Tag Archives: drama

November 2024 Viewing Diary

Stranger Things, Season 2, episodes 5, 6, 7 (2016) Continuing the very slow “binge” watch with my niece Lucy, and having so much fun. She gets such a kick out of showing it to me. She knows every moment and … Continue reading

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Substack: on Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point

One of the best films of the year. A surprise to me. I wrote about it on my Substack. Behind a paywall. Consider supporting my work if you like it. If not, that’s cool too. I appreciate that you’re here.

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Review: All We Imagine as Light (2024)

This is so good. I reviewed for Ebert.

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Review: Small Things Like These (2024)

Cillian Murphy gives one of my favorite performances this year in the quiet painful Small Things Like These, an intimate character study with Ireland’s shameful Magdalene Laundries looming over everything. I reviewed for Ebert.

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October 2024 Viewing Diary

Downfall (2005; d. Oliver Hirschbiegel) I’ve watched a couple of times. Always good to have a reminder of the madness of those final months, where even the most hardened monstrous men were like, “… uhm, yeah, he’s a lunatic, I’m … Continue reading

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Review: Magpie (2024)

There’s a lot that’s fun here, particularly the subtleties of psychology on display. You might miss the subtleties because of the style of the film and the twisty-clever plot – but for me the emotional insights were the real point … Continue reading

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September 2024 Viewing Diary

My First Film (2024; d. Zia Anger) In my Top 10 of the year (so far). I reviewed for Ebert. Sweetheart Deal (2024; d. Elisa Levine and Gabriel Miller) A very upsetting and beautifully made documentary, representing a decade of … Continue reading

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Mirrors #22

Working Girls (1931) Directed by Dorothy Arzner! I did a deep dive into this pioneering director’s work when I was working on the Dance Girl Dance essay for Criterion. I really like her films. I hadn’t seen this one! Two … Continue reading

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“I never said, ‘I want to be alone.’ I only said, ‘I want to be left alone.’ There is all the difference.” — Greta Garbo

It’s her birthday today. She is a difficult subject, not just because she was a private woman, but because her onscreen persona was so fluid, mercurial, hard to grasp. Her gestures could be operatic and swanlike (watch Grand Hotel), but … Continue reading

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August 2024 Viewing Diary

Tumbledown (2015; d. Sean Mewshaw) Allison and I re-watched this. I reviewed for Ebert when it came out in 2016. I really like it. Gosh, August feels like a long time ago. I was in New York for half of … Continue reading

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