2016
You are browsing the archive for 2016.
Movie Review: The Finest Hours
3.5 stars out of 5 I don’t know, something just ain’t pulling me to The Revenant. It was Tuesday, $6 Tuesday, and I could’ve really seen The Revenant this time, but no, I didn’t. I saw The Finest Hours instead. Sorry again, Leo. When I first caught the trailer for The Finest Hours, I figured […]
A 24-Hour Window in Which Nobody Wanted Me
I received an email at 8:53 last night. The key paragraph read: OK, that was a bummer, was kind of excited about judging again (in one of my various areas of expertise); breaks up the working-at-home monotony. Ah well, no worries, perhaps I’d judge remotely. Woke up this morning, checked my email. This had arrived […]
My Internet Radio Playlist, 1/26/16
EPISODE #217: THE X-FILES The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME] Mark Snow — “X-Files Theme” Graham Parker & the Rumour — “Waiting for the UFOs” Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers — “The U.F.O. Man” Hüsker Dü — “Books About UFOs” Tullycraft — “The Lonely Life of the UFO Researcher” The Misfits — “I Turned […]
Movie Review: The Big Short
3.5 stars out of 5 January is a weird time at the movies. The studios tend to dump garbage that they didn’t release the previous year. Other selections are “prestige films” left over from the holidays, or snuck in at the end of December for Oscar consideration. From that second batch, at my local theater […]
On gratuitous fucks
Films these days are cluttered with gratuitous fucks. I’m talking about good films, thoughtful films, ones with Oscar buzz. I understand there are commercial reasons for wanting your film to have an R rating, and if your film is a grown-up comedy of manners or tale of corporate intrigue mostly devoid of sex and violence, […]
My Internet Radio Playlist, 1/19/16
EPISODE #216: THE F-BOMB II The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME] Kicking Giant — “Fuck the Rules” Brute Force — “King of Fuh” The Gotobeds — “Fucking Machine” Daddy Issues — “Fuck Marry Kill” The Bird and the Bee — “Fucking Boyfriend” Cee-Lo Green — “Fuck You” Prince and the New Power Generation — “Sexy […]
Movie Review: Anomalisa
3.5 stars out of 5 Remember Being John Malkovich? Wow, that was fun, right? And ingenious. Then there was Adaptation, also very clever. And Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, that was pretty wild if I recall. Synecdoche, New York: I didn’t see it, did you? I read a review and it just sounded too… […]
My Internet Radio Playlist, 1/12/16
EPISODE #215: DAVID BOWIE TRIBUTE The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME] David Bowie — “Modern Love” Davie Jones and the King Bees — “Liza Jane” Mott the Hoople — “All the Young Dudes” Lou Reed — “Vicious” Iggy Pop — “China Girl” Bruce Springsteen — “Growin’ Up” Queen and David Bowie — “Under Pressure” David […]
Album Review: ‘Now’ by Speed The Plough
4 stars out of 5 Click to purchase on 180-gram vinyl (with download code) A silhouette of a baying coyote in a bathtub. I first saw that compelling logo during my junior year in high school, on the Full Time Men record sleeve. I bought that EP at the Princeton Record Exchange because Peter Buck […]
My Internet Radio Playlist, 1/5/16
EPISODE #214: PLANS The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME] Palomar — “Let’s Talk Plans” The Wedding Present — “Let’s Make Some Plans” Saturday Looks Good to Me — “Make a Plan” XTC — “Making Plans for Nigel” Hüsker Dü — “Plans I Make” Dinosaur Jr. — “Plans” Built to Spill — “The Plan” Mission of […]
Jack Silbert, curator