Category Archives: Movies

Rant Du Jour: Why Rob from “High Fidelity” Sucks

Posted on February 24, 2017 by Blowhard, Esq.

Blowhard, Esq. writes: We’re all arts sophisticates around here, right? We love the good things in life like pro wrestling, Michael Bay movies, and Mickey Spillane novels. We cultivate our refined taste and enjoy bantering with like-minded aesthetes. Ergo, you’d think … Continue reading →

Posted in Books Publishing and Writing, Movies, Personal reflections | Tagged John Cusack, nerds, Nick Hornby | 7 Comments

“Lion” (2016)

Posted on February 16, 2017 by Blowhard, Esq.

Blowhard, Esq. writes: A boy from a tiny destitute Indian village is separated from his family, winds up over 1,200 miles from home on the streets of Calcutta, narrowly escapes sexual predators multiple times, is taken to a Dickensian orphanage, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged India, Muhammad Ali | 3 Comments

“Elle”

Posted on February 14, 2017 by Fabrizio del Wrongo

Fabrizio del Wrongo writes: Over the last 20 years Paul Verhoeven has displayed a fascination for put-through-the-wringer women. He likes their defiant glamour and their steadfastness in the face of chaos. In “Showgirls,” “Black Book,” and now “Elle” one has … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Performers | Tagged Elle, Film, Isabelle Huppert, movies, paul verhoeven | 2 Comments

Quote Du Jour: James M. Cain on Titles

Posted on February 7, 2017 by Blowhard, Esq.

Blowhard, Esq. writes: James M. Cain had wanted to call his first novel “Bar-B-Que.” Alfred Knopf quite rightly thought that was a terrible title. Cain suggested “Black Puma” or “The Devil’s Checkbook.” The publisher disliked those, too, and proposed calling it … Continue reading →

Posted in Books Publishing and Writing, Movies | Tagged Alfred Knopf, James M. Cain | 1 Comment

Let Us Now Praise the White Saviors of Black Music

Posted on January 27, 2017 by Blowhard, Esq.

Blowhard, Esq. writes: In a dialogue with fellow New York Times movie critic A.O. Scott, Manohla Dargis criticized the continuing white-centric nature of most Hollywood films: “Sully” is about professionalism and expertise, specifically those of a white hero, which is … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Music | Tagged an open and honest dialogue about race, blues, jazz, white saviors | 10 Comments

“Moonlight” (2016) and “Silence” (2016)

Posted on January 25, 2017 by Blowhard, Esq.

Blowhard, Esq. writes: I found the experience of watching these movies to be very similar. In both we’re presented with characters suffering a great deal, the movies demand that we regard them as saints, yet virtually no attempt is made to … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged Barry Jenkins, Jay Cocks, Martin Scorsese, story, Tarell Alvin McCraney | 7 Comments

Notes on “Sully”

Posted on January 18, 2017 by Fabrizio del Wrongo

Fabrizio del Wrongo writes: Perhaps it took an older director, and one with the conservative impulses of Clint Eastwood, to make the story of Chelsey “Sully” Sullenberger into a movie about the heroism of dutifulness. Though “Sully” is set in … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Performers | Tagged Aaron Eckhart, Clint Eastwood, Film, movies, Sully, Todd Komarnicki, Tom Hanks | 4 Comments

Movie Posters: Three Deneuves

Posted on January 7, 2017 by Fabrizio del Wrongo

Fabrizio del Wrongo writes: What is it about Catherine Deneuve that prompts desecration? It sometimes seemed as though her directors needed to spoil her in order to properly venerate her. Perhaps it’s the placid opaqueness of her beauty that encouraged … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Performers | Tagged Argentina, Belle de jour, catherine deneuve, Czechoslovakia, Film, Italy, Luis Buñuel, Movie Posters, movies, Repulsion, Roman Polanski, Tristana | Leave a comment

“Cafe Society”

Posted on December 29, 2016 by Fabrizio del Wrongo

Fabrizio del Wrongo writes: I found “Cafe Society” to be the most affecting Woody Allen movie of recent years. It’s a soft-shoe over and around Allen’s accustomed themes and obsessions that — miraculously — never stumbles into triteness or predictability. Allen’s hero, Bobby, … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged Cafe Society, Film, Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, movies, Vittorio Storaro, Woody Allen | 4 Comments

Our Favorite Things in 2016

Posted on December 22, 2016 by Blowhard, Esq.

Blowhard, Esq. writes: Aging crank that I am, like the others in this group I gave up following whatever’s current a long time ago. Why bother when 90% will be forgotten in a few years anyway? So, as my selections show, … Continue reading →