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Tag Archives: Robert Altman
“The greatest films are the ones that leave you not able to explain, but you know that you have experienced something special.” — Robert Altman
It’s his birthday today. One of my favorite film-makers, but I haven’t written all that much about him. I love my friend Dan Callahan’s piece on Prairie Home Companion. I did write the booklet essay for the Arrow Films release … Continue reading
“I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific.” — Lily Tomlin
It’s her birthday today. I wrote about Lily Tomlin (and other talented actresses who come from comedy/improv) in my “Present Tense” Film Comment column. She is on another level. I mean … A couple years back, as part of an … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day, Television
Tagged John Travolta, Lily Tomlin, Meryl Streep, Robert Altman
7 Comments
“I’m one of those people who thinks you can have a happy life and still be an artist.” — Shelley Duvall
Here’s the piece I wrote when Duvall died last year: The “pink stuff” of Shelley Duvall. Thank you so much for stopping by. If you like what I do, and if you feel inclined to support my work, … Continue reading
R.I.P. Shelley Duvall
I wrote about Shelley Duvall on my Substack.
R.I.P. Harry Belafonte
By complete coincidence, just a few days ago Mitchell and I had a lengthy conversation about Harry Belafonte’s wonderful performance in Robert Altman’s Kansas City. I can’t even remember how or why it came up. But we dug into it, … Continue reading
July 2022 Viewing Diary
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019; d. Quentin Tarantino) I like it more every time I see it. I’ve seen it maybe 7 or 8 times. Desert Fury (1947; d. Lewis Allen) I adore this messed-up homoerotic Technicolor fever-dream. … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Australia, Baz Luhrmann, Brad Pitt, comedy, documentary, drama, Elvis Presley, film noir, France, Georgia, Juliette Binoche, Kurt Russell, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mary Astor, Peter Bogdanovich, Quentin Tarantino, Rebecca Hall, Robert Altman, romantic drama, Supernatural, What's Up Doc, women directors
65 Comments
Present Tense: Female Comedians
For my next column at Film Comment, I wrote about actresses who come from a comedy/improv background, and the special gifts they bring to bear in dramatic material. Featuring a couple of interviews I did with circus people, and also … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies
Tagged Catherine O'Hara, Kristen Wiig, Lily Tomlin, Lon Chaney, Meryl Streep, Present Tense, Robert Altman
2 Comments
Year in Review: Running my mouth in 2018
Thanks, everyone, who hangs out here, who likes what I do, whether you’re an Elvis fan, a Supernatural fan, a general cinephile, a book-lover, or just someone who’s been checking in periodically for almost 16 years – WHAT? – I … Continue reading
Posted in James Joyce, Movies, Television
Tagged Anne V. Coates, Burt Reynolds, documentary, Doris Day, Dorothy Malone, Elvis Presley, England, Finnegans Wake, Frank Sinatra, Gena Rowlands, Germany, Gold Diggers of 1933, Grace Kelly, Hal Ashby, Howard Hughes, Ian McEwan, James Cagney, Joan Didion, Joaquin Phoenix, Julie Christie, Lynne Ramsay, Mexico, Minnie and Moskowitz, Natalie Portman, Paul Thomas Anderson, Play It As It Lays, Robert Altman, Russia, Sanaa Lathan, South Korea, Supernatural, Warren Beatty, women directors, Woody Allen, year in writing
10 Comments
On Robert Altman’s Gosford Park (2002)
The byzantine rituals of the British class system may seem like a strange topic for the Kansas City-born Robert Altman, a high-risk gambler with an antiauthoritarian streak 10 miles long. But as a staunch outsider to the mainstream, he spent … Continue reading
R.I.P. Barbara Harris
In the final scene in Nashville, a homegrown truly American masterpiece, the ditzy hopeful singer Albuquerque, played by Barbara Harris, who has been haunting the periphery of the film, staggering around in her skimpy clothes, waiting for her shot at … Continue reading