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- November 2024 Viewing Diary
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Tag Archives: Italy
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
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April 2022 Viewing Diary
When I first got the Raging Bull gig, I began a re-watch of all the Scorsese-De Niro movies – at least the ones clustered around that period. I grew up on these films. These movies were huge to me as … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Anjelica Huston, biopic, Brian De Palma, Canada, Christopher Walken, comedy, Dana Andrews, documentary, drama, Elia Kazan, F. Scott Fitzgerald, France, historical drama, Italy, Jack Nicholson, Jane Fonda, Joan Didion, John Cazale, Liza Minnelli, Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, Mickey Rourke, musicals, Ray Milland, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Robert Mitchum, romantic drama, Russia, sci-fi, Tuesday Weld, Ukraine, Vietnam, women directors, WWII
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R.I.P. Monica Vitti
One of those rare actresses who could hold the screen just by standing there. Literally. She just stood there and you are afraid to move or avert your eyes because you don’t want to miss anything. Of her just standing … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, RIP
Tagged Asghar Farhadi, Golshifteh Farahani, Iranian film, Italy, Michelangelo Antonioni, mirrors
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2021 Books Read
I lived at three addresses this year. I moved twice. In the middle of a pandemic. It’s been a year of upheaval, transition, as well as endurance. For most of this year, the majority of my stuff was in storage. … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Austria, Balkans, Billy Wilder, Biography, books read, Cary Grant, Croatia, Czeslaw Milosz, David McCullough, Dubravka Ugrešić, Edvard Radzinsky, Elinor Lipman, England, essays, Eve Babitz, Evelyn Waugh, fiction, Germany, Hitler, Howard Hawks, Ireland, Italy, Liz Phair, Memoirs, Nancy Lemann, Nick Tosches, nonfiction, Olivia Laing, Poland, politics, Robert Conquest, Robert Kaplan, Russia, Sergei Kirov, Stalin, Sweden, Thomas Mann, Tom Wolfe, Vladimir Nabokov, war, WWII, Yugoslavia
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2020 Movie Recommendations
I’m probably missing some. And there are still a couple of foreign films I haven’t seen. The Assistant (2020; d. Kitty Green)- It’s so so good, and so “of our moment” it’s almost eerie. But it’s the WAY that Kitty … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged Alexander Hamilton, animation, Aubrey Plaza, Australia, Brazil, comedy, documentary, drama, England, friends, Germany, hockey, horror, Italy, musicals, Romania, Russia, Shirley Jackson, Sofia Coppola, South Korea, Spike Lee, women directors
3 Comments
November 2020 Viewing Diary
Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993; d. Steven Zaillian) Popped this fave in because I was still revved up by Queen’s Gambit … I love this movie so much. Makes me cry every time. Supernatural, Season 15, episode 17 “Unity” (2020; … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Bill Murray, Bong Joon-Ho, comedy, documentary, drama, Dylan Thomas, England, Germany, Italy, Romania, Russia, sci-fi, South Korea, Spike Lee, sports movies, Supernatural, Wales, war, X-Files
6 Comments
Review: The Life Ahead (2020)
I reviewed the Netflix film, The Life Ahead, starring the 86-year-old legend Sophia Loren, for Ebert.
Review: The Disappearance of My Mother (2019)
I reviewed the new documentary, The Disappearance of My Mother, “about” (sort of) Italian supermodel Benedetta Barzini, for Ebert.
November 2019 Viewing Diary
The Best of Everything (1959; d. Jean Negulesco) I love this movie so much. I read the book this year (for the first time). I highly recommend both. This is the wellspring from which Mad Men sprung. The Devil Next … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged China, comedy, documentary, drama, England, France, hockey, Italy, Jennifer Aniston, Jodie Foster, romantic drama, sci-fi, Spain, Supernatural, women directors, Woody Allen
19 Comments