Categories
Archives
-
-
-
-
Recent Posts
- “I’m not interested in money. I just want to be wonderful.” – Marilyn Monroe
- “[My ambition is to] give something to our literature which will be our own.” — Walt Whitman
- “I don’t want to show things, but to give people the desire to see.” — Agnès Varda
- “I never made a message picture, and I hope I never do.” — Howard Hawks
- “If I am going to be a poet at all, I am going to be POET and not NEGRO POET.” — poet Countee Cullen
- Reviews: Currents (2026)
- Reviews: Forge (2026)
- “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
- “I never heard the term ‘rockabilly’ back then. Nobody did…When people asked what music we played, we were rock ’n’ rollers.” — Sonny Burgess
- “I am in a prison: one wall is the avant-garde, the other wall is the past, and I want to escape.” — György Ligeti
Recent Comments
- Maddy on “I’m not interested in money. I just want to be wonderful.” – Marilyn Monroe
- Mike Molloy on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on “I never made a message picture, and I hope I never do.” — Howard Hawks
- Bryan Summers on “I never made a message picture, and I hope I never do.” — Howard Hawks
- Lyrie 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
- Kendra Williams on Josh White, singer of “the fighting blues”
- sheila on “I dont want to just do just country type stuff the rest of my life. I want to do some different things.” — Charlie Rich
- sheila on The Books: “Awake and Sing” (Clifford Odets)
- Jincy Willett on “There’s nobody as good as the Ramones, never will be.” — Joey Ramone
- Bill Wolfe on “I dont want to just do just country type stuff the rest of my life. I want to do some different things.” — Charlie Rich
- Donn Harris on The Books: “Awake and Sing” (Clifford Odets)
- sheila on “Listen, I never meant to make money. I never wanted it. I’m a singer, man.” — Gene Vincent
- Pat on “Listen, I never meant to make money. I never wanted it. I’m a singer, man.” — Gene Vincent
- sheila on “There’s nobody as good as the Ramones, never will be.” — Joey Ramone
- Jincy Willett on “There’s nobody as good as the Ramones, never will be.” — Joey Ramone
- 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
-
Tag Archives: France
Young & Beautiful (2014); directed by Francois Ozon
The latest from Francois Ozon is Young & Beautiful. Certainly doesn’t pack the punch some of his other films have (mainly The Swimming Pool), I still found a lot that was fascinating here. My review is now up at Rogerebert.com.
The Books: The Complete Essays of Mark Twain, ‘Saint Joan of Arc’
On the essays shelf: The Complete Essays Of Mark Twain In these essays, one of Mark Twain’s ongoing themes, one of the philosophical questions he keeps worrying over, reiterating, going back to, is where great-ness or exceptionalism comes from. His … Continue reading
Natan; directed by Paul Duane and David Cairns
Most documentaries have a sense of mission. Many want you to be aware of something, and, hopefully, DO something with your new-found knowledge. Natan, co-directed by Paul Duane and David Cairns, has such a strong sense of mission that by … Continue reading
Mauvais Sang (1986); Directed by Leos Carax
I was riveted by Leos Carax’s Holy Motors last year, and its undulating strange vision of theatrical transformation, almost vaudevillian in objective and feel. It was a burlesque act, a contemplation of what it means to transform in the first … Continue reading
The Books: A Mencken Chrestomathy: His Own Selection of His Choicest Writing, “Its Origins,” by H.L. Mencken
Next up on the essays shelf: A Mencken Chrestomathy: His Own Selection of His Choicest Writing, by H.L. Mencken Part of Mencken’s “Notes on Democracy” (1926), this essay looks at the origins of democracy seen through Mencken’s jaundiced cynical eyes. … Continue reading
Claude Chabrol’s Le Boucher (1970)
Claude Chabrol’s La Ceremonie is one of the most frightening films I have ever seen. It is filled with such a word-less unease that by that final scene, you are so disturbed and shaken up that it’s almost a relief … Continue reading
Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013)
Its reputation precedes it. It won the Palme d’Or. Everyone involved with the production (stars, director) keep giving interviews where they talk about what a horrible experience it was, and everyone throws everyone else under the bus. Implosion! Stop talking! … Continue reading
The Books: Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love, edited by Anne Fadiman; “The Pursuit of Worldliness; The Charterhouse of Parma, by Stendhal”, by Phillip Lopate
Next up on the essays shelf: Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love, edited by Anne Fadiman During Anne Fadiman’s reign as editor of The American Scholar (I had a subscription). During her reign, she instituted a regular feature called … Continue reading
Review: Camille Claudel, 1915 (2013)
Bruno Dumont’s harrowing Camille Claudel, 1915, starring Juliette Binoche, opens today. My review is now up at Roger Ebert.