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Tag Archives: historical drama
2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Rose Rage
… or: the three Henry VIs and Richard III Life is very very hard right now. Unprecedentedly hard on all fronts. And so I wanted a “hard” reading project this year. By hard, I mean, something involved that requires a … Continue reading
Posted in Theatre
Tagged Harold Bloom, historical drama, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, W.H. Auden, William Hazlitt, William Shakespeare
6 Comments
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
August-November 2025 Viewing Diary
I haven’t watched much this year, beyond what I was assigned to review. Of course at end of year I have to scramble to catch up, which I am still doing. Instead I watched a lot of true crime, re-watched … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged baseball, Brazil, crime movies, documentary, drama, England, France, Frankenstein, Guillermo del Toro, historical drama, horror, Iran, Iranian film, Italy, Jafar Panahi, Jennifer Lawrence, literary adaptation, Martin Scorsese, Nick Nolte, Patricia Arquette, Roman Polanski, romantic comedy, Russia, Sissy Spacek, true crime, Ukraine, women directors, X-Files
12 Comments
“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
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged drama, Greta Garbo, H.D., historical drama, silent films, Sweden
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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, Jared Padalecki, 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
Screen Slate 2024 Poll
Happy to participate in Screen Slate’s annual poll: Best Movies of 2024: First Viewings & Discoveries and Individual Ballots My pics: Fun to scroll through – so many people polled, including directors like Pedro Almodovar and Whit Stilman! … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged comedy, documentary, Douglas Sirk, drama, George Sanders, historical drama, India, Iranian film, Ireland, Italy, Lucille Ball, Palestine, Poland, Pre-Code, Radu Jude, Romania, silent films, The Netherlands, women directors
2 Comments
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
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged animation, Australia, biopic, documentary, drama, England, France, Germany, Ginger Rogers, historical drama, Iranian film, Japan, Michelle Pfeiffer, Natalie Portman, Palestine, Poland, Pre-Code, Robert De Niro, romantic comedy, war movies, women directors
31 Comments
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
July 2024 Viewing Diary
Anyone But You (2023; d. Will Gluck) The fascination with Glen Powell continues. I’ve seen this maybe four times now? The NY Times did a whole ROUNDTABLE about Glen Powell, like: what is going on with this guy? It’s like … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged action movies, Ben Gazzara, coming of age, documentary, drama, England, France, Gena Rowlands, Glen Powell, historical drama, horror, Ireland, Italy, Joan Blondell, John Cassavetes, Mary Shelley, Opening Night, romantic comedy, sci-fi
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