John Fitzgerald Kennedy's early cameo appearance in "Nashville," at Lady Pearl's Old Time Picking Parlor. Please consider this my initial contribution to Andy Horbal's Film Criticism Blog-a-Thon -- happening all weekend at No More Marriages! View image Inside Pearl's Parlor:…
View image Establishing shot: The first image of Yasujiro Ozu's masterpiece, "Tokyo Story." Ozu tends to begin with a series of static shots (say, three to five) that set the location and mood. David Bordwell (recently returned from Easter Island!),…
"Man Push Cart." Full list of nominees here. I haven't seen all the nominees ("The Dead Girl," "American Gun," "Wristcutters: A Love Story," etc.), but, as always, there are some most welcome nominations. (Links below go to my reviews, festival…
"Nashville" 25th reunion. (photo by Jim Emerson) When the doctor says you're through Keep a'goin! Why, he's a human just like you -- Keep a'goin! -- Haven Hamilton (Henry Gibson) in "Nashville" View image 24 of your favorite stars. Give…
View image The Dangerous Woman pays a final visit -- with a smile. From the ending of "A Prairie Home Companion" (2006). I'm off this week, but I needed to personally acknowledge the death of Robert Altman, the first great…
Slate says it has a copy here. One page, easy to read in a couple minutes, and pretty darned comprehensive. Including: "This is the entire agreement between the Participant and the Producer or anyone else in relation to the Film,…
View image Catherine O'Hara, the funniest person on the planet, with John Michael Higgins, who's no slouch himself. Please note that, in the list of Categories in the column at right, there is one topic that still has no entires.…
Here is Borat ridiculing people who are not in on the joke so that you can feel socially superior, according to Christopher Hitchens and David Brooks. British crank Christopher Hitchens has been writing about Borat's Kazakhstan for years, only he…
View image A shot from Steven Soderbergh's "The Good German." David Bordwell has a capacious post (with 23 illustrative images) beautifully assaying the Hollywood custom of coverage -- basically, the industry practice of "covering" a scene by shooting it from…
The Sunday New York Times Magazine devoted itself to comedy this weekend -- and you know how funny the New York Times Magazine can be. Actually, there's a very good article by A.O. Scott on the art of the pratfall…
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