Detail from “Brushes With Fame!” by Steve Willis (scroll down link for bio). So I saw Donald Sutherland wandering down Lake Street one night, and I’m thinkin’, what the hell’s this guy doin’ wandering down whore alley? Get this, so I yell out “Hey Donald, lookin’ for Klute?” What? I thought the whore was the … Read more
Yo, the namesake of this cinematic masterpiece has been resurrected. The “Fairlane” nameplate will return as a 2007 Ford SUV with sheet metal slicker than fistful of Alberto VO5. A word of caution to Ford, however, if the interior receives the typical tupperware treatment it will bomb like the Dice Man. (I’ll be sending you … Read more
Today, the Friends of the Minneapolis Public Library embark on a film series to explore the life and influence of Frankenstein director James Whale. Use it to tide you over since you missed last week’s screenings of Infamous… Me, I’ll be at home, still trying to nurse this crud-of-a-cold.
Good film criticism is hard to find in this world, but if you want to read a really great review of a really great film check out Anthony Lane’s awesome take on Infamous. My only complaint is that it–the review–is too short. Scroll down past his wacky look at Marie Antoinette, which I’ll be seeing … Read more
What I’m really doing this weekend: Tonight I’m going to the opening night party for Minneapolis in 19 Minutes Flat, a short, cinematic historic of Minneapolis starring Kevin Kling. On Saturday, I’m headed over to the Twin Cities Book Festival so that I can geek out over comic books, essay and poetry anthologies, and zines. … Read more
Infamous and The Queen. Infamous, 2006. Written and directed by Douglas McGrath. Starring Toby Jones, Daniel Craig, Sandra Bullock, Jeff Daniels, Sigourney Weaver, John Benjamin Hickey, Lee Pace, Peter Bogdanovich, Hope Davis, Isabella Rossellini, and, in a small but powerful role, Gwyneth Paltrow. Now playing at the Edina Cinema. If you were to look at … Read more
Here I am, full of days. Maybe you know what I mean. You let enough time pass through you and pretty soon you start to feel the world within you winding down. There’s this greater, increasingly unfamiliar friction to your days, and the appetite packs up its bags and goes looking elsewhere for its beefsteaks … Read more
think outside of the fruit basket… I have not been a great friend of late. A couple of The Girls could use a little propping up, a little snarky laughter over lunch, maybe a day of beauty laced with The Macallan 12. But I don’t have time and we can’t seem to synch our schedules, … Read more
Ladeez and Gennulmen: Tonight, at the Bell Auditorium, as part of the distinguished Science on the Screen program, we have Hitchcock’s The Birds. Bring some popcorn of your own making, get a few glasses of cheap wine or fancy beer down your gullet, and a cardigan (the place is cold) and settle in for one … Read more
Wrestling with indecision… How often, lately, have I taken to the laundry list? First, readings, since books (and breath) are warm, it’s cold outside, and I’ve caught a case of the sniffles… Dear Ghosts, with Tess Gallagher, or Evil by Design: The Creation and Marketing of the Femme Fatale, with Elizabeth Menon. Perhaps a stop … Read more