tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147798232011-07-28T18:20:51.534-04:00On the Art and Culture of FilmArthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.comBlogger691100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-86326857254433921732010-02-28T08:56:00.005-05:002010-03-03T09:39:57.295-05:00

http://dropframe.wordpress.com/Enjoy.

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-41626954063706775882009-02-18T17:24:00.043-05:002009-02-20T22:05:19.187-05:00

So, what seems to have become solely my venue for Oscar predictions welcomes an intriguing new year...-~-ActorRichard Jenkins, "The Visitor"Frank Langella, "Frost/Nixon"Sean Penn, "Milk" -- will winBrad Pitt, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler" -- should winUnlike years past when the acting awards seemed etched into the pavement going into Oscar night, this year's

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-66512491533000667992008-02-22T12:51:00.012-05:002008-02-22T16:42:09.780-05:00

Rather busy this year, so I'll give a pretty quick gloss over the competition for this year's awards. -~-ActorGeorge Clooney, "Michael Clayton"Daniel Day-Lewis, "There Will Be Blood"--should win, will winJohnny Depp, "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"Tommy Lee Jones, "In the Valley of Elah"Viggo Mortensen, "Eastern Promises"Actor in a Supporting RoleCasey Affleck, "The

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-84652641014377935512008-01-10T12:34:00.000-05:002008-01-10T12:37:28.024-05:00

Last week in Slant Magazine: Hitchcock and film lovers alike should not pass up this worthy copy of one of the director's British-made masterworks.-~-The Lady Vanishes ~ writ Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder, based on the novel "The Wheel Spins" by Ethel Lina White; cine Jack Cox; edit R.E. Dearing; with Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Paul Lukas, Dame May Whitty, Cecil Parker, Lindan

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-75477951857481396622008-01-10T12:29:00.000-05:002008-01-10T12:37:41.449-05:00

Awhile back in Slant Magazine: A hyper-violent, foul-mouthed war movie that outpaces Apocalypse Now, Platoon, and a dozen others for sheer motive force. This disc, packaged with so many other Kubrick classics, only makes Full Metal Jacket better.-~-Full Metal Jacket ~ writ Kubrick, Michael Herr, and Gustav Hasford, based on Hasford's book "The Short Timers"; cine Douglas Milsome; edit Martin

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-67993199358311174642007-11-13T14:54:00.001-05:002007-11-13T15:00:08.800-05:00

Today in Slant Magazine: Rob Reiner's The Princess Bride wasn't so much the firework lighting up the sky as the flop on the sidewalk, in danger of still going off, when it came out in theaters 20 years ago. Reiner and writer William Goldman's love story of a farm boy-turned-swashbuckling hero, the princess he rescues from an arranged marriage, and the friendships and revenges the two encounter

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-3498327569162682122007-10-24T17:14:00.000-04:002007-10-24T17:19:12.977-04:00

Veteran Landis cuts together a concert film / television history / talking-heads documentary, as much about the twilight of Sinatra’s Las Vegas as the continuing brilliance of its last star, Don Rickles. Hilarious and indispensable. The Q&A with Rickles, Landis, and critic Kent Jones was the highlight of the NYFF.-~-Mr. Warmth, The Don Rickles Project ~ cine Tom Clancey; edit Mark L. Levine; with

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-87518617449798430112007-10-24T16:32:00.001-04:002008-12-10T16:48:09.524-05:00

A foolproof heist goes wrong and its consequences take over in this intelligent New York thriller from Lumet and screenwriter Kelly Masterson. Pitch perfect, with expert performances from Hoffman and Hawke, it’s too easy to call its good chemistry a return to form. Try a creative explosion. Worth every penny.-~-Before the Devil Knows You're Dead ~ writ Masterson; cine Ron Fortunato; edit Tom

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-11432629521798569752007-10-19T11:16:00.000-04:002007-10-24T16:33:59.332-04:00

