More Human than Human or, Do Atheists Dream of Electric Sheep?
Sean Murphyi. “I am the business.” Rick Deckard: is he, or isn’t he, that is the question. Human or android? Blade Runner or replicant? Inexorably, fans’ perspective on this matter will…
Taxi Driver: 40 Thoughts for 40 Years
Not many critics would name it as the best American movie, and it probably would rank as few fans’ favorite films. Is Taxi Driver, nevertheless, the most important American film?…
End of Summer (Camp) with a Bat, a Cat and a Clown
IT IS AN INEXORABLE, if lamentable rite of passage: revisiting mementos from one’s childhood and discovering that, to an adult’s eyes, they’re lacking. But then, “putting away childish things” is…
Trumbo, Cranston and Ozymandias
A few random thoughts while watching 'Trumbo'. 1. You should watch this. 2. Bryan Cranston remains an American treasure. 3. Can you believe people used to smoke in movie theaters?...…
Coppola’s ‘The Conversation’: A Love Letter to the Process of Making Art
In Dostoeyevsky’s Notes From Underground the self-loathing narrator proposes that every man has secrets he will only reveal to friends and secrets he must keep to himself. And then there…
Remembering Michael Cimino’s Masterpiece, ‘The Deer Hunter’
Imagine this: Michael Cimino, fresh off five Academy Awards (including Best Picture and Best Director) and the next big “thing” fails to complete the filming of Heaven’s Gate (1980) and…
Celebrating Chinatown: The Ultimate Summer Movie (and the Perfect American Movie)
Chinatown does not usually make the short list of best American films. In fairness, it probably shouldn’t. It will have to settle for merely being the only perfect American film…
The Strange Case of Dr. Dennis and Mr. Miller (Revisited)
(For the remainder of the month, I’ll be revisiting some personal favorites, all of which are available in my recently-released collection, MURPHY’S LAW VOL. ONE, which is available NOW!) March, 2009…
My David Lynch Dilemma (Revisited)
(For the remainder of the month, I’ll be revisiting some personal favorites, all of which are available in my recently-released collection, MURPHY’S LAW VOL. ONE, which is available NOW!) There are…
Harold Ramis: Empathy for the Rebel (Revisited)
Consider this: a world without Animal House. Or Caddyshack, Stripes, Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day. I can’t fathom how much less happy my childhood would have been without any one of…