Great Movies
TV/Streaming
Home Entertainment Guide: October 2023
On the latest new releases, including Barbie, Talk to Me, Insidious: The Red Door, and The Haunted Mansion.
On the latest new releases, including Barbie, Talk to Me, Insidious: The Red Door, and The Haunted Mansion.
An interview with the director of Nanny, currently playing in Sundance 2022 U.S. Dramatic Competition program.
On three more competition films from Sundance 2022, all of which center women feeling a sort of alienation from home or even themselves.
With "Mission: Impossible - Fallout," Christopher McQuarrie has now made the best and worst "M:I" movies to date.
If all blockbuster-sized entertainments were even half as ambitious and ingenious as these films have been, moviegoers would be infinitely better off.
Premieres, Midnights, Special Events and more have been announced for next month's Sundance Film Festival.
An extensive preview of 50 films coming out within the next four months, from "Sully" to "Toni Erdmann."
A TV critic's picks for the best TV of 2015-16.
Drew Tobia on "See You Next Tuesday"; Charles M. Blow: "Up From Pain"; Talking about Kevin Smith; Rob Walker on "The Haunting"; Joe Berlinger on the changing market for documentaries.
Picks for the best of the 2013-14 television season, in the form of a Dream Emmy ballot.
An interview with Wes Anderson; Wesley Morris on the state of gay culture; True Detective and women; Gawker founder Nick Denton tells all; Film preservation 2.0.
Actors with "A-list" name recognition continue to migrate to television. "True Detective" uses Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson to make great television.
We're counting down twelve great movie scenes set around Christmas. Here is the first batch, with #12 through #9.
Marie writes: the following moment of happiness is brought to you by the glorious Tilda Swinton, who recently sent the Grand Poobah a photo of herself taken on her farm in Scotland, holding a batch of English Springer puppies!
Marie writes: In a move which didn't fail to put a subversive smile on my face, works by the mysterious graffiti artist Banksy began to appear recently in Hollywood as Academy Awards voters prepared to judge Exit Through the Gift Shop, which is up for best Documentary. (Click to enlarge.)
The most controversial thus far was painted on a billboard directly opposite the Directors Guild of America HQ on Sunset Boulevard. A poster advertising The Light Group (a property, nightclub and restaurant developer) was stenciled over with images of a cocktail-guzzling Mickey Mouse grasping a woman's breast. As it was being removed, a scuffle broke out between workmen and a man claiming the poster was his "property" - presumably triggered by the fact that an authentic piece by Banksy is worth thousands. To read more visit Banksy targets LA ahead of Oscars at the Guardian. And to see more pictures go HERE.
Marie writes: The local Circle Craft Co-operative features the work of hundreds of craftspeople from across British Columbia and each year, a Christmas Market is held downtown at the Vancouver Convention Centre to help sell and promote the work they produce. My friend and I recently attended the 37th Christmas Market and where I spotted these utterly delightful handmade fabric monsters by Diane Perry of "Monster Lab" - one of the artist studios located on Salt Spring Island near Washington State...it's the eyes... they follow you. :-)
(click to enlarge)
Marie writes: Club member and noted blog contributor Tom Dark took this astonishing photograph near his home in Abiqui, New Mexico. The "unknown entity" appeared without warning and after a failed attempt to communicate, fled the scene. Tom stopped short of saying "alien" to describe the encounter, but I think it's safe to say that whatever he saw, it was pretty damned freaky. It sure can't be mistaken for anything terrestrial; like a horse pressing its nose up to the camera and the lens causing foreshortening. As it totally does not look like that at all. (click to enlarge.)
The Grand Poobah writes: I saw this stag in the Michigan woods near our country place, where I am still working on my memoir. (click to enlarge)
The one complaint I heard the most about Ebertfest this year is that it's too much and too short. Is that a contradiction? Very well, Ebertfest contains contradictions. For now, I'm posting photos. Some concluding thoughts coming soon...
"Barfly" director Barbet Schroeder and Sunset Gun blogger Kim Morgan discuss Bukowski and Hollywood.
Charlie Kaufman, the writer and director of "Synecdoche, New York" (2008), my choice for the best film of the decade, will appear after the screening of his masterpiece at Ebertfest 2010. The 12th annual festival will be held April 21-25 at the landmark 1,600-seat Virginia Theater in Champaign-Urbana, and for the first time ever, all festival Q&A sessions and panel discussions will be streamed live on the Internet.
I AM SO PROUD that eight of the Far-Flung Correspondents will be attending Ebertfest 2010, and so sincerely moved that they're providing their own tickets! A shout-out to Ali Arikan, Seoungyong Cho, Weal Khairy, Michael Mirasol, Omar Moore, Omer Mozzafar, Gerardo Valero, and Grace Wang. Only Robert Tan, who has been under the weather, will be missing. They're all bloggers, and will be on a panel Friday morning about the Global Web of Filmlovers.
Since Moses brought the tablets down from the mountain, lists have come in tens, not that we couldn't have done with several more commandments. Who says a year has Ten Best Films, anyway? Nobody but readers, editors, and most other movie critics. There was hell to pay last year when I published my list of Twenty Best. You'd have thought I belched at a funeral. So this year I have devoutly limited myself to exactly ten films.