After a stroke, editor Jean-Dominique Bauby can only move his left eye. The first act of Diving Bell convincingly relates the leg-aching frustrations that this real-life situation could produce, well aided by Kaminski’s first-person camerawork. As Bauby recovers, the storytelling becomes less inventive—and Schnabel’s film loses its creative force.-~-The Diving Bell and the Butterfly ~ writ Ronald

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-64520758972635697552007-10-10T17:32:00.001-04:002007-10-10T17:36:08.827-04:00

Ryo Kase follows up Letters from Iwo Jima with an exceptional performance here as an accused man engulfed by Japan’s endless courtroom procedure. Suo’s film is itself a unencumbered look at the country’s flawed system—so aggressive that legal drama naturally mixes with Kafka and Beckett. Nice composition throughout.-~-I Just Didn't Do It ~ writ Suo; cine Naoki Kayano; edit Junichi Kikuchi; with

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-71227552200509907652007-10-05T18:05:00.001-04:002007-10-05T18:08:25.730-04:00

Baumbach delivers another beautifully acted film—particularly by Leigh—about despicable, juvenile, literary parents and their emotionally diverted kids. It is sharply written with flashes of clever detail, but the viewing experience is exactly the same as with The Squid and the Whale. And I feel outside of the joke.-~-Margot at the Wedding ~ writ Baumbach; cine Harris Savides; edit Carol

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-63534133268271061392007-10-04T11:49:00.000-04:002007-10-04T11:53:52.419-04:00

Shot in 4:3 with Ren-faire costuming against pastoral landscapes, the style of Romance is as old-fashioned as its story: the love between 5th-century peasants is twisted by nymphs, druids and that ever-deceptive cross-dressing. When I stopped guessing at Rohmer’s intentions, I survived it. A rough way to watch any movie.-~-The Romance of Astrée and Céladon ~ writ Rohmer, based on the novel by

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-82241023563977050982007-10-03T13:57:00.001-04:002008-12-10T16:48:09.658-05:00

Utter brilliance. Todd Haynes delivers his inventive supposition on Dylan by compartmentalizing the singer’s legend into six characters. Yet, the story is delightfully linear and fully satisfying, with each avatar well realized and Haynes at his stylistic best; documentary and fiction combine, with a nod to Pennebaker’s seminal Don’t Look Back.-~-I'm Not There (2007) ~ writ Haynes and Oren

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-24012989390440464312007-10-03T13:56:00.000-04:002007-10-03T21:07:51.704-04:00

The Darjeeling Limited is stunning in its visual sophistication and control and more serious than Anderson’s past work. The Anderson storyline, however—wealthy siblings reconciling their past against the pervasive spirit of their father—is now fully tired. A film I enjoy looking at more than watching.-~-The Darjeeling Limited (2007) ~ writ Anderson, Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman; cine

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-14231350993934506552007-10-03T13:54:00.000-04:002007-10-03T21:10:37.127-04:00

Painstakingly choreographed and almost impossibly slow-paced, Béla Tarr’s The Man from London is not for everyone. It is, nevertheless, enjoyable movie watching—with stark visual lines and even harder narrative logic that pull you into the story at the same time as the remarkable camera movements invite you to explore.-~-The Man from London (2007) ~ writ Tarr and Laszlo Krasznahorkai, based on

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-18475333176443814062007-09-28T13:50:00.000-04:002008-12-10T16:48:09.876-05:00

This week in Slant Magazine: An adaptation that trades depth and cultural exploration for a few quick fireworks; it is not so much Kurosawa's Macbeth as Memoirs of a Geisha.-~-As You Like It (2007) ~ directed by Kenneth Branagh; produced by Branagh, Judy Hofflund and Simon Moseley; written by Branagh, based on the play by William Shakespeare; cinematography by Roger Lanser; production designed by

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-43381722195678855822007-08-02T15:21:00.001-04:002007-08-02T15:24:06.080-04:00

This month in Esquire: Meet Bob Roll, the best thing to happen to the Tour de France since Lance Armstrong.

