Tag: from the archive

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From the Archive: Sneakers

Dan Seeger

As with all writing from the early nineteen-nineties that touches upon computer-based technologies, the limited grasp of the information revolution on the way is adorable. This was written from the student newspaper The Pointer. I think it was one of my earlier pieces, which might explain why we evidently hadn’t settled on a style choice for the title of the films (in quotes? italicized?) leaving it simply capitalized, which looks wholly inadequate to me know. I left that formatting in place, but I did fix the editing mistake the printed the name of a certain Academy Award-winning trailblazer as Sidney … Continue reading From the Archive: Sneakers

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From the Archive: King Kong

Dan Seeger

So…modern remakes of giant monster movie classics seem to be on my mind for some reason. This review was written for my former digital space This is when I was still deeply enamored with the idea of building hyperlinks into the reviews, an inclination that, I’ll admit, I haven’t fully shaken. Or maybe haven’t shaken at all. As it turns out, I and my partner in all things saw this movie on a trip to New York City, where we walked within view of the Empire State Building on the way to our next stop. It added some resonance to … Continue reading From the Archive: King Kong

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From the Archive: Popcorn

Dan Seeger

I marvel at the things we needed to watch. The little burg where I started as a film critic at my beloved college radio station rarely played art house fare and was even late in the run of higher profile prestige material. When we started our movie review show in the fall of 1990, the screens always had plenty of room for cheapo horror flicks, though. Popcorn is almost entirely forgotten now, but I stand by my laudatory evaluation of the early scene found at the front end of this review. I actually still think of that passage from time … Continue reading From the Archive: Popcorn

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From the Archive: Man on the Burning Tightrope

Dan Seeger

This review is taken from the same issue of The Independent as the review of the Mars Volta record from a few weeks back. I went ahead and loaded it up for this feature knowing that the title of the record was nicely well-suited for the way I’d feel as the closing of one of my most demanding work-weeks of the year was coming to an end. Led by former Cop Shoot Chop bassist Tod A., Firewater made a pebble-sized splash with their last effort, 2001’s Psychopharmacology. Much of this follow-up sounds as if they took the Tom Waits drunken … Continue reading From the Archive: Man on the Burning Tightrope

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From the Archive: A River Runs Through It

Dan Seeger

This review comes from The Pointer, the student newspaper at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. While hardly an epic, I’m a little surprised at the length of this piece. Certainly I was trying to make the case for a film I though was excellent and all too likely to be ignored by my fellow twentysomethings, but it still looks to me like it would have wound up being an awful lot of column inches devoted to my opinions. I remember endlessly championing cinematographer Philippe Rousselot by name when Oscar season came around, but I clearly hadn’t gotten his French moniker … Continue reading From the Archive: A River Runs Through It

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From the Archive: Last Action Hero

Dan Seeger

Besides the weekly radio show, my cohort and I occasionally experimented with slightly different ways to deliver reviews over the air, especially after I graduated and holding down a hourlong block that would be better devoted to students seemed wrong to me. Hence the creation of “Reel Thing Reports,” a prerecorded segment lasting only a few minutes that was dropped in a couple times per day. It kept our reviews on the air, but the lack of interplay between the two of us made for a less satisfying chunk of programming. It also keyed me to in to how much … Continue reading From the Archive: Last Action Hero

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From the Archive: The Aristocrats

Dan Seeger

This review originally appeared in my original online home. This wasn’t the first full review I posted there, but I tend to think of this as the piece that made me decide I was going to commit to writing about film on a regular basis in that space. I felt more like I was tinkering with the previous reviews I’d included there (including my assessment of The Constant Gardener, which this was coupled with, explained the “Then there…” that opens the review), but this effort helped me rediscover the pleasure of grappling with a movie, breaking apart what did and … Continue reading From the Archive: The Aristocrats

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From the Archive: I Come in Peace

Dan Seeger

Spending Saturdays revisiting old–sometimes very old–reviews means regular reminders of films I’d completely and totally forgotten about. This goofy sci-fi action flick hasn’t crossed my mind in years. Maybe decades in the more accurate measurement of time. For what it’s worth, my view of Dolph Lundgren’s acting abilities mellowed quite a bit from the scathing assessment below, I think in part from cable viewings of this very film. My archeological commitment to preserving the original writing with only the most superficial changes compels me to keep in a complete atrociously convoluted sentences. I do not stand by them. My original … Continue reading From the Archive: I Come in Peace

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From the Archive: De-Loused in the Comatorium

Dan Seeger

Since I evoked my Mojo phase in yesterday’s post, it seems only appropriate that today’s sheepish looks back towards old writing should present my most overt attempt at writing in that British publication’s style. Taken from my brief, happy tenure with Central Florida’s The Independent Journal, this review covers a unlikely blast of 21st century prog rock that–in a turn even more unlikely–I liked a great deal. It also inspired me to give it my best Mojo review section try, particularly when it came time to pile up quasi-arcane references. I remember being very happy with the results. And I … Continue reading From the Archive: De-Loused in the Comatorium

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From the Archive: Rush

Dan Seeger

Reviewing films in a small, Central Wisconsin community led to some strange situations. It was always a bit of a crapshoot as to what would actually come to town, not just on opening weekend but at any point during its run. We spent a lot of time with our weekly radio show trying to figure out how to handle it when only one new release came to town, or other things that we were actively excited to cover dragged their way in well past the point when the national media was covering them. Given that, I’m sometimes amazed at the … Continue reading From the Archive: Rush