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- “There’s a difference between writing about something and living through it. I did both.” — poet/novelist Margaret Walker
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- “My voice isn’t an instrument I can just hang up on a hook.” — Audra McDonald
- “You can’t be on top all the time. It isn’t natural.” — Olivia de Havilland
- “If I don’t feel it, I can’t play it.” — James Cotton
- “I don’t have to be an imitation of a white woman that Hollywood sort of hoped I’d become. I’m me, and I’m like nobody else.” — Lena Horne
- “But man has always succeeded in rising again.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
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Category Archives: Movies
“The greatest films are the ones that leave you not able to explain, but you know that you have experienced something special.” — Robert Altman
It’s his birthday today. One of my favorite film-makers, but I haven’t written all that much about him. I love my friend Dan Callahan’s piece on Prairie Home Companion. I did write the booklet essay for the Arrow Films release … Continue reading
R.I.P. Tom Noonan
“I don’t think you go to a play to forget, or to a movie to be distracted. I think life generally is a distraction and that going to a movie is a way to get back, not go away.” — … Continue reading
On Ann Savage in Detour
It’s Ann Savage’s birthday today. I wrote a big piece on Substack about her one-for-the-ages performance in Detour.
“It was the Marines who taught me how to act. After that, pretending to be rough wasn’t so hard.” — Lee Marvin
“You know, as character actors we play all kinds of sex psychos, nuts, creeps, perverts, and weirdos. And we laugh it off, saying what the hell it’s just a character. But deep down inside, it’s you, baby.” — Lee Marvin … Continue reading
Review: Honey Bunch (2026)
I reviewed Honey Bunch for Ebert.
“I have already been accused of trying to drown a boatload of wild Irishmen on Aran!” — Robert Flaherty
Today is the birthday of the so-called “father of documentary film” Robert Flaherty, a man whose accomplishments cannot be ignored, and yet these same accomplishments are still, rightfully, debated to this day. Known mostly for his two films about “primitive” … Continue reading
“I looked like a bad girl. But I wasn’t a bad girl, really. I was a very nice little girl, until I found out what life was.”– Harriet Andersson
It’s her birthday today. Ingmar Bergman wrote in Images: My Life in Film, “Harriet Andersson is one of cinema’s geniuses. You meet only a few of these rare, shimmering individuals.” It’s difficult to talk about Harriet Andersson without hyperbole. She … Continue reading
Happy Birthday, Burt Reynolds: “My love is unironic.”
I will always be glad that I was assigned to review The Last Movie Star (2018), Reynolds’ final film, because it meant I got to pay tribute to him – not just his performance in the movie, but to HIM … Continue reading
“The audience will always forgive you for being wrong and exciting, but never for being right and dull.” — Burt Reynolds
A couple of years ago, during a lengthy conversation about many different stars, Mitchell and I discussed Burt Reynolds. I recorded the whole thing. It was a game we played: I would throw a name at Mitchell, ask him to … Continue reading
January 2026 Snapshots
January has lasted four months. What a terrible month. I mean, good stuff happened but the stress and dismay is constant. It’s been really cold – colder than it’s been in years – and we had two big storms in … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Movies, Personal
Tagged Frankenstein, friends, Guillermo del Toro, Jafar Panahi, Mary Shelley, snapshots
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