Categories
Archives
-
-
-
-
Recent Posts
- 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- “I don’t represent anything.” — Liz Phair
- “I don’t really know why, but danger has always been an important thing in my life – to see how far I could lean without falling, how fast I could go without cracking up.” — William Holden
- “Some syllables are swords.” — Metaphysical poet Henry Vaughan
- “To me, music is no joke and it’s not for sale.” — Ian MacKaye
- “All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.” — Charlie Chaplin
- “As a cinematographer, I was always attracted to stories that have the potential to be told with as few words as possible.” — Reed Morano
- “Even though I’m writing about very dark material, it still feels like an escape hatch.” — Olivia Laing
- “It’s just one of the mysteries of filmmaking that sometimes you do something that you don’t even think it’s important, then it turns out to be.” — Lili Horvát
- “Ballet taught me to stay close to style and tone. Literature taught me to be concerned about the moral life.” — Joan Acocella
Recent Comments
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- Mike Molloy on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- Scott Abraham on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- Scott Abraham on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- Mike Molloy on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on March 2026 Snapshots
- sheila on “I don’t really know why, but danger has always been an important thing in my life – to see how far I could lean without falling, how fast I could go without cracking up.” — William Holden
- Jessie on March 2026 Snapshots
- Helen Erwin Schinske on “To me, music is no joke and it’s not for sale.” — Ian MacKaye
- Maddy on “I don’t really know why, but danger has always been an important thing in my life – to see how far I could lean without falling, how fast I could go without cracking up.” — William Holden
- sheila on “To me, music is no joke and it’s not for sale.” — Ian MacKaye
- Helen Erwin Schinske on “To me, music is no joke and it’s not for sale.” — Ian MacKaye
- Joseph Pedulla on Susan Hayward Sleeps Raw
- sheila on “For I am of the seed of the WELCH WOMAN and speak the truth from my heart.” — Christopher Smart
- P Nickel on “The realization of ignorance is the first act of knowing.” — Jean Toomer
- Melissa Sutherland on “For I am of the seed of the WELCH WOMAN and speak the truth from my heart.” — Christopher Smart
- Bryce on The Books: “Nine Stories”- ‘The Laughing Man’ (J.D. Salinger)
-
Tag Archives: Burt Reynolds
Happy Birthday, Burt Reynolds: “My love is unironic.”
I will always be glad that I was assigned to review The Last Movie Star (2018), Reynolds’ final film, because it meant I got to pay tribute to him – not just his performance in the movie, but to HIM … Continue reading
“The audience will always forgive you for being wrong and exciting, but never for being right and dull.” — Burt Reynolds
A couple of years ago, during a lengthy conversation about many different stars, Mitchell and I discussed Burt Reynolds. I recorded the whole thing. It was a game we played: I would throw a name at Mitchell, ask him to … Continue reading
Angles and Archetypes: From Burt to Brando to Rourke to Jensen Ackles to Martha Graham to Hieroglyphs to Paul Le Mat
“Cock your hat – angles are attitudes.” — Frank Sinatra When Burt Reynolds died I wrote this whole thing about how he “worked his angles.” Like Tyra Banks tells you to do. Like all the great personae of yore knew … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, Television
Tagged Bette Davis, Burt Reynolds, James Dean, Jensen Ackles, John Wayne, Marlon Brando, Martha Graham, Mickey Rourke, Supernatural
6 Comments
Year in Review: Running my mouth in 2018
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 almost 16 years – WHAT? – I … Continue reading
Posted in James Joyce, Movies, Television
Tagged Anne V. Coates, Burt Reynolds, documentary, Doris Day, Dorothy Malone, Elvis Presley, England, Finnegans Wake, Frank Sinatra, Gena Rowlands, Germany, Gold Diggers of 1933, Grace Kelly, Hal Ashby, Howard Hughes, Ian McEwan, James Cagney, Joan Didion, Joaquin Phoenix, Julie Christie, Lynne Ramsay, Mexico, Minnie and Moskowitz, Natalie Portman, Paul Thomas Anderson, Play It As It Lays, Robert Altman, Russia, Sanaa Lathan, South Korea, Supernatural, Warren Beatty, women directors, Woody Allen, year in writing
10 Comments
More 2018 Movies to See
So all this Top 10 stuff gets a little bit too competitive for me sometimes. There can’t be a “winner” anyway, in art. It doesn’t work like that. This has been a really good year and I’ve seen a lot … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged Al Pacino, Burt Reynolds, documentary, Elvis Presley, Iran, Iranian film, James Baldwin, Keanu Reeves, Orson Welles, Oscar Wilde, Sanaa Lathan, women directors
10 Comments
September 2018 Viewing Diary
Slacker (1990; d. Richard Linklater) Did a little walk down Richard Linklater lane, starting at the top, and then going all the over the place chronologically. If you think about Linklater, and his extraordinary body of work – and you … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Burt Reynolds, Charles Laughton, documentary, Goldie Hawn, Jack Black, Kathleen Turner, Keanu Reeves, Kristen Stewart, Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese, Patricia Arquette, Paul Thomas Anderson, Richard Linklater, Robert Aldrich, Robert Mitchum, Stalin, Supernatural, women directors
8 Comments
Burt Reynolds’ Angles
His movie star body-head angle. Supermodels use their angles this way. Joan Crawford used her angles this way. Burt is fun to study because star charisma is difficult to describe and yet it’s really fun to try. Obsessive side note: … Continue reading
R.I.P. Burt Reynolds
This one really got to me. I knew he was old and frail. But I have such affection for him – it’s different than my feelings for other movie stars … it’s its own thing. I am glad he got … Continue reading
July 2018 Viewing Diary
Supernatural, Season 4, episode 5 “Monster Movie” (2008; d. Robert Singer) A movie-mad feast. Plus, my favorite one-night-stand-girl. (Piper is a close tie.) Supernatural, Season 4, episode 6 “Yellow Fever” (2008; d. Philip Sgriccia) An example of what the show … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Burt Reynolds, documentary, Dorothy Malone, Douglas Sirk, England, Goldie Hawn, Hal Ashby, Hugh Grant, Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Jill Clayburgh, Josef von Sternberg, Julie Christie, Marlene Dietrich, Supernatural, Warren Beatty, women directors
8 Comments