"It's film-tastic!" A warm-up for this weekend's Contrarianism Blog-a-Thon -- from Manohla Dargis's piece on the Film Comment Selects series, in today's New York Times: Film criticism, as it has been observed, is the rationalization of taste into theory. No…
Here is Lil. She indicates that this is one of Gordon's blue rose cases. When I saw David Lynch's "Inland Empire" for the first time a few weeks ago, I knew I was going to be reviewing it for the…
I went to one of the first editions of the Portland International Film Festival back in 1978 or 1979 (thanks to Ruth Hayler of Seven Gables Theatres), where I saw Peter Weir's "Picnic at Hanging Rock" for the first time.…
View image "Citizen Kane": No matter what anybody says, "It's Terrific!" Edward Copeland had a bunch of questions about anomalies in Oscar history and technicalities in the (ever-changing) rules. So, he went straight to the source, the staff of the…
View image (Sun-Times illustration) Roger Ebert is pretty darned good when it comes to predicting the Oscar winners. (I, on the other hand, have never, ever won an Oscar pool. I'm terrible at it.) This year, he also agrees with…
In a year when the Academy Award nominations are more diverse and international than ever before, it's anyone's guess who will win best picture. "Dreamgirls" garnered more nominations than any other movie, but was passed over for both picture and…
"Blade Runner": I could watch it again right now just for the pretty colored lights. I've fallen behind on my movie blog reading in recent days, so now I'm catching up on some good stuff. Like this, from girish: I’m…
View image So, Jude Law says to Robin Wright Penn: "Maybe that's why I like metaphors." My review of Anthony Minghella's "Breaking and Entering" is in the Chicago Sun-Times and on RogerEbert.com: The title of Anthony Minghella's dour "Breaking and…
View image It's a jolly horrorshow with Mary. Just a reminder that I'm hosting the Contrarianism Blog-a-Thon next weekend, Feb. 16 -18. Got some contrarian thoughts you'd like to share? A film theory that goes against the grain? A despised…
Water Music From Big Pink: Gwyneth's Oscar meltdown. From my handy guide on how to avoid making yourself a laughingstock during your Oscar speech, at MSN Movies: The main thing to remember when you win your Oscar (and you know…
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