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- September 2024 Viewing Diary
- “I grew up believing that I was fundamentally powerless.” — Thom Yorke
- Dynamic Duo #41
- “I want to live, not pose!” — Carole Lombard
- “When I get into that studio, I’m in another world. I love it. When I’m performing, that’s the real me.” — Billy Lee Riley
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- “All my life I have been happiest when the folks watching me said to each other, `Look at the poor dope, wilya?” — Buster Keaton
- Temporary
- “The problem with taking amps to a shop is that they come back sounding like another amp.” — Stevie Ray Vaughan
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- sheila on “I didn’t think then, and I still don’t, that I was actually sick.” — Frances Farmer
- sheila on “I didn’t think then, and I still don’t, that I was actually sick.” — Frances Farmer
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- sheila on R.I.P. Maggie Smith
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- sheila on “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” — Stephen King
- sheila on “I didn’t think then, and I still don’t, that I was actually sick.” — Frances Farmer
- sheila on “I didn’t think then, and I still don’t, that I was actually sick.” — Frances Farmer
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- Gemstone on “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” — Stephen King
- Lyrie on “I didn’t think then, and I still don’t, that I was actually sick.” — Frances Farmer
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Tag Archives: New Zealand
June 2024 Viewing Diary
Sunset Boulevard (1950; d. Billy Wilder) I had so much fun discussing Sunset Boulevard with the audience after the screening at Jacob Burns Film Center. I’ll be doing another one in August, after Billy Wilder’s The Apartment. The audience was … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged action movies, Billy Wilder, comedy, France, Glen Powell, Gloria Swanson, Meryl Streep, New Zealand, noir, Richard Linklater, romantic comedy, romantic drama, short film, Steven Spielberg, Sunset Boulevard, Thomas J. Wright, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, war movies, William Holden, women directors
12 Comments
September 2022 Viewing Diary
The Deep End (2022; d. Jon Kasbe) I’m into cults but I actively avoid woo-woo, so somehow Teal Swan escaped my radar. Well, she’s on my radar NOW. This Netflix doc is extraordinary because Teal Swan participated in it, she … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Baz Luhrmann, comedy, cults, documentary, drama, Elvis Presley, England, Hal Wallis, Ida Lupino, James Cagney, John Garfield, Marilyn Monroe, musical, New Zealand, noir, Olivia de Havilland, Raoul Walsh, Rita Hayworth, Thomas Mitchell, true crime, Western, women directors
29 Comments
Review: The Justice of Bunny King
What a remarkable directorial debut, and WHAT a performance from Essie Davis. I reviewed for Ebert.
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
April 2016 Viewing Diary
The Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016; d. Taika Waititi) My favorite thing I saw at Tribeca. It hasn’t opened yet but this is one you want to see. My review here. Midsummer in Newtown (2016; d. Lloyd Kramer) I was … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged AFME, Al Pacino, Brian De Palma, Claude Chabrol, Denmark, documentary, drama, France, historical drama, Howard Hawks, Jean-Paul Belmondo, July and Half of August, Lily Tomlin, Mervyn LeRoy, Michael Mann, New Zealand, Pre-Code, Preston Sturges, romantic drama, silent films, Supernatural, war movies
81 Comments
Review: Tribeca 2016: Hunt for the Wilderpeople
What a wonderful film from Taika Waititi, New Zealand’s most successful film-maker currently. It’s been at Sundance, now Tribeca: I’m sure it will open in a semi-wide release so please look for it. I reviewed Hunt for the Wilderpeople at … Continue reading
March 2016 Viewing Diary
Supernatural, Season 2, Episode 20: “What Is and What Should Never Be” (2007; d. Eric Kripke) My 300-page re-cap here. At Any Price (2012; d. Ramin Bahrani) Inspired by the recent conversation Mitchell and I had about Zac Efron (Part … Continue reading
Review: The Dark Horse (2016)
I really loved this movie about real-life Maori chess-phenom Genesis Potini. He was also bipolar. Chess was his only focus, the only thing that helped him organize his illness and his lufe. He devoted his life (he died in 2011) … Continue reading
Review: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014); directed by Peter Jackson
Mixed feelings. Thought “Unexpected Journey” was an unnecessarily elongated prologue, loved “Desolation of Smaug” (review here), and the final installment feels like a long-drawn-out closing paragraph. Should have been done in one film. Could have been done in one film. … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged fantasy movies, J.R.R. Tolkien, New Zealand, reviews, The Hobbit
42 Comments
Review: Housebound (2014)
The poster kind of captures the mood of Housebound, a horror film by Gerard Johnstone (his debut as a director and a writer). It’s a horror film, it’s also hilarious. I liked it a lot. Not easy to pull of … Continue reading