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Tag Archives: Elvis Presley
December 2025 Viewing Diary
Marty Supreme (2025; d. Joss Safdie) I have mixed feelings on this, especially the last scene, which is corny as hell. Not as corny as the last scene in Lady Bird, but in its way even more obnoxious. Robert Towne … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies
Tagged animation, Baz Luhrmann, Darren Aronofsky, drama, Elvis Presley, historical drama, Israel, Japan, Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Julianne Moore, Kentucker Audley, Kristen Stewart, literary adaptation, Richard Linklater, Russell Crowe, Tom Hanks, women directors
36 Comments
Elvis forever and happy birthday
Elvis pieces (just a few): Most recently, I wrote about Marion Keisker’s crucial role in “discovering” Elvis. I wrote on his acting career for Film Comment For Criterion: Elvis’s Adventures in Hollywood And here’s the text of the talk I … Continue reading
“I was looking for what was coming from a man’s soul and a man’s conviction.” — Sam Phillips
The myth. The legend. There’s a lot of bull shit with the legend, and saying that does not mean throwing out the whole thing. But Sam did have a way of placing him at the center of every story in … Continue reading
“Everything we ever did was just spur of the moment.” — Scotty Moore
“Scotty Moore was my hero. There’s a little jazz in his playing, some great country licks and a grounding in the blues as well. It’s never been duplicated. I can’t copy it.” — Keith Richards It’s the birthday of Scotty … Continue reading
“There is no other way to break the frozen cinematic conventions than through a complete derangement of the official cinematic senses.” — Jonas Mekas
When the avant-garde filmmaker (he referred to himself often as a “film diarist” died at the age of 96, the outpouring of tributes was overwhelming (and, in many cases, instructive. There was a lot I didn’t know.) My fellow NYFFC … Continue reading
Elvis: “It’s a duty I’ve got to fill and I’m going to do it.”
On December 20, 1957, Elvis received his draft notice. He was given a deferment so he could finish the movie King Creole This picture went out onto the wires. It was international news. He would be “gone” for … TWO … Continue reading
Happy birthday KEEF
It’s Keith Richards’ birthday. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: If you are feeling introverted, if you are feeling lonely for conversation and human contact, read Keith Richards’ spectacular autobiography in public. People will come up to … Continue reading
Dynamic Duo #44
Hayley Mills and Elvis Presley
“Given as much to the gutter as to the gods” — Nick Tosches
“He was born alone. He would die alone. These truths, he, like every punk, took to heart. But in him they framed another truth, another solitary, stubborn stone in the eye of nothing. There was something, a knowing, in him … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged Dean Martin, Elvis Presley, essays, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jerry Lewis, Nick Tosches, nonfiction
8 Comments
“The other girls weren’t singing quite like I was.” — Wanda Jackson
It’s her birthday today. She was a pioneer. One of the few women in that original “class”. Rockabilly was a boys’ game. She changed that game. She looked around in 1954/55, and thought, “Hey. All these songs are written by … Continue reading