Categories
Archives
-
-
-
-
Recent Posts
- “What are you gonna do, talk the alien to death?” — James Cameron
- The last photo and the Stutz
- “I had never seen anything like him . . . I vowed nothing would stop me from signing this boy for films.” – producer Hal Wallis on Elvis Presley
- “There’s no one ‘right’ way of making a science fiction movie; there’s no one way of making any kind of movie, really!” — Nicolas Roeg
- “Yeah, and I’m buddies with Alfred.” — Eminem on Alfred Hitchcock
- “I like myself poems that are gentle rather than arrogant intellectually. Where language fades into cries or whispers.” — Medbh McGuckian
- “One day I hope I can write happier poems, but most of the things I think about aren’t very cheerful.” — poet Philip Larkin
- “I gave my eardrums to MGM. And it’s true: I really did.” — Esther Williams
- On This Day: August 7, 1934: “It must always be remembered that his locale was Celtic and his season Spring.”
- “These kids only want to talk about acting method and motivation. in my day all we talked about was screwing and overtime.” — Robert Mitchum
Recent Comments
- Becca on Diary Friday: “OK, it wasn’t just a normal assembly. It was a CONCERT from a rock group – Freedom Jam.”
- sheila on Substack: My first press badge
- Scott Abraham on Substack: My first press badge
- sheila on Dynamic Duo #49
- Biff Dorsey on Dynamic Duo #49
- sheila on “Why can’t people take me as a regular singer without making a bogeyman out of me?” — Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
- Ken on “Why can’t people take me as a regular singer without making a bogeyman out of me?” — Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
- sheila on Physical Media Booklet Essay: Being scholarly about movies that don’t exist
- sheila on Physical Media Booklet Essay: Being scholarly about movies that don’t exist
- sheila on R.I.P. Jennifer Finch
- sheila on “I think something once broken and put back together is even stronger.” — Jared Padalecki
- Lyrie on Physical Media Booklet Essay: Being scholarly about movies that don’t exist
- Lyrie on “I think something once broken and put back together is even stronger.” — Jared Padalecki
- Lyrie on R.I.P. Jennifer Finch
- Lyrie on “I think something once broken and put back together is even stronger.” — Jared Padalecki
- sheila on “I’m not a yesterday’s woman. I’m a tomorrow’s woman.” — Barbara Stanwyck
- sheila on Happy Birthday, Chips Moman
- Ken on “I’m not a yesterday’s woman. I’m a tomorrow’s woman.” — Barbara Stanwyck
- Tony McCrorie on Happy Birthday, Chips Moman
- sheila on “Reality is diabolical.” — Ingmar Bergman
-
Tag Archives: Paul Thomas Anderson
“The films that I love are very straightforward stories, like really old-fashioned stuff.” — Paul Thomas Anderson
There are many good contemporary film-makers doing fascinating bold work but Paul Thomas Anderson is what you might call “touched”. What other filmmaker now would even dare to make something like Magnolia? Who could even think that up? How was … Continue reading
2025 National Society of Film Critics Awards
It’s the 60th year of the National Society of Film Critics. We met up in New York / Los Angeles / Zoom to vote today. We also have a couple of fun categories – like Best Experimental Film – and … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged Argentina, Brazil, documentary, Ethan Hawke, Iranian film, Jafar Panahi, Norway, Paul Thomas Anderson, Richard Linklater, Russia
Leave a comment
NYFCC 2025 winners
We met yesterday to vote on the year’s best. It’s always a somewhat grueling process, because it’s about counting, and tallying up all the blind votes. We often go into multiple rounds. But we did eventually come up with the … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged Brazil, Iranian film, Jafar Panahi, Paul Thomas Anderson, Russia, women directors
Leave a comment
September 2025 Snapshots
Attended some of the press screenings at the New York Film Festival. I haven’t been in a couple of years, for various reasons, and it’s been so sad for me. I loved getting up in the morning and heading to … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged Alexander Hamilton, Elvis Presley, family, Frankenstein, friends, Gena Rowlands, John Cassavetes, Memphis, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sam Shaw, snapshots
2 Comments
December 2022 Viewing Diary
The Whale (2022; d. Darren Aronofsky) I thought it was appalling, and not for the obvious reasons. His body is viewed as literally a movie monster, with all these horror-movie shots of his gigantic ankles, etc.) It felt tired and … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged action movies, animation, Austria, Brad Pitt, Brian De Palma, Charles Dickens, Christopher Walken, Claude Chabrol, Claudette Colbert, comedy, coming of age, Czechoslovakia, Darren Aronofsky, David Bowie, documentary, drama, England, France, Germany, heist movies, historical drama, Hungary, India, Isabelle Huppert, Kentucker Audley, Natasha Richardson, Paul Schrader, Paul Thomas Anderson, Preston Sturges, Punch-Drunk Love, Russia, Sandrine Bonnaire, screwball comedy, thrillers, Ukraine, war, women directors
3 Comments
Falling in love in itty-bitty cars
Claudette Colbert and Don Ameche, Midnight (1939; d. Mitchell Leisen) Daniel Day-Lewis and Vicki Krieps, Phantom Thread (2017; d. Paul Thomas Anderson)
Posted in Movies
Tagged Claudette Colbert, Paul Thomas Anderson, romantic drama, screwball comedy
Leave a comment
What’s back there? It’s nothing good.
1. Inherent Vice (2014) 2. Ciao! Manhattan (1972)
NYFCC 2021 Awards
Early this month, the New York Film Critics Circle met up at Lincoln Center – in person – for the first time in over a year – to vote on our 2021 awards. The awards show is being held in … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged Afghanistan, animation, comedy, Denmark, documentary, drama, Japan, Lady Gaga, musicals, Norway, Paul Thomas Anderson, Steven Spielberg, women directors
Leave a comment
Rogerebert.com: The Ten Best Films of 2021
The annual Rogerebert.com contributors’ collective Top 10. We each submit an individual list, and then we’re given assignments based on the tally. I wrote on Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza. You can read the full list here. I’ll be putting … Continue reading
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