Tag Archives: Vietnam

April 2022 Viewing Diary

When I first got the Raging Bull gig, I began a re-watch of all the Scorsese-De Niro movies – at least the ones clustered around that period. I grew up on these films. These movies were huge to me as … Continue reading

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December 2020 Viewing Diary

I hope you like The X-Files. Look forward to hearing from fans of the show. The past couple of months have been heart-wrenching for my family. It will continue to be so. We are struggling under the weight of the … Continue reading

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R.I.P. Michael Herr

War journalist and screenwriter Michael Herr has died at the age of 76. His Dispatches, the classic of war journalism and so influential you can’t even measure it, is on most Best Nonfiction Books of All Time worth their salt. … Continue reading

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2015 Books Read

Even I am impressed with how much I read this year. Along the course of the year, occasionally I’d think to myself, “Good job, Sheila, with your Self-Imposed Reading Plan!” I’ve read a lot of new novels (not really my … Continue reading

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My Favorite Films of 2014

My Top 10 (more in-depth commentary, and other writer’s choices over at Rogerebert.com): 1. Beyond the Lights, directed by Gina Prince-Blythewood. 2. Boyhood, directed by Richard Linklater. Review here. 3. Closed Curtain, directed by Jafar Panahi. Review here. 4. Force … Continue reading

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Daughter From Danang (2002); directed by Gail Dolgin and Vicente Franco

Nominated for an Oscar, Daughter From Danang is one of the most emotionally harrowing documentaries I’ve ever seen. Halfway through I started to get a very very bad feeling. Something was approaching, something unforeseen, something completely unexpected. You could feel … Continue reading

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Thank You To All Who Serve

I took this photo on Veterans Day, 2008, after watching an outdoor concert given by the USMC band in NYC. “They carried USO stationery and pencils and pens. They carried Sterno, safety pins, trip flares, signal flares, spools of wire, … Continue reading

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Matt Zoller Seitz and I Discuss Nancy Savoca’s Dogfight

Dogfight, written by Bob Comfort, and directed by Nancy Savoca, stars Lili Taylor as Rose Fenny, a shy frumpy waitress living in San Francisco in 1963, dreaming of being a folk singer, and River Phoenix, at his very best, as … Continue reading

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Viva Vietnam

Ann Margret entertaining US troops in Vietnam, 1966.

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The Books: “The Things They Carried’ (Tim O’Brien)

Daily Book Excerpt: Adult fiction: The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien. Fiction? Journalism? Reportage? Memoir? Do we really care? I don’t. But lots of people seem to reallllllly care about those labels. As we have seen time and time … Continue reading

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