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- “There is only one difference between a madman and me. I am not mad.” — Charlotte Brontë
- “Good acting is thinking in front of the camera. I just do that and apply a sense of humor to it. You have to trust the audience to get it.” — Charles Grodin
- “The only cause I espouse is man’s right to find his own centre, stand firm, speak out, then be kind.” — Michael Davitt, “Dissenter”
- “I do love Alice in Wonderland though. That’s something I think I could do very well.” — Edie Sedgwick
- Review: The Ugly Stepsister (2025)
- “I don’t like being approached by people who look at me too intensely, who needed something from me that I didn’t have. 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
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- Kelly C Sedinger on “Good acting is thinking in front of the camera. I just do that and apply a sense of humor to it. You have to trust the audience to get it.” — Charles Grodin
- Mona Sørum on “That cat was royalty, man.” — Mick Jagger on Eddie Cochran
- mutecypher on “I don’t like being approached by people who look at me too intensely, who needed something from me that I didn’t have. I don’t represent anything.” — Liz Phair
- sheila on “I don’t like being approached by people who look at me too intensely, who needed something from me that I didn’t have. I don’t represent anything.” — Liz Phair
- sheila on “Ballet taught me to stay close to style and tone. Literature taught me to be concerned about the moral life.” — Joan Acocella
- mutecypher on “I don’t like being approached by people who look at me too intensely, who needed something from me that I didn’t have. I don’t represent anything.” — Liz Phair
- Gina in alabama on “Ballet taught me to stay close to style and tone. Literature taught me to be concerned about the moral life.” — Joan Acocella
- sheila on March 2025 Viewing Diary, Supernatural Season 8
- sheila on 92nd Street Y: April 29th, Liberties panel
- mutecypher on 92nd Street Y: April 29th, Liberties panel
- Pat on March 2025 Viewing Diary, Supernatural Season 8
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- Adèle on March 2025 Supernatural Viewing Diary Season 10, working backwards
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- Katie on Close-up: Bud White in “LA Confidential”
- LYRIEISYELLING on February 2025 Viewing Diary
- Lyrie on March 2025 Viewing Diary, Supernatural Season 8
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Tag Archives: Canada
February 2025 Viewing Diary
Twin Peaks: The Return (2017; d. David Lynch) There’s nothing else like it in all of God’s green earth and I am just so grateful it exists. It’s so pure. Suze (2025; d. Dane Clark and Linsey Stewart) I liked … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Angela Lansbury, Canada, Cary Grant, Charles Beeson, David Lynch, drama, Elizabeth Taylor, Fred Astaire, George Stevens, Germany, Ginger Rogers, historical drama, Howard Hawks, Jean Arthur, Jensen Ackles, Judy Garland, musicals, Only Angels Have Wings, Oscar Wilde, Phil Sgriccia, Rita Hayworth, Robert Singer, romantic comedy, Sissy Spacek, sports movies, Supernatural, Thomas J. Wright, Thomas Mitchell, Twin Peaks, Vincente Minnelli, women directors
118 Comments
Reviews: Suze (2025)
I reviewed this lovely Canadian film for Ebert.
“I thought girls in their teens might like to read [Anne of Green Gables], that was the only audience I hoped to reach.” — L.M. Montgomery
As with Sylvia Plath, my relationship with Lucy Maud Montgomery has spanned the entirety of my life. It graduated from a childhood voracious yearning to read all the books immediately to a longer period when I “grew out of them”, … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged Anne of Green Gables, Canada, Emily of New Moon, L.M. Montgomery, The Blue Castle
3 Comments
“What are you gonna do, talk the alien to death?” — James Cameron
It’s James Cameron’s birthday today, and I haven’t written all that much about him, but I did devote an entire column at Film Comment to the sexual/romantic tension between Ripley and Hicks in Aliens – and how crucial it is … Continue reading
2022 Books Read
Some re-reads this year, but a lot of new-to-me authors as well. New novels written by faves. Been a year of upheaval and transitions. I’ve managed to keep up my regular reading schedule. I just don’t feel right if I’m … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged A.S. Byatt, Alfred Hitchcock, Anne Fadiman, art, Australia, Biography, books read, Canada, Christopher Hitchens, Edmund Burke, Elinor Lipman, England, entertainment biography, essays, Eve Babitz, friends, Germany, Greece, Hitler, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Janet Malcolm, Joan Didion, Joseph Cornell, Lorrie Moore, Machiavelli, Master and Margarita, Memoirs, Michael Curtiz, Mikhail Bulgakov, Mitford sisters, nonfiction, Paul Zindel, politics, Quentin Tarantino, Robert De Niro, Russia, Ryszard Kapuściński, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Shakespeare, The Beatles, Tom Wolfe, true crime, Victor Klemperer, Victor Serge, war, William Hazlitt, William Wordsworth, WWII, YA fiction
10 Comments
Review: Women Talking (2022)
Sarah Polley’s film adaptation of Miriam Towes’ novel Women Talking is now out. Not as bowled over by this as many others seem to be. Not saying everyone else is wrong, of course, just that I’ve seen this twice now … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged Canada, drama, literary adaptation, reviews, women directors
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November 2022 Viewing Diary
Something in the Dirt (2022; d. Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson) I really liked this. If you like losing yourself in conspiracy theories – without being, like, a QAnon-type ready to shoot up a pizza parlor – then this is super … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Alan Ladd, Argentina, Australia, Canada, Cate Blanchett, Claude Rains, crime movies, D.H. Lawrence, documentary, drama, England, film noir, France, historical drama, horror, Iran, Iranian film, Isabelle Huppert, Jafar Panahi, Joanna Hogg, Joe Berlinger, John Garfield, Nina Hoss, Poland, Ralph Macchio, Russia, sci-fi, South Korea, Steven Spielberg, Tilda Swinton, true crime, women directors
3 Comments
Review: Stay the Night (2022)
My response to this movie was so strong I had to interrogate it a little bit. What is this bringing up in me? Why such a personal reaction? This calls into question the whole film critic thing in general. Why … Continue reading