In the following talk, Tim and Matt discuss a concept that’s been floating around their conversation for a while: “the worst greatest thing.” Matt gives his bands takes, Tim gives his movies takes, and both weigh in on novelists. What follows is a lightly edited conversation in lieu of a podcast. Happy reading, all. Tim:… Read More Baumann and Burch Conversations, #3: The Worst Greatest Thing
The following is from my series of Oscar Best Picture rankings, as well as my strongly worded suggestions for what should have won from among the nominees. For an introduction to the project, click here. For a way to vote on some Oscar-related ideas, click here. If I’ve written a review on any of the… Read More Better than the Oscars: 80-76
Dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Starring Ann Sothern, Linda Darnell, Jeanne Crain Dir. Vincente Minnelli. Starring Kirk Douglas, Lana Turner, Walter Pidgeon In the wake of film noir, which used voiceovers and flashbacks to greater effect than ever before, A Letter to Three Wives and The Bad and the Beautiful are logical conclusions outside the genre. A Letter to Three… Read More A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
The following is from my series of Oscar Best Picture rankings, as well as my strongly worded suggestions for what should have won from among the nominees. For an introduction to the project, click here. For a way to vote on some Oscar-related ideas, click here. If I’ve written a review on any of the… Read More Better than the Oscars: 85-81
The following is from my series of Oscar Best Picture rankings, as well as my strongly worded suggestions for what should have won from among the nominees. For an introduction to the project, click here. For a way to vote on some Oscar-related ideas, click here. If I’ve written a review on any of the… Read More Better than the Oscars: 90-86
You can follow this link to vote in a poll on which Best Picture winners are the greatest of all time, and to give your opinion on the Oscars ceremony as well. Caring about the Oscars—really caring, the way I did ten years ago—is silly. No one seriously pretends that the Academy Awards are given… Read More Better than the Oscars 2018: Ranking the Best Picture Winners, and Who Should Have Won
Dir. Jim Henson. Starring Jennifer Connelly, David Bowie, Brian Henson I suppose that there are worse things than being an ’80s cult classic, but I also don’t think that description does Labyrinth justice. This is, full stop, a really good movie and a thoughtful one too. It is a movie which understands teenagers about as… Read More Labyrinth (1986)
Dir. Charlie Kaufman. Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Samantha Morton, Michelle Williams Everyone loves Caden Cotard’s (Hoffman) production of Death of a Salesman. He casts young people to play older ones, and in so doing has put in the mind of the audience the sense that eventually young people will turn old, and dawn will go down… Read More Synecdoche, New York (2008)
Dir. Danny Boyle. Starring Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Ewen Bremner I’m not a drug user, nor have I ever been. Movies about drug use overwhelmingly bore me, I guess, because I have no point of reference. I’ve ignored Trainspotting for many years largely because I couldn’t imagine finding a movie about heroin addicts interesting, and… Read More Trainspotting (1996)
Dir. Edgar Wright. Starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield (The following review is about an extremely funny movie that made me laugh a great deal. Since so much relies upon Simon Pegg’s surprising physical humor or Nick Frost’s indelible line deliveries, I’m not going to try to do justice to those…it’s more respectful to… Read More Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Seeing Things Secondhand 