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Recent Posts
- “Groundhog Day was one of the greatest scripts ever written. It didn’t even get nominated for an Academy Award.” — Bill Murray
- “People get surprised by my choices. But that comes from me looking for something new.” — Maggie Cheung
- “I rather like the idea of death.” — poet Stevie Smith
- “I didn’t think then, and I still don’t, that I was actually sick.” — Frances Farmer
- “I think I’m a character actress in a leading lady’s body, but the industry doesn’t really see me that way.” — Sanaa Lathan
- “I’ve been very lucky, considering what I look like and what I do.” — James Gandolfini
- “I never said, ‘I want to be alone.’ I only said, ‘I want to be left alone.’ There is all the difference.” — Greta Garbo
- It’s the birthday of Irish poet Mícheál Ó hAirtnéide (Michael Hartnett)
- “I was a pretty good imitator of Roy Acuff, but then I found out they already had a Roy Acuff, so I started singin’ like myself.” — Hank Williams
- Happy Birthday, William Carlos Williams: “My whole life / has hung too long upon a partial victory.”
Recent Comments
- Elisa on “I didn’t think then, and I still don’t, that I was actually sick.” — Frances Farmer
- sheila on “Groundhog Day was one of the greatest scripts ever written. It didn’t even get nominated for an Academy Award.” — Bill Murray
- Kelly C Sedinger on “Groundhog Day was one of the greatest scripts ever written. It didn’t even get nominated for an Academy Award.” — Bill Murray
- Pat on And the Waltz Goes On, by Sir Anthony Hopkins
- Lyrie on August 2023 Viewing Diary
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- Kelly C Sedinger on “A vast amount of rubbish is published in the name of art. A man should let his work talk for him. ” — Charles Dana Gibson
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- sheila on Meeting Elia Kazan
- sheila on Review: Sitting in Bars with Cake (2023)
- sheila on Review: Sitting in Bars with Cake (2023)
- Anthony Cinelli on Meeting Elia Kazan
- Walter Biggins on Review: Sitting in Bars with Cake (2023)
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Category Archives: Directors
“I swear my next project is going to be something really simple and focused and minimal.” — Baz Luhrmann
It’s his birthday today. “I think what I’m saying is, when you get to where I am in your journey, you just have to start to accept that there’s something inside you that you’ve been trying to get out and … Continue reading
Posted in Directors, Movies, On This Day, Theatre
Tagged Australia, Baz Luhrmann, Ewan McGregor, Leonardo DiCaprio, Nicole Kidman, The Great Gatsby
9 Comments
Meeting Elia Kazan
For Elia Kazan’s birthday I met Elia Kazan once. He showed up at a production of Clifford Odets’ Awake and Sing, which was being put on at the Actors Studio. I was involved in the production as a general Girl … Continue reading
Posted in Directors, On This Day, Personal
Tagged Actors Studio, Awake and Sing, Clifford Odets, Elia Kazan
11 Comments
“Reach out, take a chance, get hurt even, play as well as you can.” — Hal Ashby
It’s his birthday today. One of the leading lights of the New Hollywood, bringing fresh energy into a landscape that was busy cracking-apart, and holding on tightly to old stable familiar forms. He believed in the crack-up. He helped the … Continue reading
“It’s important not to indicate. People don’t try to show their feelings, they try to hide them.” — Robert De Niro
I haven’t written about the majority of his roles – not for lack of admiration (and in some cases, awestruck wonder) – but here is what I have written: I included his “you talkin’ to me” scene in my gigantic … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Directors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Martin Scorsese, mirrors, Robert De Niro, Taxi Driver
2 Comments
Happy Birthday, Martha Coolidge
It’s the birthday of director Martha Coolidge. I have always loved her work – cherished it, really – and finally got to pay tribute to her in my Film Comment column. And it’s funny how things work out. Mitchell and … Continue reading
“What are you gonna do, talk the alien to death?” — James Cameron
It’s James Cameron’s birthday today, and I haven’t written all that much about him, but I did devote an entire column at Film Comment to the sexual/romantic tension between Ripley and Hicks in Aliens – and how crucial it is … Continue reading
“There’s no one ‘right’ way of making a science fiction movie; there’s no one way of making any kind of movie, really!” — Nicolas Roeg
It’s his birthday today. When he died, I wrote a tribute for the Jan/Feb 2019 issue of Film Comment.
“Yeah, and I’m buddies with Alfred.” — Eminem on Alfred Hitchcock
For Alfred Hitchcock’s birthday. “It got silent, then all these voices said ‘Come follow me into the gates of Hell.’ I heard ’em yell ‘Welcome to the Norman Bates Motel!’ I ring the bell for service and I was greeted … Continue reading
Posted in Directors, Movies, Music, On This Day
Tagged Alfred Hitchcock, Eminem, England
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R.I.P. William Friedkin
William Friedkin was “there” in my life before I even really put together that movies were a thing made by humans. As a kid, they were just full-immersion stories beyond my wildest dreams. I’m sure that’s true for most people. … Continue reading
“I’ve never been a guy who had more than a toe in Hollywood anyway, so my toe is more easily lopped off than most.” — Richard Linklater
Richard Linklater, at Ebertfest 2013, presenting “Bernie.” Photo by yours truly. It’s his birthday today. One of my favorite contemporary filmmakers (if not my favorite?) Here’s my essay on Movie Mezzanine: Time After Time: Looking Back at “Before Sunrise”. Here’s … Continue reading