The first cut comes a few minutes into the second scene of Sidney Lumet’s The Pawnbroker, and it happens so quickly that if you glance away for a second, you might not catch it. Sol Nazerman (Rod Steiger) is relaxing in the backyard of his sister’s place, and she offhandedly mentions, apropos of nothing, “Twenty-five […]
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When watching The Vast of Night, the Slamdance phenomenon currently streaming on Amazon Prime, it’s hard not to be reminded of Brad Bird’s now-famous quote about Colin Trevorrow when Bird recommended him to direct Jurassic World: “There’s this guy who reminds me of me.” Making claims about the future of cinema is a somewhat risky […]
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There are lots of stories about Robert Altman that solidify his reputation as the most ‘maverick’ filmmaker of his generation, but perhaps none is more telling than the time he rushed into 20th Century Fox unannounced, and pitched the dream he had the night before. Not a script, not a treatment—a dream. A dream that […]
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Early on in Fletch Won, the eighth published novel in the series by Gregory McDonald and the first chronologically, Irwin Maurice Fletcher is reassigned to the society pages of the Los Angeles News-Tribune. “Frank, I don’t believe in society.” “That’s okay, Fletch. Society doesn’t believe in you, either.” So retroactively begins the career of the […]
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It’s tempting, when viewing the early Martin Scorsese short films and mid-length documentaries assembled in the Criterion Collection’s new Scorsese Shorts, to focus on the coming attractions – the little flourishes, already present in these formative works, that would come to define the legendary filmmaker’s style. And make no mistake, they’re there: the first-person voice-over […]
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Like a highly produced pop song that leaves your head the second it’s over, The High Note is pleasant enough while you’re experiencing it, but it refuses to linger after the credits roll. Dakota Johnson and Tracee Ellis Ross lead a strong cast in this fun but forgettable film with the potential to be so […]
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When the semi-annual conversation on female buddy movies resurfaces, there are usual suspects. Thelma and Louise. B.A.P.S. Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion. Steel Magnolias. One film that doesn’t show up in the conversation nearly as much as it should is the French masterpiece Céline and Julie Go Boating (now streaming on The Criterion Channel). […]
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The 1990s were a strange time for filmmakers attempting to understand the Internet. As the technology went mainstream, with more families securing their own connections to the World Wide Web at home and schools adapting their curriculum to include more computer instruction, cinema responded. There were horror offerings: 1992’s The Lawnmower Man, a (litigiously) loose […]
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Paramount’s decision to sell The Lovebirds directly to Netflix in the wake of theater closings may seem like a real bummer at first glance, but it’s actually a blessing in disguise. The romantic comedy, starring Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani and directed by Michael Showalter, undeniably plays better on a small screen than in a […]
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In 1998, Stanley Kubrick accepted the D.W. Griffith Award from the Director’s Guild of America. In his acceptance speech, he compared Griffith to the Grecian myth of Icarus. Like Icarus, Griffith flew too close to the sun, but instead of his wax-and-feather wings melting, Griffith was shunned by the movie industry he largely created. Did […]
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When Grand Central Publishing released a new edition of the novel First Blood in 2000, author David Morrell penned an introduction, attempting to bridge the gap between the character he wrote in the early 1970s and the version of that character that had been lodged into pop consciousness by (at that time) a trio of […]
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The Trip To Greece is to be the final of Michael Winterbottom’s faux-documentary travel series, which partners Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon for a scenic tour of luxurious restaurants in enviable locales. And thank God, because after four “Trips” the magic is gone. In 2010, The Trip was an unexpected delight. Like its sequels, it […]
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