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-36348945029870784002007-07-13T16:34:00.000-04:002007-10-25T11:56:59.577-04:00

This month in The American Interest: The new wave of computer animated films are mastering the art of believable realism.

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-74582501644415324152007-07-13T16:28:00.000-04:002007-10-03T14:39:47.792-04:00

This week in Slant Magazine: With solid performances, a great jazz score by Kenyon Hopkins, and a virtual clinic in how to do black-and-white cinematography thanks to Eugene Shuftan's camerawork, The Hustler reaffirms your faith in the movies.-~-The Hustler (1961) ~ directed and produced by Robert Rossen; written by Sydney Carroll and Rossen; based on the novel by Walter S. Tevis; cinematography

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-69853286452682253362007-06-14T16:48:00.001-04:002007-10-03T14:40:26.579-04:00

This week in Slant Magazine: The film is about change, but did new culture come from Glastonbury, or did Glastonbury adapt to the culture? Without an answer to this or many similar questions, Glastonbury is a pretty spectacle with no documentary weight.-~-Glastonbury (2006) ~ directed by Julien Temple; produced by Robert Richards; cinematography by Terry Flaxton, Ben Smithard, and Temple; edited

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-65084263649412834282007-06-14T16:21:00.000-04:002007-10-03T14:41:07.582-04:00

Recently in Slant Magazine: In later years, the same storyline has come up—as in 2004's 13 Going on 30 or the remake of Freaky Friday—but that was kid's stuff. Marshall's film is gold.-~-Big (1996) ~ directed by Penny Marshall; written by Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg; produced by James L. Brooks and Robert Greenhut; cinematography by Barry Sonnenfeld; edited by Barry Malkin; original music by

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-75879031252616047262007-06-14T16:16:00.000-04:002007-10-03T14:41:45.907-04:00

Recently in Slant Magazine: If ever there was a movie that did not need to be two-and-a-half hours long, it's That Thing You Do!-~-That Thing You Do! (1996) ~ written and directed by Tom Hanks; produced by Jonathan Demme, Gary Goetzman, and Edward Saxon; cinematography by Tak Fujimoto; edited by Richard Chew; original music by Howard Shore; with Tom Everett Scott, Liv Tyler, Johnathon Schaech,

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-67280689039086929432007-06-14T16:07:00.000-04:002007-10-03T14:42:09.969-04:00

Getting behind in the summer months means I have to play catch up.Recently in Slant Magazine: Bad-ass violence, hard-edged characters, little commentary. Navarone survives on its performances—and the sense that it is more than the moment in which it was made. A cold, hard caper.-~-The Guns of Navarone (1961) ~ directed by J. Lee Thompson; written and produced by Carl Foreman; photographed by

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-4758748866672782712007-04-21T14:31:00.000-04:002007-04-21T14:34:47.794-04:00

Today in Slant Magazine: Light on his feet, quick to the trigger, and, in The West Point Story, even fast to sing: "B apostrophe, K no 'postrophe, L, Y, N." Cagney was one of a kind.

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-2184796728320586412007-04-04T10:21:00.000-04:002007-10-03T14:42:32.363-04:00

Today in Slant Magazine: Remember The Ueck: "Just a bit outside!"-~-Major League (1989) ~ written and directed by David S. Ward; produced by Chris Chesser and Irby Smith; cinematography by Reynaldo Villalobos; edited by Dennis M. Hill; original music by James Newton Howard; with Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Corbin Bernsen, Margaret Whitton, Rene Russo, Wesley Snipes and James Gammon ~ Wild Thing

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-3832818900661115202007-03-28T12:32:00.001-04:002008-12-10T16:48:10.090-05:00

This month in The American Interest: Two new books put Steven Spielberg on an undeserved pedestal.-~-Lester D. Friedman, Citizen Spielberg (University of Illinois Press, 2006), 361 pp., $24.95.Warren Buckland, Directed by Steven Spielberg: Poetics of the Contemporary Hollywood Blockbuster (Continuum, 2006), 242 pp., $19.95

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-10635722637545989212007-03-28T12:29:00.000-04:002007-03-28T12:32:30.542-04:00

Today in Slant Magazine: Banking on an adventurous set of mythologies, Fox delivers a nice set of examples of what not to do in adapting a legendary writer for the screen.

