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- “[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
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- “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
- An Acting Lesson: John Wayne and the “Reality of the Doing”
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- Mike Molloy on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
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- 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
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- 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)
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- 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
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- 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
- 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: Eighth Grade: Extraordinary. Don’t miss it.
Eighth Grade, directed by 27-year-old Bo Burnham, is about an 8th grade girl during her final week of middle school. It’s extraordinary for many reasons, the main one being Burnham is a man. Normally men have done “coming of age” … Continue reading
Review: Leave No Trace (2018) – it’s so good
My review of Debra Granik’s amazing new film – Leave No Trace – is up at Rogerebert.com. This is one you should see.
Review: En el Séptimo Dia (2018)
I loved this movie so much. Go see it. My review is up at Ebert.
Review: Hearts Beat Loud (2018)
My review is up at Ebert.
Review: The Tale (2018)
HBO is, for some unknown reason, not really promoting The Tale, which generated so much buzz at Sundance even people who weren’t there – like me – could feel it. At any rate, it really should be seen, promotion or … Continue reading
Review: On Chesil Beach (2018)
It’s the adaptation, stupid. My review of On Chesil Beach is now up at Rogerebert.com.
For Film Comment: On Mary Ellen Bute’s 1966 Passages from James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake
Well, this is a piece I was born to write. I can’t believe it came along. It was offered to me, too. That’s the weird thing. I got the assignment in January and immediately began a re-read of Finnegans Wake. … Continue reading
Posted in Books, James Joyce, Movies
Tagged animation, drama, Finnegans Wake, Ireland, literary adaptation, reviews, women directors
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Ebertfest Day 4: Rambling Rose, with director Martha Coolidge
The screening of Rambling Rose requires a longer essay, which I will write when I am not so busy. Martha Coolidge was at the Fest to present her film, a movie Mitchell and I saw in its first release in … Continue reading
Posted in Directors, Movies
Tagged drama, Martha Coolidge, Robert Duvall, women directors
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Review: Disobedience (2018)
I reviewed Disobedience for Rogerebert.com.
Ebertfest Day 4: Daughters of the Dust, with director Julie Dash
It was such a privilege to be onstage (with Sam Fragoso and Chaz Ebert) to interview pioneering film director Julie Dash after the screening of her sui generis masterpiece, the 1991 film Daughters of the Dust. It was the first … Continue reading

