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- 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Twelfth Night: or, What You Will
- “Literature is the written expression of revolt against expected things.” Happy Birthday to the least happy man ever, Thomas Hardy
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- “If I am going to be a poet at all, I am going to be POET and not NEGRO POET.” — poet Countee Cullen
- Reviews: Currents (2026)
- Reviews: Forge (2026)
- “Only the bad directors tell you how to read a line, how to define your character. The good ones let you do your job.” — Carroll Baker
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- Biff Dorsey on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Hamlet
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Tag Archives: romantic drama
“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
Today is Hungarian director Lili Horvát’s birthday. The timing is fortuitous. I am overjoyed for the people of Hungary today, and also thinking of the theatre artistswho have been resisting within increasingly rigid and risky parameters. Back in November, during … Continue reading
Posted in Directors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Hungary, romantic drama, women directors
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2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Romeo & Juliet
My progress: Shakespeare Reading Project Henry VI, parts 1, 2, 3 and Richard III Two Gentlemen of Verona The Taming of the Shrew Titus Andronicus The Comedy of Errors Love’s Labour’s Lost Romeo & Juliet The play starts with a … Continue reading
Posted in Theatre
Tagged Camille Paglia, Harold Bloom, romantic drama, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, W.H. Auden, William Hazlitt, William Shakespeare
9 Comments
Review: Merv (2025)
I reviewed for Ebert.
“It’s more about what story I want to be in than what medium.” — Jacqueline McKenzie
I first saw this phenomenal Australian actress (whose birthday it is today) in Romper Stomper in 1992, and she was so intense, so unpredictable, she was on another level. I couldn’t get her out of my head. She made more … Continue reading
Review: All of You (2025)
Brett Goldstein (whom I love) co-wrote and co-stars in All of You, and in my review I give shout outs to Delaney Rowe (if you don’t know, you need to know) and, Lord help me, Richard Bach.
June 2025 Viewing Diary
The last couple of months – really since the beginning of the year – I’ve only had room in my head for re-watches of stuff I already know. It was crunch time for the Frankenstein book. Plus politics and pretty … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged documentary, Jane Austen, Jensen Ackles, New Zealand, romantic drama, sci-fi, thrillers, women directors, X-Files
10 Comments
Reviews: Love Me (2025)
I know I didn’t give Love Me that good a review, but I think it’s still worth checking out, particularly for the first half, its visuals and creativity.
Posted in Movies
Tagged dystopia, Kristen Stewart, reviews, romantic drama, women directors
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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
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, film noir, France, Glen Powell, Gloria Swanson, Meryl Streep, New Zealand, Richard Linklater, romantic comedy, romantic drama, short films, Steven Spielberg, Sunset Boulevard, Thomas J. Wright, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, war movies, William Holden, women directors
12 Comments

