Somebody named Michael Jones -- essentially the same Mr. Jones Bob Dylan wrote about years ago -- appeared on HuffPo recently with a piece called "That Steely Dan Moment" -- you know, about a discovery of musical taste that makes…
We tend to remember long takes that call attention to themselves as such: the opening shots of "Touch of Evil" or "The Player"; the entrance to the Copacabana in "GoodFellas"; all those shots in Romanian movies, and pictures directed by…
Whenever I feel a profound connection to a work of art, I can't help but see signs of it everywhere, all around me. The Coens' "A Serious Man" is, unsurprisingly, no exception -- because it is such a magnificent synthesis…
Almost as scarily involving as 3-D! And it returns your calls! In Percept-O! (tip: Víctor Escribano Fernández de Santaella)
I have been repeating this tirelessly for a quarter century now, and I'm very glad to read A.O. Scott saying it again so well, in Dave Itzkoff's NY Times story about the demise of the "Siskel & Ebert"-style "At the…
The illustrious and industrious David Bordwell has begun reporting from the Hong Kong Film Festival ("Dragons at your doorstep"), where the weather appears to be well-suited to movie-watching: Once more, Hong Kong. Still a spellbinding place, although the municipality is…
Ann Powers, the excellent music critic for the LA Times (and once a fellow contributor to Seattle's semi-legendary The Rocket) posted this link on Facebook, with the following disclaimer: I hesitate to share this ridiculous dismissal of the field to…
Bruce Eaton, in his 331/3 book on Big Star's "Radio City" (2009): Beyond talent, there's the often dismissed importance of experience -- in music and life. Does an artist have something interesting to say and the ability to say it…
It's the 30th comment in a "he said, she said" post about the ridiculous Armond White v. J. Hoberman "kerfuffle" (that seems to be the most popular term for describing it) -- a beautiful defense of film criticism itself by…
I know, we shouldn't give him any more attention, but the elusiveness of his language (it's not quite English, but what is it?) is fascinating. Try to pin down meaning, or responsibility, and they just slip away... Armond White, review…
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