Tag: from the archive

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From the Archive: Night and the City

Dan Seeger

This is one of those films from the old reviewing days that I remember only vaguely. Clearly I liked it fairly well. In fact, this review kind of makes me want to watch it again. I guess that means, for all the writing weaknesses I see throughout — led by opening and closing sentences that both make me wince a little — the review does its job. When he’s really cooking, Robert De Niro is an actor that can instantly electrify the screen. The latest film to boast the talents of De Niro is “Night and the City,” and, as … Continue reading From the Archive: Night and the City

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From the Archives: Misery

Dan Seeger

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

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From the Archive: Carlito’s Way

Dan Seeger

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

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From the Archive: Cliffhanger and Sliver

Dan Seeger

Ah, yes, the home video segment. How very early nineties. Wasn’t that a time? Within a few months, this was sort of a filler segment on the show as we were invariably writing about films we’d already covered previously, and we didn’t necessarily have something new and riveting to add. The main servicing to previous reviews was a consideration of how something might play better or worse on the television screen, then much smaller and squarer, of course. Usually, we each covered one movie new to video. I’m not sure why I doubled up here. We must have had a … Continue reading From the Archive: Cliffhanger and Sliver

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From the Archive: Necessary Roughness

Dan Seeger

I have very little to add to this beyond the staple amazement at some of the remarkably forgettable films we needed to sit through in the name of creating a weekly radio show. I do also find it interesting that I listed so many cast members without noting the presence of Kathy Ireland, the frequently bikini-clad supermodel whose presence in a co-starring role was used a major selling point for the film. It appears this was the final credit of director Stan Dragoti. Though he had an early surprise hit with Mr. Mom, it’s surprising that his career didn’t come … Continue reading From the Archive: Necessary Roughness

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From the Archive: Phantom Power

Dan Seeger

This another of my contributions to the central Florida publication The Independent. I’ve had such a difficult time lately finding the time and energy to write full-length record reviews (despite very different ambitions, I’ve only managed two reviews in the past three months) that I may need to employ some variation on this hit-and-run kind of take. Just over 200 words, and I really did say everything I felt obligated to say about the album. Super Furry Animals is one of those bands that tries to do a little bit of everything and winds up doing nothing particularly well. There’s … Continue reading From the Archive: Phantom Power

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From the Archive: Sin City

Dan Seeger

There was talk about a Sin City sequel after from the very moment of its release. Much as I loved the original film, I never thought returning to the stylized world was a good idea. I’m somewhat surprised anyone still maintained there was any wisdom in the idea after Frank Miller delivered a colossal bomb with the de facto sequel found in his official directing debut, the film adaptation of Will Eisner’s The Spirit. This piece was included in my year-end countdown after I’d started writing film reviews again at my original online home. As the first sentence notes, I … Continue reading From the Archive: Sin City

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From the Archive: Awakenings

Dan Seeger

Rest in peace, Robin. We lead off our home video segment with the release of one of last year’s most emotionally powerful films: the Penny Marshall-directed film AWAKENINGS. AWAKENINGS details the work of a doctor, played to perfection by Robin Williams, who takes on the perplexing case of several people who have been in comas for several years, but still have functioning motor skills. They’re able to catch a falling pen, or play an odd game of catch by propelling a beach ball to one another. Williams formulates a potential cure for these patients that succeeds in drawing them out … Continue reading From the Archive: Awakenings