Kerry Kennedy’s book may be called Being Catholic Now, but her opening is pure chutzpah. Given an audience with Pope Benedict a few years back, she asked him, “In view of the tragedy unfolding in Read More
Jon Savage’s breathtaking history of the punk movement in the United Kingdom, England’s Dreaming: Anarchy, Sex Pistols, Punk Rock, and Beyond (1992), combined the excitement of a fan caught up in a fevered cultural moment with the perspective of a critic who Read More
The connection between Christopher Buckley, the sort of writer whose novels are invariably described as “wickedly” something or other (clever, satirical, entertaining et al.) and the folksy, friendly glass of warm milk that went by the name of E.B. White would seem to be an unlikely one. Until you consider that, though their approach is Read More
By the mid-60’s, the standard that had been established for sitcoms in the previous decade—portraits of nuclear-family coziness—had largely given way to gimmickry and weirdness. The shows were about hillbillies transplanted to L.A., a Martian posing as a bachelor’s uncle, a talking horse, a genie in a bottle and a man whose mother is reincarnated Read More
Studios almost never admit to being wrong. So Warner Bros.’ decision to release John Huston’s Reflections in a Golden Eye in its original tinted version is not only a major act of restoration, but a major act of humility. (The film is available as part of the new Marlon Brando Collection, which also includes Brando’s Read More
Studios almost never admit to being wrong. So Warner Bros.’ decision to release John Huston’s Reflections in a Golden Eye in its original tinted version is not only a major act of restoration, but a major act of humility. (The film is available as part of the new Marlon Brando Collection, which also includes Brando’s Read More
Everyone remembers the blowhard on the movie line in Annie Hall. But almost nobody remembers that some of what he says is right. “We saw the Fellini film,” he begins, and forget the blather about La Strada being a great film for its use of “negative imagery” (whatever that is). The cineaste showboat’s complaints about Read More
Everyone remembers the blowhard on the movie line in Annie Hall. But almost nobody remembers that some of what he says is right.
“We saw the Fellini film,” he begins, and forget the blather about La Strada being a great film for its use of “negative imagery” (whatever that is). The cineaste showboat’s complaints about Read MoreDespite some attempts to set the record straight, the story persists that Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, starring Kirsten Dunst as the Austrian girl who becomes the Queen of France, was generally despised at this past spring’s Cannes Film Festival, and that the French particularly hated it. The movie did draw some scattered boos at the Read More
“Using every threat, contract, and influence I could muster”: That’s John Huston in his 1980 autobiography, An Open Book, on how he fought Warner Bros. to release his 1967 adaptation of Carson McCullers’ novella, Reflections in a Golden Eye, in a diffuse amber wash that would give the film a golden tint. Warner agreed to Read More
Despite some attempts to set the record straight, the story persists that Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, starring Kirsten Dunst as the Austrian girl who becomes the Queen of France, was generally despised at this past spring’s Cannes Film Festival, and that the French particularly hated it. The movie did draw some scattered boos at the Read More
“Using every threat, contract, and influence I could muster”: That’s John Huston in his 1980 autobiography, An Open Book, on how he fought Warner Bros. to release his 1967 adaptation of Carson McCullers’ novella, Reflections in a Golden Eye, in a diffuse amber wash that would give the film a golden tint. Warner agreed to Read More
Her shoes should have warned him. The shoes that Barbara Stanwyck’s Phyllis Dietrichson wears in the 1944 Double Indemnity—pumps with an unsightly ruffle of tulle on the toe, bedroom slippers with a puff of marabou—tell you everything you ever need to know about her, everything that her patsy-in-waiting, Fred MacMurray’s Walter Neff, misses. As femme Read More
Her shoes should have warned him. The shoes that Barbara Stanwyck’s Phyllis Dietrichson wears in the 1944 Double Indemnity—pumps with an unsightly ruffle of tulle on the toe, bedroom slippers with a puff of marabou—tell you everything you ever need to know about her, everything that her patsy-in-waiting, Fred MacMurray’s Walter Neff, misses.
As Read MoreThe unsigned editorial in last Friday’s New York Times made all the appropriate noises:
“For almost five years now,” it began, “we have carried around the legacy of Sept. 11. There is no sunny morning that does not revive its memory. The news of a terrorist plot against America-bound airliners yesterday called up feelings Read More
