I Like To (Re)Watch or, The Movies on My Mind
Sean MurphyCelebrating one of my favorite movies, Serpico, I wrote the following: I want—and need—to revisit this movie on an annual basis, because it satisfies many needs. One, it's a masterpiece, so there's…
Welcome to Machine: Why ‘Dead Man’ is Jim Jarmusch’s Masterpiece
Johnny Depp is going to be gone someday, and for those enjoying his work posthumously, an assessment of his enigmatic career—bookended by the cotton candy of 21 Jump Street, and…
R. Lee Ermey and the Darkness of the Heart
I believe the only time I actually almost witnessed the cliche of someone pissing themselves with laughter was in July, 1987, during the opening minutes of Full Metal Jacket. My…
More Human than Human or, Do Atheists Dream of Electric Sheep?
i. “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…