There is nothing like a good list about art to get people arguing. And so the New York Times’ Top 25 Actors of the 21st Century can get us talking. It’s the right list in that it combines
This is the grave of Joseph Cotten. Born in 1905 in Petersburg, Virginia, Cotten grew up middle class but not overly prosperous. As a boy, he was tremendously interested in acting, but his family was
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