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-68664943684318956342007-03-28T12:10:00.000-04:002008-12-10T16:48:10.271-05:00

BA 2006: .625 (15/24)BA since 2004: .792 (76/96)A big hit to the Oscar Batting Average as I picked a geniunely great film in Babel over a solidly American one: The Departed. Well done to Martin Scorsese, both for getting his Oscar and for thanking the makers of Infernal Affairs for the creative basis that saved him from continued snubbery. Indie upstart "Little Miss Sunshine" pulls a nice and

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-54413567951900751022007-02-22T09:23:00.000-05:002007-02-26T00:31:09.022-05:00

If you can go past those awful idiot faces on the bleachers outside the theatre without a sense of the collapse of the human intelligence; if you can stand the hailstorm of flashbulbs popping at the poor patient actors, who, like kings and queens, have never the right to look bored; if you can glance out over this gathered assemblage of what is supposed to be the elite of Hollywood and say to

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1165277161313182102006-12-04T19:00:00.000-05:002007-10-03T14:42:58.768-04:00

Today in Slant Magazine: It has been thirty-one years, plus well over a decade since I was abruptly introduced to Holy Grail. It is, as it was then, extraordinary.-~-Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) ~ directed by Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam; written by Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, and Eric Idle; produced by Mark Forstater and Michael White;

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1162828210903840832006-11-06T10:43:00.000-05:002007-10-03T14:43:22.607-04:00

Today in Slant Magazine: If you can stomach the contents, Point Break is -- as always -- a dumbly entertaining treat.-~-Point Break (1991) ~ directed by Kathryn Bigelow; written by W. Peter Iliff from the story by Iliff and Rick King; produced by Peter Abrams and Robert L. Levy; cinematography by Donald Peterman; edited by Bert Lovitt and Howard E. Smith; original music by Sharon Boyle and Mark

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1159384188085613602006-09-27T14:59:00.000-04:002006-09-27T19:05:19.676-04:00

A girl, 19 or 20, blonde shoulder-length hair and wearing a cheerleader’s kind of smile, stood in the last row of the lecture hall. With microphone clasped between her hands, with a face of expectant, exuberant finality, she asked the question that had been nagging her all evening. Maybe all her young adult life. “Mr. Laurie,” she said. “Can you tell me, will House have a romantic relationship

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1159204659146441972006-09-25T13:12:00.000-04:002006-09-27T18:58:44.173-04:00

Eisenheim comes to Vienna, makes orange trees grow, butterflies carry handkerchiefs, and mirror reflections disappear. He bumps into an old flame. He threatens to subvert the Austrian empire. He is arrested more than once, only to return for more. You wonder how he has time to keep his beard so neatly trimmed. But trimmed Eisenheim is, and so too Neil Burger’s movie telling his story, “The

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1159197921054569402006-09-25T11:24:00.000-04:002006-09-25T11:32:48.486-04:00

Today in Stylus Magazine: Get out your Oscar ballots. All the King's Men has arrived...-~-All the King's Men (2006) ~ written and directed by Steven Zaillian, from the novel by Robert Penn Warren; produced by Ken Lemberger, Mike Medavoy, Arnold Messer, and Zaillian; cinematography by Pawel Edelman; edited by Wayne Wahrman; original music by James Horner; with Sean Penn, Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1156365302286876892006-08-23T16:28:00.000-04:002006-08-23T16:35:02.296-04:00

Today in Stylus Magazine: As far as conversations go, Conversations has a long one...-~-Conversations with Other Women (2006) ~ directed and edited by Hans Canosa; written by Gabrielle Zevin; produced by Kerry Barden, Ram Bergman, and Bill McCutchen; cinematography by Steve Yedlin; original music by Jeff Eden Fair and Starr Parodi; with Aaron Eckhart and Helena Bonham Carter ~ in theaters now.

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1154557259730533352006-08-02T18:01:00.000-04:002006-08-02T18:20:59.783-04:00

The darling of the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris’ Little Miss Sunshine features the same quirky characters now typical of Park City acquisitions released in the late-summer movie lull. But unlike previous examples like Garden State and Me, You, and Everyone We Know, whose stories tended toward the characters’ relationships as mismatched couples, Sunshine follows a

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1154538723562896652006-08-02T12:43:00.000-04:002006-09-27T18:59:09.966-04:00

Today in Stylus Magazine: Woody Allen is back to his old tricks in his latest London murder plot...-~-Scoop (2006) ~ written and directed by Woody Allen; produced by Letty Aronson and Gareth Wiley; cinematography by Remi Adefarasin; with Scarlett Johansson, Allen, and Hugh Jackman ~ in theaters now.

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1154397345032768742006-07-31T21:37:00.000-04:002006-07-31T22:15:24.826-04:00

My verse is the true image of my mind,/ Ever in motion, still desiring change.Michael Drayton"To the Reader of These Sonnets"-~-I have had an exciting and difficult three months that has included, in no specific order, the earning of a master’s degree, the acquisition of a full-time job, the expansion of some of my film writing into the online sphere, and my transition to a new city. In the

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1145549391788782772006-04-20T11:59:00.000-04:002006-05-06T21:51:39.836-04:00

Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir by Frank McCourtScribner, 1996A decade has passed since Frank McCourt became a literary giant for his first memoir, Angela’s Ashes, an account of his impoverished boyhood in Brooklyn and Limerick, Ireland, that won a 1997 Pulitzer Prize. McCourt, now 76, has been publishing again, completing last November a biographical trilogy that wound through 1999’s immigrant tale ‘

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1143682636083530172006-03-29T20:28:00.000-05:002006-03-30T09:14:14.243-05:00

"Army in the Shadows" is Jean-Pierre Melville’s nod to his own experience. Melville was one of the great filmmakers to operate during the French New Wave, and while he was certainly part of that influential movement, he was also the filmmaker dabbling the most in "popular" genres: the action film, the master heist. He became most famous as a filmmaker for classic gangster flicks like "Bob the

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1143682055751112692006-03-29T20:22:00.000-05:002006-03-29T20:27:35.763-05:00

And yet not so, for what can we bequeathSave our deposed bodies to the ground?Our lands, our lives and all are Bolingbroke's,And nothing can we call our own but deathAnd that small model of the barren earthWhich serves as paste and cover to our bones.For God's sake, let us sit upon the groundAnd tell sad stories of the death of kings."Richard II"by William Shakespeare

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1141860185197301892006-03-08T18:10:00.000-05:002006-03-10T13:08:52.523-05:00

Will Wins, 2006:.792 (19/24)Will Wins since 2004:.847 (61/72)Best picture since 2004:.333 (1/3)~ "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (2003)Best director since 2004:.667 (2/3)~ Ang Lee, "Brokeback Mountain" (2005)~ Peter Jackson, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (2003)Best screenplays since 2004:.833 (5/6)~ Paul Haggis, "Crash" (2005)~ Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, "

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1141252500184322502006-03-01T17:24:00.000-05:002006-03-02T20:20:20.946-05:00

Because it's there.George Leigh Mallory-~-ActorPhilip Seymour Hoffman, "Capote" – should win, will winTerrence Howard, "Hustle & Flow"Heath Ledger, "Brokeback Mountain"Joaquin Phoenix, "Walk the Line"David Strathairn, "Good Night, and Good Luck."In a category full of great performances, the Oscar goes to the one that stands out the most. Hoffman is captivating and shattering as Truman Capote, and

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1141251450284618722006-03-01T17:13:00.000-05:002006-03-01T18:15:38.573-05:00

Let's talk anniversaries. This year's Super Bowl, Super Bowl XL, was not -- as its merchandise and logos will tell you -- its 40th anniversary. It was the Super Bowl's 40th year. It was its 39th anniversary.Think weddings: your first anniversary is one year after the date you got married (tough to remember, guys, I know).Thus, Super Bowl I was the wedding day. Super Bowl II was the first

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1139881273647883222006-02-13T20:32:00.000-05:002006-02-13T20:41:23.156-05:00

I cannot say when I first heard The Beatles’ "Drive My Car." I can tell you when I first learned it. The twang guitar and that diggit-diggit-dat snare that cuts into the opening lyrics: "Asked my girl what she wanted to be..." The cowbell. The repetitive chorus, with that progression on the piano, up and down a major chord. I learned it while clapping and snapping along on the beats: an

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1138901879935653652006-02-02T12:08:00.000-05:002006-02-02T14:38:05.540-05:00

Earning well over $70 million, Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez’s "Sin City" may well be history’s highest grossing act of public masturbation. The film has all the highlights of two adolescent male imaginations spitting out what it is, to them, to be cool: hard-ass guys in leather and red Chuck Taylor’s jumping out of windows, carrying big guns, driving fast cars, beating people into pulps,

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1136665981345487812006-01-07T15:24:00.000-05:002006-01-07T15:33:01.380-05:00

written for the Goldring Arts Journalism Program'sNew York City Immersion;edited with input from Tim Griffin,editor and arts critic, ArtForum Magazine-~-The man speaking behind my right ear at the corner of West 49th Street and 6th Avenue Wednesday afternoon had only one thing to say. "Buy a knit hat. Keep your head warm. You keep your brain in there, somewhere."I was walking back to my hotel

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1136403601644472242006-01-04T14:29:00.000-05:002006-01-04T14:40:01.656-05:00

written for the Goldring Arts Journalism Program'sNew York City Immersion;edited with input from David Sterritt,recently retired film critic for The Christian Science Monitor-~-The Johnny Cash created in James Mangold’s new film "Walk the Line" is a man of many parts: a music legend, a devoted friend and follower of wife-to-be June Carter – devoted to the point of pugnacity – and a reformed drug

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1134946919183846382005-12-18T17:53:00.000-05:002005-12-18T18:01:59.196-05:00

Chris Columbus’ new film version of the musical "Rent" opens with its central cast standing in line across a stage in an empty theater, each individually spotlighted and singing "Seasons of Love," the Broadway show’s most famous and recognizable song. As much a method to get the title credits out of the way as an introduction to the melody that undercuts much of the musical’s score, the film’s

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1134923612529163672005-12-18T11:21:00.000-05:002005-12-19T19:51:23.146-05:00

An anecdote:I’m sitting at my computer last Wednesday night, hunched, like I do since my computer is a small laptop that I keep at the far edge of my desk so that I have room to put things in front of it. I’m in my usual khaki pants, but only an undershirt, since a thought had inspired me to go online mid-costume change. I’m probably chewing on my pen cap as I rearrange the starters on my NFL

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1132094644412163562005-11-15T17:38:00.000-05:002005-11-16T22:03:03.843-05:00

In my short time writing about film and my lifetime talking about it, I have tried as best I can to never compare a film to the book on which it was based. At least when reviewing it. "Oh, the book was better," the adage has come to say, and in the words of comedian Jim Gaffigan, "You know what I liked about the movie? No reading."I make this forward claim because, as art forms, film and

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1131952545280627872005-11-14T02:02:00.000-05:002005-11-16T22:03:38.116-05:00

Sam Mendes’ film "Jarhead," based on ex-Marine sniper Anthony Swofford’s chilling first hand account of the first Gulf War, will be liked by many of those who oppose either the current war in Iraq or war as diplomatic method in general. The problem: those who support the war will like it too.This may seem like the marketing phenomenon of the century – a film with a controversial topic that

