While I watched it, it didn't seem like much. Now, though, I can't stop thinking about its subtle strangeness and the unspoken questions that increase after the credits roll.
What's a guy to do when what he longs to do, what he knows he's good at, and what he believes is his God-given purpose in life... may not be wise to do ever, may be a hastily drawn conclusion about what he's best at, and may not be God's purpose…
"You never really understand a [wolf] until you consider things from [her] point of view ... until you climb into [her] skin and walk around in it.”
This is not a quotation from The Silence of the Lambs (although it could be). It's from To Kill a Mockingbird (of course). But it can meaningfully capture the conviction at the heart of the storytellers who bring us Wolfwalkers, a film about how humankind should (and shouldn't) treat other creatures... and, ultimately,…
The last time I set foot in a movie theater was March 9, 2020.
Today, March 7, I walked back inside my favorite theater — the Crest Cinema Center — as soon as the theater opened to see my friend Isaac‘s movie in all of its glory on the big screen.
The Crest has raised its ticket price by about 35%. A ticket is now $6. A year ago, I might have been heartbroken to see their legendary ticket prices go…
My favorite stand-up shows have a lot in common — distinctive physicality (or, Wright's case, a lack of it), absurdity, self-effacing humor rather than cruel humor, cruel humor only when the cruelty of the speaker *is* the joke, tangents, tangents off of tangents, as much sophistication in expression and gesture as language, and, at the heart of it all, a fundametal goodness and decency:
Steve Martin, "A Wild and Crazy Guy" 1978
Steven Wright, "I Have a Pony," 1985
Eddie…
Name one movie that is
a) directed by a woman,
b) filmed by a woman,
b) about women, and
c) deeply concerned with matters of faith.
I can think of many films directed by men, and focusing on men, that rigorously wrestle with questions about God and the problem of evil. But The Innocents is a remarkably rare event.
16 THINGS ABOUT GOSFORD PARK
1. Still my favorite Altman film.
2. Still head and shoulders above the entirety of Downton Abbey.
3. Still the most virtuosic choreography of a large ensemble cast I've ever seen.
4. I miss Clive Owen.
5. That scene with Tom Hollander eating jam in the cellar. That scene.
6. I believe that when he goes home from work, Richard E. Grant dresses and behaves just like this.
7. All of the moments with Claudie…
