Author Archives: sheila

NYFCC 2024 Awards

We gathered today yesterday at Lincoln Center to vote on this year’s films. We don’t talk about what goes on in the room but it’s done by ballot (you’ve seen Conclave? It’s like that), and so it’s a pure numbers … Continue reading

Posted in Movies | Leave a comment

A Streetcar Named Desire: That’s What Williams Wrote. Deal With It.

A re-post for the anniversary of Streetcar debuting on Broadway. I wrote this essay after seeing a 2011 production of Streetcar at Williamstown. Directed by David Cromer Starring Sam Rockwell as Stanley Kowalski, Jessica Hecht as Blanche DuBois, Ana Reeder … Continue reading

Posted in Actors, On This Day, Theatre | Tagged , , | 54 Comments

“Intellect and taste count, but I cut with my feelings.” — legendary editor Dede Allen

It’s her birthday today. Here’s a list of just some of her credits as an editor: The Hustler America America Bonnie & Clyde Rachel Rachel Alice’s Restaurant Little Big Man Serpico Night Moves Dog Day Afternoon Missouri Breaks Slap Shot … Continue reading

Posted in Movies, On This Day | Tagged , | 4 Comments

“My aesthetic is that of the sniper on the roof.” — Jean-Luc Godard

He was born on this day. Coincidentally, the year before Jean-Luc Godard died, I decided to watch his filmography in chronological order, starting with his shorts (many of which are on YouTube). I wrote about this experience in my December … Continue reading

Posted in Directors, Movies, On This Day | Tagged , | Leave a comment

November 2024 Viewing Diary

Stranger Things, Season 2, episodes 5, 6, 7 (2016) Continuing the very slow “binge” watch with my niece Lucy, and having so much fun. She gets such a kick out of showing it to me. She knows every moment and … Continue reading

Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

“I have trouble working off things that are too preconceived, like storyboards.” — Terrence Malick

“When people express what is most important to them, it often comes out in cliches. That doesn’t make them laughable — it’s something tender about them. As though in struggling to reach what’s most personal about them they could only … Continue reading

Posted in Directors, Movies, On This Day | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

“I thought girls in their teens might like to read [Anne of Green Gables], that was the only audience I hoped to reach.” — L.M. Montgomery

As with Sylvia Plath, my relationship with Lucy Maud Montgomery has spanned the entirety of my life. It graduated from a childhood voracious yearning to read all the books immediately to a longer period when I “grew out of them”, … Continue reading

Posted in Books, On This Day, writers | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

“I have ever hated all nations, professions, and communities, and all my love is toward individuals.” — Jonathan Swift

“When a man of true Genius appears in the World, you may know him by this infallible Sign, that all the Dunces are in Conspiracy against him.” — Jonathan Swift I don’t have much time to read for pleasure these … Continue reading

Posted in Books, On This Day, writers | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

“Look in thy heart and write.” — Sir Philip Sidney

“[The poet] doth grow in effect another nature, as the Heroes, Demigods, Cyclopes, Chimeras, Furies, and such like: so as he goeth hand in hand with nature, not enclosed within the narrow warrant of her gifts, but freely, ranging only … Continue reading

Posted in Books, On This Day, writers | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

For Busby Berkeley’s birthday: Remember My Forgotten Man and Sucker Punch

I wrote a piece originally for the Musings blog at Oscilloscope (it was included in a book!), and now lives on my site (since it’s off the Musings blog). It’s about the similarities between Busby Berkeley’s Gold Diggers of 1933 … Continue reading

Posted in Movies, On This Day | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments