Category Archives: Movies

Review: Glitter & Doom (2024)

For Ebert, I reviewed Glitter & Doom, a coming-of-age queer-romance, powered by the music of the Indigo Girls. It’s a mixed bag as a film, and runs into the normal jukebox musical challenges, but it’s super fun to hear the … Continue reading

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“Have you ever noticed how a cat stretches after a nap? We can learn from watching animals.” — Cyd Charisse

Legs for weeks, not days. While there are so many classic and unforgettable dance numbers to choose from, the “Girl Hunt” number from Band Wagon is my favorite. Please read this wonderful tribute to Charisse by my friend, Dan Callahan. … Continue reading

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Happy Birthday, Dean Stockwell

I’ve been paying tribute to him on his birthday for 15 years or something insane like that. I need to take a moment to reflect on my own “relationship” to him and his work. He was really important to me, … Continue reading

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“Character roles definitely age better than your ingenues. You don’t get to keep doing that.” — Catherine O’Hara

It’s her birthday today. The first time I noticed Catherine O’Hara was in her one big scene in Heartburn. It takes place in a grocery store, and she – a put-together gossipy Washington D.C. wife – runs into Meryl Streep’s … Continue reading

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“I wasn’t born an actress, you know. Events made me one.” — Jean Harlow

Today is Jean Harlow’s birthday. Here is a discussion Mitchell and I had about her. The setup of the conversation (an ongoing series): I throw names of famous people at Mitchell, and ask him to describe each person in only … Continue reading

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December 2023/January-February 2024 Viewing Diary

The Golden Bachelor Watched – in great hilarity – with Karen and Allison during a raucous sleepover, and Carol pulled up on FaceTime. So we could watch together. The whole thing is so ridiculous. Maestro (2023; d. Bradley Cooper) I … Continue reading

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“I, along with the critics, have never taken myself very seriously.” — Elizabeth Taylor

It’s her birthday today. I wrote a big piece on my Substack about National Velvet/A Place in the Sun/Suddenly Last Summer/Cat on a Hot Tin Roof/Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and General Hospital. Naturally there is more to discuss – … Continue reading

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“He is a good listener. When you have a good listener you have a good actor.” — Norman Taurog on Elvis

American director Norman Taurog was born in 1899, literally during the first gasps of cinema. What an improbable journey. He was born into a world before cinema had even cohered into an artform … and he ended his career helming … Continue reading

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“I should like to make even the most ordinary spectator feel that he is not living in the best of all possible worlds.” – Luis Buñuel

Today is Luis Buñuel’s birthday! From Luis Buñuel’s autobiography My Last Sigh: Connoisseurs who like their martinis very dry suggest simply allowing a ray of sunlight to shine through a bottle of Noilly Prat before it hits the bottle of … Continue reading

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“I’m really confident. I had a perfect childhood. I had perfect parents and grandparents. They just love me, simply. So I have no fears.” — Mélanie Laurent

Today is the birthday of French actress and director Mélanie Laurent. Probably most American audiences (and international audiences, outside of France) were first introduced to the extraordinary Mélanie Laurent in her perfoƒrmance as the revolutionary Shoshanna in Inglourious Basterds. Laurent … Continue reading

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