly unique creative starting point of drawing a couple of … Continue reading Many will see, many will see and fear
And so we come to the end of another calendar year of reviews for Spectrum Culture. The site is already in the process of downshifting ahead of the holidays, so there was a little less new content going up this week. I still took my turn in the film review rotation, however, with an evaluation of a new drama that got wobbly wheels but is finally made steady by a couple of very fine performances. Most of my words this week were expended on our various “end of the year” lists. For the Favorite Books feature, I wrote about Richard … Continue reading Spectrum Check
Like everyone else, my mind is elsewhere today, so I’ll keep this brief. I’m sure you understand. I reviewed two things for Spectrum Culture this week. On the film side, I reviewed a documentary about the Lovings, the perfectly named couple whose court case against the state of Virginia ended anti-miscegenation laws across the land. On the music side, I reviewed the new album from a band called Night Moves, which I primarily chose because I was amused by the peripheral Bob Seger connection. Lest I confuse anyone, the band’s music sounds absolutely nothing like anything ever cooked up by … Continue reading Spectrum Check
We are in the middle stages of prepping for end of the year material at Spectrum Culture, which means I worked on a lot of material for the site this week, but little of it has yet yielded words that made it to digital print. There’s a ton of writing on the way, though, which also means I’ve got to devote some time today to listening to 2012 album releases to concoct my personal Top 20 list for the year. With that in mind, I’ll keep the recap somewhat brief. On the film side, I reviewed a newish documentary about … Continue reading Spectrum Check
In 1990, poet and journalist Mark O’Brien wrote a piece entitled “On Seeing a Sex Surrogate.” A damaging bout with polio as a child left O’Brien largely confined to an iron lung and effectively paralyzed from the neck down, but … Continue reading I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me
As is usually the case, a light week for me at Spectrum Culture begets one that is especially busy. First, I contributed a review of a new documentary about men who use flight simulators and online multi-player gaming technology to engage in digitized reenactments of World War II battles. There’s plenty of material there for an interesting, even enlightening film, but it’s too jumbled to bring those ideas cogently together, a problem which is evident from very early on. Thankfully, it was also quite short. On the music side, I reviewed the new release from Black Moth Super Rainbow, which … Continue reading Spectrum Check
In Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, Daniel Day-Lewis moves on from acting to alchemy. The two-time Oscar-winner is hardly prolific (he’s made only ten films since collecting that first Academy Award, for My Left Foot, a film now twenty-three years old), but … Continue reading Everything sticks until it goes away
This was a week strictly about film for me at Spectrum Culture. My main piece of writing was a review of a new documentary about an ongoing photography project intended to relay easily understandable evidence of the effects of climate change. It’s quite good, which also means it’s highly depressing. I also bookended the latest edition of our ongoing survey of the best comedic performances of each year of each decade. This time getting the privilege of two of the very best acting jobs of the whole decade, comedic or not. Continue reading Spectrum Check
Coffee for Two 