Movies & TV
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Movie Mondays: Writer Directors
Directors who pen their own screenplays are a dime a dozen. The Coen brothers write their own films as do Paul Thomas Anderson, Jia Zhangke, and Jim Jarmusch. And while there are a number of novelists who have tried their hand at directing, from Michael Crichton to Norman Mailer, few filmmakers have done the reverse… Continue reading
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Movie Mondays: Movies about Movies
Last week, we looked at pictures about pictures — films about art and artists — and this week we look at movies about movies – documentaries about individual films. These four documentaries — two about classic films and two about films that were never made — are required viewing for cinephiles. Continue reading
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Movie Mondays: Pictures about Pictures
Two critically acclaimed documentaries about art, Finding Vivian Maier and Tim’s Vermeer, have recently been released on DVD. The holds list for those titles is a bit long, so while you wait for your copy to come in feel free to check out these other fascinating documentaries about art and the lives of artists. Continue reading
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Movie Mondays: Workers’ Plights, Workers’ Rights
Last year, Movie Mondays honored the day with a post about workplace comedies. This year, let’s take a look at six serious films – three dramas, three documentaries – that look at the plight of laborers and the working class in the face of corporate excess. Continue reading
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Movie Mondays: Wrestling with Religion
2014 has been called the year of the Christian film. We’ve seen an adaptation of the beloved bestseller Heaven Is for Real; the surprise indie hit God’s Not Dead; Son of God, a feature film edited from the popular miniseries The Bible; the Christian family-friendly Moms’ Night Out; and the controversial biblical epic Noah. Not to mention the reboot of the Left Behind series starring Nicolas Cage and Ridley… Continue reading
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Movie Mondays: What’s So Funny about Sports?
I love comedies. I don’t love sports. But I do love the sports comedy sub-genre. These four films rise to the top of the ranks in my book (along with the best sports comedy ever, Caddyshack, which I’ve blogged about previously and will probably write about again). The Bad News Bears (1976) was a favorite of mine as… Continue reading
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In memory of Robin Williams
Yesterday, we were met with the shocking news that Robin Williams died at 63 of an apparent suicide following struggles with depression. A comedian with boundless energy, he also excelled in dramatic roles as well as those that straddled both worlds. Williams burst onto the scene in the 1970s with one of the decades most… Continue reading
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Movie Mondays: Cinema from the Middle East
~posted by Frank If your knowledge of the Middle East is limited to what you see and hear on the news, consider these ten films from from the region that deal with everyday life – many grim, some humorous – as they shed some light on this tumultuous region. For films dealing directly with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,… Continue reading
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Movie Mondays: Charming Cheats
~posted by Mike One of the great opportunities cinema affords us is the chance to be a willing accomplice to acts we would otherwise condemn in real life. Robbery is horrible, fleecing deplorable, but with Cary Grant’s smile everything is adorable. The real magic of movies is that there are no repercussions once the house… Continue reading
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Movie Mondays: How Twee are Thee?
~posted by Frank The publication of Marc Spitz’s new book Twee: The Gentle Revolution in Music, Books, Television, Fashion and Film has sparked a discussion about what, exactly, twee is. Spitz’s interview on Slate sheds some light, but it’s hardly definitive. When I think of twee, I think of quirky, sensitive, emotionally complex characters and a highly stylized aesthetic.… Continue reading
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Happy Birthday Harry Dean Stanton!
~posted by Mike S. Harry Dean Stanton may not be a household name but he sure is a household face. One of the most iconic character actors in film history, Stanton has been working steadily for the past sixty years. Perhaps you remember his brief appearance in Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, where he stumbled upon… Continue reading
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Calling All Anglophiles
~posted by Frank Are you an Anglophile who just can’t get enough period drama, droll humor, gray skies or visions of the British countryside? If this describes you, then check out these dozen new television programs and miniseries from BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Acorn that have recently made their way to DVD. Continue reading
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Movie Mondays: I See Doubles Everywhere
Have you noticed a number of recent movies about doubles and doppelgängers lately? Could it be a product of the Internet Age, where our online personas act as doppelgängers, as this article in The Atlantic suggests? Is there new interest in existentialism among the philosophically curious? Or is it just a coincidence? Whatever the case may be, check out… Continue reading
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Movie Mondays: First & Final Features
Sometimes getting a handle on an artist’s oeuvre can be a bit daunting. Even tackling the output of creators whose work we adore can be an uphill battle. For example, Howard Hawks is my favorite director but I’ve only seen a measly 13 of the 47 films he helmed. Imagine the plight of the John… Continue reading
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Movie Mondays: Hitchcock through the Decades at the University Branch!
Few artists have had such long and successful careers as the supreme stylist of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. The University Branch is celebrating Hitchcock’s remarkable longevity with a film series showcasing one film from each of the six decades he worked in, from the silent era of the 1920s all the way to the grimy Technicolor… Continue reading
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Movie Mondays: New LGBT Cinema
Posted by Frank In honor of Pride Month, let’s take a look at some of the most recent feature films and documentaries from the LGBT community. For movies about the lives of gay men, consider: Test, which follows the exploits of Frankie, an understudy in a San Francisco dance company in 1985; The Happy Sad, which explores the… Continue reading