Dir. David Lynch. Starring Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek, James Cada When I was in college, I took a class on environmental writing, which was the place I first learned about Aldo Leopold and Barry Lopez, among other folks. We got to Of Wolves and Men far enough into the semester that we were all a… Read More The Straight Story (1999)
Dir. Aki Kaurismaki. Starring Matti Pellonpaa and a whole bunch of guys with equally Finnish names There are more brilliant gags in Leningrad Cowboys Go America than this one, but the moment I knew I was watching the funniest thing in the entire world comes about halfway through. The band is all in the car,… Read More Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989)
Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. Starring Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant, Claude Rains Pain boils down to a loss of control. Something outside of our reach hurts, and for the most part there is nothing we can do to stop that hurt from coming, and above all else that’s what makes us crazy. Lingering deaths would be scary… Read More Notorious (1946)
Dir. Anthony Asquith. Starring Michael Redgrave, Nigel Patrick, Brian Smith There are so few good movies about teachers in the world because actual teachers’ professional lives don’t lend themselves well to typical movie drama. Thus movies about teachers frequently thrust them into situations where they take on “unteachable” students and, with some post-hard knocks empathy,… Read More The Browning Version (1951)
Matt and Tim get to talkin’ again, and this time they settle on a band both of them hold dear. The Decemberists, fresh off of a new album, I’ll Be Your Girl, are the subject of this particular debate…and there’s certainly more debate than usual. What follows is a lightly edited conversation in lieu of… Read More Baumann and Burch Conversations #4: The Decemberists
Dir. Eric Rohmer. Starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Francoise Fabian, Marie-Christine Barrault Pascal even condemned mathematics at the end of his life, Jean-Louis (Trintignant) says. He thought it was just another way to get unnecessarily distracted, a great temptation that pulls the mind away from faith in God. Nobody in the room, Jean-Louis included, seems to think… Read More My Night at Maud’s (1969)
Dir. Bruce Beresford. Starring Jack Thompson, Edward Woodward, Bryan Brown There may not be a more difficult and potent question than, “What responsibility do I have for my actions when I am compelled to do unjust things?” Breaker Morant, wisely, does not try to convince us of the innocence of Morant (Woodward), Handcock (Brown), and Witton… Read More Breaker Morant (1980)
Dir. Peter Weir. Starring Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Lukas Haas The line between “wants to make you feel this” and “doesn’t make you feel much of anything” is one of the most difficult and most subtle lines to walk in a movie. Go too far to the former, and the viewer is alienated by the… Read More Witness (1985)
Dir. Martin Scorsese. Starring Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, Barbara Hershey Only a bold film, one creeping up to outright foolhardiness, tries to tell its viewers what it’s “about” at the outset. Last Temptation does just that, beginning with a quote from the author of its source material, Nikos Kazantzakis, and then with words from the filmmakers. This… Read More The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
Created by Ryan Murphy. Starring Matthew Morrison, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith 22) E21, “Funk” – written by Ian Brennan As much as any show I’ve ever watched, I think I remember where I was for my first viewings of Glee episodes. I know where I was when I watched “Funk” for the first time. It was… Read More Glee, Season 1
Seeing Things Secondhand 