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- 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- “I don’t represent anything.” — Liz Phair
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- “Some syllables are swords.” — Metaphysical poet Henry Vaughan
- “To me, music is no joke and it’s not for sale.” — Ian MacKaye
- “All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.” — Charlie Chaplin
- “As a cinematographer, I was always attracted to stories that have the potential to be told with as few words as possible.” — Reed Morano
- “Even though I’m writing about very dark material, it still feels like an escape hatch.” — Olivia Laing
- “It’s just one of the mysteries of filmmaking that sometimes you do something that you don’t even think it’s important, then it turns out to be.” — Lili Horvát
- “Ballet taught me to stay close to style and tone. Literature taught me to be concerned about the moral life.” — Joan Acocella
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Tag Archives: Jane Fonda
Turn on the goose
China Syndrome (1979) What Happened Was… (1994) I have no idea what it means – it means nothing, really – but I could make up a whole story, drawing out the connections. The scene shows a woman in her private … Continue reading
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
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Charles Vidor, comedy, documentary, drama, Edna O'Brien, film noir, Iranian film, Ireland, Jane Fonda, Jeff Bridges, Mohammad Rasoulof, Paul Schrader, Richard Gere, Rita Hayworth, romantic drama, sci-fi, Sidney Lumet, women directors
28 Comments
Sidney Lumet: Excerpts from Making Movies
It’s Sidney Lumet’s birthday. Here are many excerpts from his classic and invaluable film-making handbook Making Movies: In Murder on the Orient Express, I wanted Ingrid Bergman to play the Russian Princess Dragomiroff. She wanted to play the retarded Swedish … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Books, Directors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Al Pacino, Dean Stockwell, Dog Day Afternoon, Faye Dunaway, Ingrid Bergman, Jane Fonda, Katharine Hepburn, Long Day's Journey Into Night, Marlon Brando, Network, Paul Newman, River Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Running on Empty, Sidney Lumet, William Holden
15 Comments
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
12 Comments
June 2020 Viewing Diary
Deadwind (2018; d. Rike Jokela) A Finnish crime drama television series on Netflix I got sucked into. I’ve been doing mostly binge-watching these days. Having a hard time absorbing movies, I’m not sure what’s going on. I am grateful for … Continue reading
Jane Fonda. A turtle. A white goose. Marilyn Monroe.
This scene from China Syndrome lasts 20 seconds – if that – and is the only scene that takes place in her house. She moves through the space, turns on her answering machine, and then flops down in bed. That’s … Continue reading

