Category: The Recent Past

Live Blogging Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Sixth (and Final) Hour

Last hour, we gave some overdue ink to Neville Longbottom, grieved for a spate of sudden corpses, and found out how Aberforth Dumbledore would have fit into Casablanca. Let’s finish this sucker off. Hour #6: p. 659-end (“The Prince’s Tale” through “Nineteen Years Later.”) –There’s an offhanded comment made in “The Prince’s Tale” by Dumbledore where he says… Read More Live Blogging Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Sixth (and Final) Hour

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Hamilton

I’ve never posted here about a stage show before, for the plain and good reason that I don’t see stage shows. They are expensive and I live in America’s backwash. I am not going to be able to write here about acting, dancing, sets, costumes, lighting, etc.; all I have to go on is the… Read More Hamilton

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Live Blogging Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Fifth Hour

Last hour, which was more than a year ago, we discussed how goblins fit into the Potterverse, the curious road to redemption for Draco Malfoy, and the surprising choice to off Dobby but not Kreacher. Hour #5: p. 519-658 (“Gringotts” through “The Elder Wand”…and just short of “The Prince’s Tale.” Sigh.) –At this point in… Read More Live Blogging Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Fifth Hour

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Milk (2008)

Dir. Gus van Sant. Starring Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin There are some real howlers in the history of Best Picture winners. One thinks The Artist in 2011. 2011 wasn’t a terribly strong year,  but Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy were at least viable options. (Bridesmaids and A Separation, for their own reasons, would… Read More Milk (2008)

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Frost/Nixon (2008)

Dir. Ron Howard. Starring Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Matthew Macfadyen Howard Zinn is probably the most important historian that the United States has ever produced. (Sorry, Charles  Beard. I love you too.) Regardless of how you feel about him – in other words, regardless of whether or not you think “historical revisionism” is an honest… Read More Frost/Nixon (2008)

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Whiplash (2014)

Dir. Damien Chazelle. Starring Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Paul Reiser People listen to music for repetition, predictability. This is why a three minute ditty on the radio can repeat its chorus three times and no one is bothered, and this is why people in pressed shirts go crazy for Ravel’s Bolero. Even music like Schoenberg’s… Read More Whiplash (2014)

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Baumann and Burch Podcast #4 – Feminist Icon Helen Parr (Pixar, Part 2)

We kept the last one to an hour. This one, not so much. We had many things to say about The Incredibles – Helen Parr, the best Pixar character and Syndrome, faceless victim to Bob Parr’s Howard Roark – and not so many things to say, comparatively speaking, about Finding Nemo. Listen to find out… Read More Baumann and Burch Podcast #4 – Feminist Icon Helen Parr (Pixar, Part 2)

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