I watched Abbas Kiarostami’s brilliant 1990 film Close-Up the other night. I saw this probably 20 years ago and wasn’t in a place to get it I guess. I thought it was kind of boring, as I r
The greatest film composer in history is no more. It’s hard to overstate the greatness of Morricone. He completely turned the rather stale genre of film scores on its head in the mid-60s through
Tonight’s film is a treat. Oscar Micheaux’s 1919 film Within Our Gates is the earliest surviving film by an African-American director. This version does not have sound, but honestly, if yo
We shouldn’t let the death of the great French actor Michael Piccoli go unmentioned. I just watched Belle de Jour again a couple of weeks ago and he was great as the sleazy bachelor who encourag
It’s bad enough to try and put together of a “best of” music post at the end of the year, but with film distribution realities and the cavalcade of prestige films that happen at the
One of the truly great character actors is no more. Do the Right Thing (of course). But also Léon the Professional, Fort Apache the Bronx, Purple Rose of Cairo, and so many others, plus the father in
For an actor who was never really successful or a star, Robert Forster sure was in a lot of interesting films. And whatever you make think of Tarantino he’s always had a brilliant eye for great
Peter Fonda was more myth than actor, thanks to him living a lifetime of fame based on Easy Rider. That movie doesn’t necessarily age well, especially the acid trip scene in New Orleans, but you