Dir. Ronald F. Maxwell. Starring Tom Berenger, Jeff Daniels, Martin Sheen I can’t think of another movie made in the past quarter-century which should have seen big screens less than Gettysburg. This isn’t a statement of the film’s quality, but of its marketability, because let’s face it, this is a unicorn of a film. Longer… Read More Gettysburg (1993)
Dir. Jan Troell. Starring Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann, Eddie Axberg (This review is a bit more awkward than the average movie review I do, because The Emigrants is not really its own film any more than Fellowship of the Ring is its own film. The New Land, released the year after The Emigrants, is… Read More The Emigrants (1971)
Dir. Richard Linklater. Starring Jason London, Rory Cochrane, Matthew McConaughey Deadwood, the Joe Rudi of Peak TV, takes the murder of Wild Bill Hickok more or less as its starting point. It’s a great place to start your TV show, especially if you’re a viewer who has never heard of Will Bill, knows he’s being… Read More Dazed and Confused (1993)
Dir. Alan Parker. Starring Barry Miller, Maureen Teefy, Gene Anthony Ray A fun thought exercise for future car trips: what’s your trilogy of (insert city here) movies? For example, my Los Angeles trilogy features Sunset Boulevard, Blade Runner, and Pulp Fiction (with special apologies to Double Indemnity and Chinatown). I’ve given less thought to my… Read More Fame (1980)
Created by Dan Harmon. Starring Joel McHale, Alison Brie, Danny Pudi 24) S2E1, “Anthropology 101.” Primary characters: Jeff and Britta/Secondary characters: Annie and Shirley The first season of Community is absolutely rock-solid, with a few shining episodes here and there (“Beginner Pottery,” one of the standout examples of “half the study group takes this class… Read More Community, Season 2
Dir. Charles Sturridge. Starring Jeremy Irons, Anthony Andrews, Claire Bloom (My thoughts on the preceding episode are here.) “A Blow Upon a Bruise” is maybe the most apt name for an episode of television ever aired, because it’s exactly how it feels to watch this painful hour; I’ve watched this miniseries all the way through… Read More Brideshead Revisited S1E5, “A Blow Upon a Bruise”
Welcome back to Grandiose Matt & Tim, where we work out the great American movies of all time. (Click on this link to see not just our top combined scorers, but our perspectives on other films as well.) Not only do we give our perspective on our top scoring films and make some basic tiers,… Read More Baumann and Burch, Episode 30: The Podcast Is Older Than Us (And So Are the Movies)
I came across the Kerry Ellis Anthems version first. It hums and pulses and lands on forte sections every now and then thanks to an active string section and Ellis’ smooth voice for three minutes before Kerry really gets to whale on the song, and by the end she and Brian are in full shred mode, the way that… Read More “You Have to Be There,” from Kristina from Duvemala
Matt and I talk about some movies that we really think you need to watch. Find out just how artsy-fartsy Tim can get when he talks about foreign films (made in the countries which were America’s enemies during the middle of the 20th Century, so how’s that for being anti-American), and discover how Matt’s lowbrow… Read More Baumann and Burch, Episode 29: I Like Movies with Lots of Pretty Flowers…Being Crushed by a Giant Pterodactyl
Matt and I finally get down to business to complete a band draft, an idea that’s been near to our heart but far from our podcast for some time now. Taking the helm of four bands apiece – with names from many styles, from Wu-Tang to pirates – we create a positive festival chock full… Read More Baumann and Burch, Episode 28: The Spicy and the Honeys
Seeing Things Secondhand 