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- Reviews: Currents (2026)
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- “Only the bad directors tell you how to read a line, how to define your character. The good ones let you do your job.” — Carroll Baker
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- An Acting Lesson: John Wayne and the “Reality of the Doing”
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- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Hamlet
- Biff Dorsey on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Hamlet
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Hamlet
- Dave on Review: The Chronology of Water (2025)
- Biff Dorsey on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Hamlet
- sheila on “I just love telling stories. That’s what we do and it’s a good business to be in, especially if you know you have talent.” –Jensen Ackles
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Tag Archives: drama
Review: Annette (2021) Been waiting for this one!
… and it did not disappoint. I went to an actual screening of this – at the IFC Center in New York – my first actual press screening in over a year – and it was so EXHILARATING. I love … Continue reading
July 2021 Viewing Diary
Sally, Mary and Irene (1925; d. Edmund Goulding) For some reason, I forgot to include this gem in my June viewing diary. Considered lost forever, it is one of Joan Crawford’s earliest films – and one where she is actually … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Alfred Hitchcock, Ann Dvorak, Bette Davis, Billy Wilder, Bong Joon-Ho, comedy, dance movies, documentary, drama, France, Fred MacMurray, Fredric March, Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Jack Lemmon, Japan, Jimmy Stewart, Joan Blondell, Joan Crawford, Juliette Binoche, Marilyn Monroe, Mervyn LeRoy, Miriam Hopkins, Pre-Code, Shirley MacLaine, silent films, thrillers
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Review: Nine Days (2021)
An amazing film, a unique and specific vision, hard to believe it is Edson Oda’s directorial debut. Highly recommended. I reviewed for Ebert.
Review: Zola (2021)
Zola – based on an epic 2015 Twitter thread – (now that’s not something you hear every day) so far is one of my favorite films of the year. I actually remember that thread unfolding. I was on Twitter at … Continue reading
Review: I Carry You With Me (2021)
This moving love story/immigrant drama – a dramatization of a real-life story (the real-life guys are included in the final sequences showing “where they are now”) – was directed by Heidi Ewing (known for documentaries – like the Oscar-nominated Jesus … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged documentary, drama, Mexico, reviews, romantic drama, women directors
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What Happened Was… released on DVD for the first time
I am so proud – and grateful – to have written the essay included in @oscopelabs ‘s restoration and release of Tom Noonan’s award-winning 1994 film WHAT HAPPENED WAS… , an unforgettable two-hander, starring Noonan and Karen Sillas. I saw … Continue reading
May 2021 Viewing Diary
The Waterman (2021; d. David Oyelowo) I really loved this. Reviewed for Ebert. Des (2020; d. Lewis Arnold) Here’s what I jotted down on Instagram: David Tennant is eerily good in DES. He never does anything wrong, never makes an … Continue reading
Review: The Dry (2021)
I reviewed The Dry – a really good and tense “whodunit”, starring Eric Bana – for Ebert.
Review: The Waterman (2021)
David Oyelowo’s directorial debut – The Water Man – is the kind of movie I would have *flipped out* over as a 10-year-old: two hurting children set off on a quest, facing dangers, growing in friendship, self-sufficient, scrappy, brave, tough, … Continue reading