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Category Archives: Movies
Happy Birthday, Robert Mitchum
Robert Mitchum, Cannes 1954, photograph by Leo Mirkine Excerpt from Are You Anybody? An Actor’s Life, by Bradford Dillman For the past fifty years Robert Mitchum has been captivating filmgoers with his sleepy demeanor. He was the first actor to … Continue reading
Review: A Compassionate Spy (2023)
Steve James’ latest, about the Manhattan Project physicist Ted hall who passed on information about the implosion bomb to Soviet agents: my review of A Compassionate Spy. Thank you so much for stopping by. If you like what … Continue reading
Marilyn Monroe and Method Acting
Nobody writes about Marilyn Monroe like my friend Kim Morgan. Nobody. That’s why I am so excited she wrote about Marilyn for Criterion – and not only Marilyn, but Marilyn’s connection to Method acting, and how important that technique was … Continue reading
“The trouble with Hollywood is everybody is crazy for money.” — Ann Dvorak
Anna McKim chose “Ann Dvorak” as her stage name. She chose a challenging name to pronounce (for American audiences, that is) over her easily-pronounceable real name. Who does that?? Well, she does. It says a lot. It’s mischievous. I love … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Aline MacMahon, Ann Dvorak, Howard Hawks, Mervyn LeRoy, Pre-Code
4 Comments
Pee Wee
Mitchell and I, juniors in college, sat at Bickford’s diner one night in Cranston, Rhode Island. We had been to the movies, I think. Our regular ritual. I’d go and pick him up, we’d drive to the movies, then we’d … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, RIP, Television
3 Comments
“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
“There are no ‘old’ movies really – only movies you have already seen and ones you haven’t.” — Peter Bogdanovich
A re-post of the huge thing I wrote after Bogdanovich died, ending with my personal encounter with him where he kissed my hand. I cannot sufficiently express what his films have meant to me, let alone his writing about films … Continue reading
Posted in Directors, Movies, Personal
Tagged Paper Moon, Peter Bogdanovich, They All Laughed, What's Up Doc
8 Comments
Review: The Unknown Country (2023)
I loved this film about a Lakota woman, estranged from her family and the reservation, driving from the Badlands down to Texas in the wake of her grandmother’s death. Starring the wonderful Lily Gladstone (from Certain Women, where she first … Continue reading
Happy Birthday, Edward Herrmann
With a career as long and diverse as Edward Herrmann’s there is much to discuss. When he died, I wrote a piece for Ebert, focusing on just one moment in Warren Beatty’s Reds, a moment that (in its small way) … Continue reading
“The reality is you don’t arrive, you don’t have a crone ceremony and suddenly get wisdom.” — Olympia Dukakis
“I recognize that the real pulse of life is transformation, yet I work in a world dominated by men and the things men value, where transformation is not the coinage. It’s not even the language! Winning is everything in Hollywood. … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day, Theatre
Tagged Anton Chekhov, Olympia Dukakis
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