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1131263120998391692005-11-06T02:40:00.000-05:002005-11-06T13:30:41.316-05:00

This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy's methods to keep silent, or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities. As a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1131033706072918482005-11-03T10:59:00.000-05:002005-11-03T11:02:34.940-05:00

And then there was St. Kevin and the blackbird.The saint is kneeling, arms stretched out, insideHis cell, but the cell is narrow, soOne turned-up palm is out the window, stiffAs a crossbeam, when a blackbird landsAnd lays in it and settles down to nest.Kevin feels the warm eggs, the small breast, the tuckedNeat head and claws and, finding himself linkedInto the network of eternal life,Is moved to

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1130650269795638722005-10-30T01:28:00.000-05:002005-10-30T01:45:53.036-04:00

[The sound of heavy footsteps on wood][Tapping on a microphone]Ehem.[Feedback. It dissipates]Ladies and gentlemen, our blog today will be written from the perspective of a man sitting by himself on a crowded bus.Thank you.[Heavy footsteps on wood]-~-inspired by true events-~-God, this is fucking ridiculous. I’ve got a paper due at five. Hate this bus. Takes so long to get home. 15 minutes. 15

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1129180001889956962005-10-13T00:43:00.000-04:002005-10-15T01:20:00.550-04:00

You don't need me to tell you that Federico Fellini’s "8 ½" is a great film; one of the best films ever made. The film speaks – shouts, hollers, yawps – for itself, in several discourses, on several levels.In terms of plot, Fellini’s 1963 masterwork is often labeled the best movie about making a movie; this is an over-simplification. "8 ½" is instead about consumption, assimilation, memory,

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1128321509255818382005-10-03T02:19:00.000-04:002005-10-04T11:13:25.823-04:00

So, I am nearly ten months behind on this discussion, but having recently seen a certain movie, I am prepared to make a statement that – to members of my generation of film goers – will be largely frowned upon: Soderbergh’s "Ocean’s Twelve" is better than Soderbergh’s "Ocean’s Eleven." Better, because it is a gag, not a necessity. Better, because it is a good time, not a time that we are all too

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1127527883131975842005-09-23T22:06:00.000-04:002005-09-26T23:41:12.303-04:00

This is the first installment in what I hope will be an ongoing collection: passages that have been or could be used as an epitaph.What follows is not meant to be morose or iconic, nor is it a parody. This series, infrequent as it may be, is from the heart. It is meant to inspire thought... to create auspicious gales.Let me suggest, then, that the word “epitaph” here is not defined as an

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1127059057004066312005-09-18T11:40:00.000-04:002005-09-18T14:22:27.533-04:00

Fernando Meirelles’ new film "The Constant Gardener" is a towering achievement. The screenplay is transposed from John Le Carre’s best-selling novel into an extraordinarily precise thriller with extraordinary parts all around. The cinematography is brilliant – both in its visuals and its affect on the film’s narrative, namely its use of the handheld camera to heighten the sense of immediacy; in

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1126062188884224582005-09-06T22:58:00.000-04:002005-09-18T22:16:12.416-04:00

Hurrah, for "The Italian Job." Hip, Hip... well, you know the rest.I am not, of course, referring to that sniveling, seething, whimpering little attempt at a remake two years ago. I am referring, as loyal readers will have no doubt by now surmised, to the genuine article: "The Italian Job," Michael Caine, 1969.While I could applaud it for the pure energy it creates, for its many memorable lines,

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1125628094022358832005-09-01T22:19:00.000-04:002005-09-01T23:55:27.060-04:00

[These] are my principles, and if you don’t like them... well, I have others.Groucho Marx-~-The wild and fantastical "The Brothers Grimm" is easily within the canon of director Terry Gilliam’s usual flights of fancy. It features brothers Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm (Matt Damon and Heath Ledger, respectively) as con artists who masquerade as exterminators of evil spirits. They are sent as a punishment

