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- Reviews: Currents (2026)
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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
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- 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
March 2020 Viewing Diary: A Before and After List
I began this viewing diary in a time of innocence (and naivete) before social distancing became compulsory (or at least strongly suggested). We here were months behind schedule, due to the disgraceful anti-science buffoonery of the current administration, who do … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Cary Grant, Claude Rains, comedy, coming of age, documentary, drama, Faye Dunaway, film noir, Frank Capra, Gary Cooper, George Stevens, Germany, Jane Austen, Jean Arthur, Jerry Lewis, Jimmy Stewart, John Garfield, Johnny Depp, Johnny Flynn, Lili Taylor, literary adaptation, Natasha Richardson, Paul Schrader, romantic comedy, Supernatural, Thomas Mitchell
9 Comments
February 2020 Viewing Diary
Ted Bundy: Falling For a Killer (2020; d. Trish Wood) I can’t help it. I’ve been reading about Ted Bundy since I read Ann Rule’s book in high school. I hate him so much, but I can’t quit him. I … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Bill Pullman, Claude Chabrol, comedy, documentary, drama, Germany, hockey, Isabelle Huppert, James Gandolfini, Jane Austen, Jean Arthur, Kurt Russell, Laura Dern, literary adaptation, miracle on ice, Nicolas Cage, Robert Duvall, romantic comedy, Sandrine Bonnaire, sci-fi, sports movies, William Powell, women directors
8 Comments
Review: I Was at Home, But (2020)
I reviewed Angela Schanelec’s latest – her tenth feature – for Ebert.
January 2020 Viewing Diary
Hell Is for Heroes (1962; d. Don Siegel) A spare lean and mean war movie – pretty standard, actually – except Steve McQueen is actually presenting a character study here, a character he probably knows something about. He is eerie … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Al Pacino, Brad Pitt, children's movies, Colin Farrell, comedy, coming of age, crime movies, Dean Stockwell, documentary, Dorothy Arzner, drama, Dustin Hoffman, England, France, Ginger Rogers, heist movies, Iran, Iranian film, Jean Arthur, Joaquin Phoenix, Joel McCrea, John Sturges, Judy Garland, Katharine Hepburn, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lucille Ball, Martin Scorsese, Maureen O'Hara, musicals, Nick Nolte, Quentin Tarantino, Robert De Niro, romantic comedy, screwball comedy, Steve McQueen, Supernatural, true crime, war movies, women directors
3 Comments
Review: The Assistant (2019) Don’t miss this one
Fantastic film. I reviewed The Assistant for Ebert.
Present Tense: on Daughters of the Sun (2000)
I wrote about Maryam Shahriar’s 2000 film Daughters of the Sun for my next Present Tense column on Film Comment.
Posted in Movies
Tagged drama, Iran, Iranian film, Present Tense, reviews, women directors
1 Comment
Review: Les Misérables (2019)
I reviewed the new French film Les Misérables for Ebert.
Year in Review: Running my mouth in 2019
Thanks, everyone, who hangs out here, who likes what I do, whether you’re an Elvis fan, a Supernatural fan, a general cinephile, a book-lover, or just someone who’s been checking in periodically for 17 years – WHAT? – I appreciate … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, James Joyce, Movies, Television
Tagged Agnes Varda, animation, Anna Karina, backting, Badlands, Belfast, Bibi Andersson, Bob Dylan, Bong Joon-Ho, Canada, Charlotte Rampling, comedy, Dennis Hopper, documentary, Doris Day, drama, Dubliners, Elvis Presley, Emily Dickinson, Frank O'Hara, friends, Gaspar Noe, George Stevens, Gold Diggers of 1933, horror, Ireland, Jean Arthur, Joanna Hogg, Joe Berlinger, Joel McCrea, John Ford, Kristen Stewart, Leonardo DiCaprio, Linda Manz, Marlon Brando, Martin Scorsese, Mary Oliver, Matthias Schoenaerts, Myrna Loy, Nick Nolte, Nick Tosches, Nicolas Roeg, Out of the Blue, Paraguay, Paul Thomas Anderson, poetry, Poland, Present Tense, Robert Evans, Sandrine Bonnaire, sci-fi, Sophia Takal, Sucker Punch, Supernatural, Sylvia Plath, Terrence Malick, Tom Noonan, What Happened Was, William Powell, Willie Nelson, women directors, year in writing, Zac Efron
1 Comment
Present Tense: On director Sophia Takal
I had wanted to write something on Takal’s first two films, Green and Always Shine, long before I had even heard of her Black Christmas remake. I was turned onto her work when I was assigned to review Always Shine … Continue reading
Posted in Directors, Movies
Tagged drama, horror, Kate Lyn Sheil, Present Tense, Sophia Takal, women directors
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