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- “[My ambition is to] give something to our literature which will be our own.” — Walt Whitman
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- “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
- 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
- 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
- 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
91 Years Apart
Blue Jean (2023) Big City Blues (1932)
September/October 2023 Viewing Diary
I moved in late September. Again. I found a little cozy apartment, the second floor of a little house, with slanted ceilings, little cubbyhole-eaves everywhere, and a big yard. It’s a 10 minute walk to the beach. I found it … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies
Tagged Bette Davis, biopic, comedy, Costa-Gavras, Dana Andrews, documentary, drama, Eli Wallach, England, Ewan McGregor, film noir, France, Fritz Lang, George Cukor, George Sanders, Germany, Gloria Grahame, Hal Wallis, historical drama, Ireland, Joan Crawford, Joan Fontaine, Judy Blume, Kate Lyn Sheil, Lana Turner, Lee Marvin, Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese, Miriam Hopkins, Norma Shearer, Otto Preminger, Paul Schrader, River Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Roman Polanski, Rosalind Russell, Sidney Lumet, Spain, Supernatural, Vincente Minnelli, women directors, WWII
29 Comments
NYFCC 2023 Awards
Yesterday, the members of the NYFCC gathered at Lincoln Center to vote our winners for this year’s awards. We don’t do “nominees” and we don’t talk about what else was in contention or what almost won or whatever it is. … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged animation, documentary, drama, France, Martin Scorsese, South Korea, women directors
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Review: Eileen (2023)
I loved Eileen (based on Otessa Moshfegh’s debut novel of the same name), and its grubby slightly disreputable ANTI-charm. Still thinking about it. I reviewed for Ebert.
Review: Your Lucky Day (2023)
Your Lucky Day maybe seems like a pretty standard hostage scenario film, stand-off with police, etc. But it’s really not. It has a POINT and a point of VIEW. I have to hold back on how many times I reference … Continue reading
On Dustin Guy Defa’s Bad Fever
I’m a big admirer of the filmmaker (and occasional actor) Dustin Guy Defa. Currently, many of his shorts and a couple of his features are streaming on the Criterion Channel. I wrote about his 2011 feature Bad Fever on my … Continue reading
Review: Sitting in Bars with Cake (2023)
I do not understand the concept of bringing cakes to bars … maybe because I don’t like cake, and if I were out with friends and some random woman came up to our table (although she might not do so, … Continue reading
August 2023 Viewing Diary
Oppenheimer (2023; d. Christopher Nolan) In general, I am not a Nolan fan (the only one of his I liked was Dunkirk), and I went into this hesitantly because I read an interview with him where he said the whole … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies
Tagged animation, biopic, children's movies, coming of age, crime movies, drama, Elvis Presley, England, France, heist movies, horror, Kentucker Audley, King Creole, Michael Curtiz, Michael Mann, romantic drama, Sidney Lumet, South Korea, westerns, women directors
30 Comments
Talking 1953 movies with Jason Bailey and Mike Hull: A Very Good Year podcast
My pal Jason Bailey and his pal Mike Hull host a fascinating podcast called A Very Good Year, which they describe as: “Each week we invite a guest (filmmakers and actors, critics and historians, comedians and musicians) who loves movies, … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged Billy Wilder, coming of age, drama, France, Harriet Andersson, Ingmar Bergman, Japan, Marlon Brando, podcast, romantic drama, Stalag 17, Sweden, war movies, William Holden
12 Comments
Review: Between Two Worlds (2023)
Juliette Binoche is a perfect actress, she does everything right. Her instincts are so pure, they always have been. She’s wondrous. And she is in Between Two Worlds too, but the film has some big problems, mainly the story being … Continue reading