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- “Rock n’ roll! It’s the music of puberty.” — Suzi Quatro
- 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Twelfth Night: or, What You Will
- “Literature is the written expression of revolt against expected things.” Happy Birthday to the least happy man ever, Thomas Hardy
- “I’m not interested in money. I just want to be wonderful.” – Marilyn Monroe
- “[My ambition is to] give something to our literature which will be our own.” — Walt Whitman
- “I don’t want to show things, but to give people the desire to see.” — Agnès Varda
- “I never made a message picture, and I hope I never do.” — Howard Hawks
- “If I am going to be a poet at all, I am going to be POET and not NEGRO POET.” — poet Countee Cullen
- Reviews: Currents (2026)
- Reviews: Forge (2026)
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- Dave on Review: The Chronology of Water (2025)
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Tag Archives: Israel
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
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Review: Come Closer (2025)
Tom Nesher’s Come Closer is a work of personal catharsis, and I respect a lot of what she did. I reviewed for Ebert.
Review: No Other Land (2024)
A very tough challenging watch. But it should be watched. (In my review for Ebert I mention Green Border, directed by Polish master Agnieszka Holland, released earlier this year. See it. One if fictional – but barely – it’s really … Continue reading
Review: Oslo (2021)
On HBO: a film adaptation of the hit Broadway play Oslo, about the wheelings-and-dealings leading up to the Oslo Peace Accords. I reviewed for Ebert.
Best Films of 2019: Film Comment
The results of the Film Comment poll are in: the best films of 2019. For someone who doesn’t like lists – (I still recognizes their value!) – I sure participate in a lot of them. If nothing else, lists points … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged Argentina, Bong Joon-Ho, China, Christian Petzold, drama, England, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Jean-Luc Godard, Joanna Hogg, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, South Korea, Spain, women directors
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November 2017 Viewing Diary
This viewing diary may be tough going for those of you who are not Supernatural fans. But there’s a lot more mixed in there that is not that damn show. I was on a viewing tear, in general, to get … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Afghanistan, Agnes Varda, Cate Blanchett, Dennis Hopper, documentary, England, France, Isabelle Huppert, Israel, Joachim Trier, Joan Didion, Kentucker Audley, Kristen Stewart, Paul Thomas Anderson, Robert Altman, Russia, Sebastián Lelio, Steven Spielberg, Supernatural, Terrence Malick, Tiffany Haddish, women directors
29 Comments
September 2017 Viewing Diary
Nightcrawler (2014; d. Dan Gilroy) Such a good film. I wrote about it here. Rancho Notorious (1952; d. Fritz Lang) Marlene Dietrich rules. I totally buy her as that ranch owner. It makes no sense but she makes it make … Continue reading
Review: Bobbi Jene (2017)
You ever get the uneasy feeling that you’re supposed to love something? And you … don’t? Especially if you’re a woman … at least that’s been my experience. You’re a woman, of COURSE you loved such-and-such. You’re a woman, of … Continue reading
May 2017 Viewing Diary
Chuck (2017; d. Philippe Falardeau) A movie about the “real life Rocky,” the “bleeder from Bayonne” Chuck Wepner, starring Liev Schreiber. My review for Ebert. Take Me (2017; d. Pat Healy) God, I loved this movie. Please seek it out. … Continue reading
Review: The Women’s Balcony (2017)
An enormous box-office smash in Israel (and other points overseas, but since it’s an Israeli film I figured I’d mention it), The Women’s Balcony opens in the US today. I absolutely loved this movie. My review is now up at … Continue reading

