We went out to see A Most Violent Year last night, directed by J.C. Chandor with Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain. I think this one was just released around here, but it apparently is a 2014 film. The fact that this excellent film failed to… Read More
As we were watching Gone Girl tonight, I was thinking it was a quality B movie – the scheming Amy reminded me some of the Linda Fiorentino in The Last Seduction. The film almost lost me until we started to get more information about what… Read More
We watched a matinee screening of The Drop this afternoon, a crime drama starring Tom Hardy, the late James Gandolfini and Noomi Rapace. The film is about a Brooklyn bartender, underworld nasties, a waitress with a super-cute puppy in her trash can, and a guy… Read More
We saw Get on Up this afternoon – the James Brown movie. This film is a blast to watch, on the strength of a wonderful performance by Chadwick Boseman as JB. In seconds you forget it’s an actor playing Brown. The story, which seems to… Read More
Last night we watched a 2011 film called The Intouchables on DVD (French with English subtitles). This is a 2011 film directed by Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano. Now, I don’t know French directors – I hardly know North American directors for that matter (and… Read More
We watched a delightful documentary tonight called Pressure Cooker. It’s a film by Mark Becker and Jennifer Grausman, and it follows a Philadelphia high school Culinary Arts class as they get ready for a competition for major college scholarships. The kids come from a variety… Read More
We watched the 2013 documentary Muscle Shoals last night on DVD. The film features FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Muscle Shoals Alabama and has appearances from (among others) Gregg Allman, Bono, Clarence Carter, Jimmy Cliff, Aretha Franklin, Rick Hall, Mick Jagger, Alicia… Read More
We watched Ain’t in it for my Health tonight, the documentary about Levon Helm, directed by Jacob Hatley. It’s a lovely, intimate look at Levon Helm in the midst of his late career resurgence, spawned by two great recordings, Dirt Farmer and Electric Dirt. His… Read More
Little Georgie, our Newfoundland puppy has been dominating our time since he joined our household last Saturday. A puppy, as many of you know, takes a serious amount of time and attention. And then there is the job of house-breaking…. We did manage a couple… Read More
We watched the film Songcatcher tonight. It’s a 2001 flick directed by Maggie Greenwald and starring Janet McTeer with cameos by Taj Mahal and Iris Dement. The music is mostly good but still this movie was disappointing. Neither the characters nor the story are very… Read More
27th Street 