Tag: from the archive

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From the Archive: Shining Through and Medicine Man

Dan Seeger

This doubled-up review was written for The Pointer, the weekly student newspaper at UW-Steven Point, where I secured my undergraduate degree. I tended to write about two films per week, especially since it was so rare the Central Wisconsin theaters provided really interesting titles while school was in session. Sometimes, I strained a bit to find a way to link the films in the obligatory introduction. This isn’t exactly one of the stronger efforts, I’ll admit. February releases provided their own set of challenges.    It’s hard to fault a movie for having ambition. As dull sequels, idiotic comedies, and one-note … Continue reading From the Archive: Shining Through and Medicine Man

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From the Archive: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Dan Seeger

Any movie review program circa 1990 practically required a home video segment. Rentals of blocky VHS tapes was that significant a piece of the entertainment market. It was also the great equalizer, giving smaller markets that would never see, say, a big screen showing of a playwright’s feature directorial debut, an adaptation of a stage work that provides a clever reimagining of Hamlet from the perspective of two minor characters, access to such comparatively esoteric efforts. Largely stuck with the more dismal wide releases for our main reviews, we tended towards recommendations of art house fare when we were guiding … Continue reading From the Archive: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

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From the Archive: Quigley Down Under

Dan Seeger

Much as there has been an unexpected endurance for many of the films that populated theaters during the first part of the nineteen-nineties, when I was holding down one half of a movie review program at my college radio station, there are a whole slew of releases that are, I suspect, barely though of at all any more. Maybe Quigley Down Under is in regular rotation in the wilds of some cable channel I barely know is there, but I doubt it. These days, probably the most notable thing about it is that it was basically Alan Rickman’s first attempt … Continue reading From the Archive: Quigley Down Under

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From the Archive: Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith

Dan Seeger

Well, what else would I do this week? Unearth an old review of Baby Mama? This post actually represents redundancy upon redundancy (upon redundancy!) as I’ve already transplanted this tally from my former online home. This time, I’m caving in and using the full title. I’m also cleaning it up a little. I will allow my original misspelling of Wookiee to stand no more. I’m not sure how much samuraithief checks his livejournal, but he’s the reason behind this post. More accurately, my guilt over the conversation I had with him yesterday is the reason behind this post. You see, he really … Continue reading From the Archive: Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith

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From the Archive: The Constant Gardener

Dan Seeger

It’s about time for a new Greatish Performances post, and I’ve been mulling over which acting feat to select. One that I’ve batted around as a possibility ever since I launched (or, being honest, stole) the series, is Rachel Weisz’s Oscar-winning turn in The Constant Gardener, if only because it seems to be largely forgotten (she’s not the only supporting acting winner from the decade that is rarely invoked as such). By the time of the awards ceremony, I probably felt as strongly about Weisz deserving the win in her category as any other performer (and this was the year of Philip Seymour … Continue reading From the Archive: The Constant Gardener

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From the Archive: Look Who’s Talking Too

Dan Seeger

Kirstie Alley’s attitude there seems about right to me. I was thinking about typing out a lament over how much terrible fare came dribbling out during holiday movie seasons of old, but it has always been a mix of the great, fine, and dreadful at this time of the year. The very same weekend Look Who’s Talking Too arrived, so to did the magical Edward Scissorhands and the solidly entertaining Mermaids. I don’t remember a bit of this movie, but I find it a little disconcerting that I offered praise — genuine, unguarded praise at that — for the portion … Continue reading From the Archive: Look Who’s Talking Too

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From the Archive: “And we begin, as always, with the latest in movie news….”

Dan Seeger

For this dip into the archive, I need to credit a different writer. Every episode of our radio show kicked off with a rundown of movie news, which was far more impressive back then, a time when only Entertainment Tonight and CNN’s Showbiz Today were providing that sort of information outside of the Hollywood trade publications. While we pulled an item or two from the radio station’s Associated Press wire, most of it was pulled together and written for air by my esteemed colleague on the program. He culled the material from all over the place, including, at least for … Continue reading From the Archive: “And we begin, as always, with the latest in movie news….”

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From the Archive: Hocus Pocus

Dan Seeger

This is another one of the record reviews I wrote for the short-lived but dandy Central Florida publication The Independent Journal. Enon was a band I hadn’t heard of — to my recollection, anyway — before becoming the General Manager and Staff Advisor for the campus radio station at Rollins College, but they were a favorite of some key staff members. The students even got the band to come into the station and play a live, on-air set. I carried around a CD copy of that performance for ages. It was my actual favorite Enon album. I’m selecting this for … Continue reading From the Archive: Hocus Pocus

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From the Archive: Run

Dan Seeger

One of the main reasons I could never take the concept of Patrick Dempsey as “McDreamy” seriously is that I remember all too well when he was a young actor in terrible movies, many of which oddly featured him seducing older women. I don’t remember a bit of Run, beyond lumping it into the big, vague category of Indistinct Junk We Used To Need To See In Order To Fill Out A Weekly Radio Show. Here’s yet another in the brief procession of reviews that needed to employ the nonsense word “thrill-omedy.” I notice I did a terrible job keeping my … Continue reading From the Archive: Run