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1123778430976841272005-08-11T12:37:00.000-04:002005-08-11T21:42:24.686-04:00

I dream one day of programming a film festival of rock and roll movies. Not made-for-tv variety picks or the cliche. I’m talking "Don’t Look Back" and "Performance." I’m hearing "Tommy." I'm watching "The Buddy Holly Story." I’m waiting. I’m wanting: to see how well they translate rock’s basic elements – rawness, soul, gut instinct – to the screen...I dream. In the meantime, I rely on what others

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1123436163236827012005-08-07T13:31:00.000-04:002005-08-08T17:18:49.973-04:00

Miranda July’s debut film "Me and You and Everyone We Know" (2005) is a bonafide hit. The Film Four and IFC release garnered a the Camera d’Or at Cannes – given to the best first film – and a Special Jury Prize at Sundance. Nominated for the Grand Jury Prize, Sundance’s top honor within a given category, "Me and You" is the first 2005 Sundance film to see notable release outside the festival

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1123393013527213002005-08-07T01:29:00.000-04:002005-08-08T17:18:32.436-04:00

Thomas Mann’s 1912 novella "Death in Venice" tells the story of Gustave Ashenbach, a great German writer who has lost his inspiration. He reluctantly travels from Munich to Venice – into the demon South – to recuperate. Instead, in what has been considered Mann’s treatise on critical method, Ashenbach contemplates the very essence of his intellectual existence as he succumbs, awkwardly, to the

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1122788930326487222005-07-31T01:28:00.000-04:002005-07-31T01:48:50.333-04:00

What can you say about a five-year-old movie that was reborn?"Almost Famous" (2000) was Cameron Crowe’s semi-autobiographical ode to the music upon which he grew up, started a career, and made his name. Successful and Oscar-winning (best original screenplay), the film came and went and came again, within the year, as a DVD titled, oddly enough, "Untitled: The Bootleg Cut." Its reincarnation was a

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1122342786359754052005-07-25T21:43:00.000-04:002005-07-25T23:37:33.593-04:00

Fella said, We must never forget that we are Human. And, as humans, we must dream. And when we dream . . . we dream of money . . . David Mamet"The Spanish Prisoner"-~-I would like to call my participation in the Hollywood Stock Exchange a hobby or a past time. Rather, I would like to call it a talent, but I fear that claiming my minutes looking at HSX a talent is on a par with my talent at

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1122241855185154732005-07-24T17:16:00.000-04:002005-07-24T18:04:52.206-04:00

I think it is dangerous to say what Lance Armstrong did Sunday in capturing his seventh Tour de France crown makes him the greatest athlete of all time. An ongoing ESPN.com poll suggests that Michael Jordan retains the "best athlete" ever among ESPN’s readership, for example, Lance second. And what of Wayne Gretzky, Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Arthur Ashe, Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, Jim Thorpe,

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1122239595942672712005-07-24T17:12:00.000-04:002005-07-24T17:13:15.946-04:00

Primo Carnera. Max Baer. Jim Braddock. Joe Louis. A footnote in history, James J. Braddock, the answer to the trivia question, who was the heavyweight champion before Joe Louis? Yet, in Ron Howard’s film Cinderella Man (Universal/Miramax, 2005), Louis is himself the footnote to Braddock’s title triumph. Howard and leading-man Russell Crowe bring Braddock back to center stage, just as the real

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14779823.post-1122239390125212302005-07-24T17:07:00.000-04:002005-07-24T22:54:15.570-04:00

If appearances make the movie, Mike Nichols’ Closer can be slingshot to the front of the line of current films: it is hard to pick a more cinematically gorgeous cast than Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman, Clive Owen, and the recently crowned "Sexiest Man Alive," Jude Law. For the less virile tastes, Closer is also a beautifully constructed film, with expert handling of a dialogue-heavy narrative

Arthur Ryel-Lindseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16381015319442762950noreply@blogger.com1