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- 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- “I don’t represent anything.” — Liz Phair
- “I don’t really know why, but danger has always been an important thing in my life – to see how far I could lean without falling, how fast I could go without cracking up.” — William Holden
- “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: Katharine Hepburn
“I had not directed anything before. In fact I hadn’t told anyone to do anything before.” — Dorothy Arzner
“I’d rather do a picture for a small company and have my own way than a B picture for Paramount.” — Dorothy Arzner It’s her birthday today. Here’s an excellent interview with her from 1974. I have written quite a … Continue reading
Posted in Directors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Clara Bow, Dorothy Arzner, Joan Crawford, Katharine Hepburn, Lucille Ball, Maureen O'Hara, Rosalind Russell, women directors
4 Comments
“I don’t care how afraid I may be inside — I do what I think I should.” — Katharine Hepburn
Barbara Walters: “Kate, you always wear pants. Do you even own a skirt?” Katharine Hepburn: “I have one, Miss Walters. I’ll wear it to your funeral.” Dan and I discussed her, in my interview with him about his new book. … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Bringing Up Baby, Katharine Hepburn, Sylvia Scarlett
4 Comments
June 2023 Viewing Diary
Succession (2018-2023) I finally watched, having somehow resisted the DEAFENING buzz over the last couple of years. I like Jeremy Strong, liked his small moment in Zero Dark Thirty, he totally stood out in The Big Short (directed by one … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Billy Wilder, Cristian Mungiu, documentary, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., drama, Elia Kazan, Eva Marie Saint, France, Harriet Andersson, Ingmar Bergman, Karl Malden, Katharine Hepburn, Lee J. Cobb, Marlon Brando, On the Waterfront, Otto Preminger, reviews, Rod Steiger, Romania, romantic drama, Stalag 17, Stanley Kramer, Sweden, true crime, war movies, William Holden, women directors
23 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
November 2021 Viewing Diary
The Wire, half of Season 3 This is the busiest time of year in re: film-critic-land, so had to stop my re-watch of The Wire to make room for new releases. I’ll get back to it! All Is Forgiven (2007; … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Amy Heckerling, Balkans, Dean Stockwell, documentary, drama, Ethan Hawke, Eugene O'Neill, France, Ingmar Bergman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Japan, Katharine Hepburn, literary adaptation, Long Day's Journey Into Night, Mexico, Mia Hansen-Løve, Mia Wasikowska, New Zealand, Paul Thomas Anderson, Quantum Leap, Rebecca Hall, Sidney Lumet, Spain, Sweden, The Beatles, Will Ferrell, women directors
22 Comments
Now on Criterion: Bringing Up Baby
The Criterion Collection just released Howard Hawks’ 1938 screwball classic Bringing Up Baby, in a new 4k restoration. The special features are EXTENSIVE, including a video-essay on Cary Grant by Scott Eyman (author of the new biography of Grant), as … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged Bringing Up Baby, Cary Grant, Howard Hawks, Katharine Hepburn, reviews, screwball comedy
4 Comments
Criterion July releases announced
And every single one (La Piscine, Working Girls, Deep Cover, The Mirror and Bringing Up Baby) is exciting and a welcome addition to the Criterion library. I was thrilled to have been asked to write the booklet essay for Howard … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged Bringing Up Baby, Cary Grant, Howard Hawks, Katharine Hepburn
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Recommended Books: Memoirs
More recommendations: Recommended Fiction Recommended Non-Fiction MEMOIRS The Fervent Years: The Group Theatre And The Thirties, by Harold Clurman Probably the most famous of all the Group Theatre-related books. Harold Clurman writes his memories of that time and what those … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Books, Directors, Music, writers
Tagged Anjelica Huston, Austria, Baby Doll, Benjamin Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, Carroll Baker, Czechoslovakia, Diane Keaton, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Elia Kazan, Ellen Terry, Elvis Presley, Frank McCourt, Ginger Rogers, Goldie Hawn, Group Theatre, Harold Clurman, Ireland, James Salter, Jeanette Winterson, John Strasberg, Katharine Hepburn, Kathleen Turner, Lana Turner, Lauren Bacall, Lee Strasberg, Marlon Brando, Maud Gonne, Memoirs, Patricia Bosworth, Primo Levi, Robert Evans, Rosalind Russell, Russia, Shane Leslie, Shelley Winters, Shirley MacLaine, Stefan Zweig, Steve Martin, The Kid Stays In the Picture, Victor Serge, WWII
2 Comments
January 2020 Viewing Diary
Hell Is for Heroes (1962; d. Don Siegel) A spare lean and mean war movie – pretty standard, actually – except Steve McQueen is actually presenting a character study here, a character he probably knows something about. He is eerie … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Al Pacino, Brad Pitt, children's movies, Colin Farrell, comedy, coming of age, crime movies, Dean Stockwell, documentary, Dorothy Arzner, drama, Dustin Hoffman, England, France, Ginger Rogers, heist movies, Iran, Iranian film, Jean Arthur, Joaquin Phoenix, Joel McCrea, John Sturges, Judy Garland, Katharine Hepburn, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lucille Ball, Martin Scorsese, Maureen O'Hara, musicals, Nick Nolte, Quentin Tarantino, Robert De Niro, romantic comedy, screwball comedy, Steve McQueen, Supernatural, true crime, war movies, women directors
3 Comments