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Monthly Archives: August 2025
“I knew [I was a director] from the beginning. It was just a matter of proving it.” — 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
“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, Raging Bull, Robert De Niro, Taxi Driver
6 Comments
“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
The last photo and the Stutz
Celebrating Elvis Week is not my thing, although of course I always mark it here, because what the hell else would I do with my time. Other anniversaries matter more to me. But I figured I’d share here the last … Continue reading
“I had never seen anything like him . . . I vowed nothing would stop me from signing this boy for films.” – producer Hal Wallis on Elvis Presley
Published during Elvis Week in 2017, here’s my piece for Film Comment on Elvis as an actor. And here’s the talk I gave at The Memphian in Memphis, on Elvis’ acting career. And finally: the piece I just wrote for … Continue reading
Review: Went Up the Hill (2025)
Vicky Krieps and Dacre Montgomery star in this intense two-handed ghost story, which is really an exploration of grief. They’re both so good: this is single-minded not-ingratiating work – not crowd-pleasing – and I am here for it. I reviewed … 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, Psycho
1 Comment
This Thursday: Elvis: That’s the Way It Is at Jacob Burns
This coming Thursday, I’ll be in Pleasantville, NY, at the Jacob Burns Film Center, to introduce the great 1970 concert film Elvis: That’s the Way It Is. It is “Elvis Week” after all, and I’m excited to pay tribute to … Continue reading
“I like myself poems that are gentle rather than arrogant intellectually. Where language fades into cries or whispers.” — Medbh McGuckian
“Hate those two words together, they are so unwomanly and unpoetic together they cancel each other out. ‘Poet’ I don’t like or ‘woman’ or ‘man’ none of these words although I have had to use them. ‘Female’ not much better. … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged Belfast, Ireland, Irish poetry, poetry, Seamus Heaney
3 Comments