Monica Vitti, the Face of Italian Cinema

Long ago, in a different lifetime, deep in the bowels of the college library, I poured over the pages of Sight & Sound, Film Quarterly, and other esteemed cinema journals, along with the collected reviews of Pauline Kael, among other prominent critics. Those afternoons and evenings, spent alone with only what felt like the entirety … Continue reading Monica Vitti, the Face of Italian Cinema →

The Neon Demon

I finally watched Nicholas Winding Refn’s The Neon Demon (2016) and can’t quite shake its gorgeous aesthetic and haunting mood. Seeing as it’s set in the high-stakes Los Angeles fashion world, it comes as no surprise that nearly every single character is a vapid, raging, sociopathic narcissist. Elle Fanning plays the supernaturally beautiful teenage model … Continue reading The Neon Demon →

Eyes of Angela De Marco

Jonathan Demme’s gloriously eccentric and refreshingly sweet Married to the Mob (1988) is one of the ultimate comfort movies for me. So I watch it a lot. And every time I’m struck by the same thought: it’s clear that Demme knew what he had in Michelle Pfeiffer’s face and, most importantly, he knew what do … Continue reading Eyes of Angela De Marco →

Take Me Home Tonight

Ronnie Spector’s death has really hit hard. Even if she had never made any more music after the Ronettes, she’d still be a hall of famer. “Be My Baby” has to be in consideration for the title of greatest pop song of all time. Her voice, strong and sweet, sexy and smooth, is one of … Continue reading Take Me Home Tonight →

On Sirius, Harry, and Family

I’ve been rewatching every Harry Potter film with my kids for like the fourth time in maybe two months, and each pass through a couple things really stand out. Harry’s relationship with his surrogate father Sirius Black touches every one of my paternal heartstrings. It certainly doesn’t hurt that Gary Oldman and Daniel Radcliffe shared … Continue reading On Sirius, Harry, and Family →

Fractured

I have an unfortunate habit of breaking things to start a new year. Once it was a coffee pot on New Year’s Day. Other years it was some other appliances, each broken within the first few days of the new year. Never a great omen, if you believe in that sort of thing. Well, this … Continue reading Fractured →

Bad Girls We Love: Selina Kyle/Catwoman from Batman Returns

Michelle Pfeiffer's performance in Tim Burton's deliciously twisted-Christmas-gothic-phantasmagoria Batman Returns (1992) is the best comic book movie performance of all time. This is not just my opinion; it's a fact, so let's not argue, okay? It's an astonishing piece of film acting, the kind that transcends mere performance and instead reaches a cosmic level of … Continue reading Bad Girls We Love: Selina Kyle/Catwoman from Batman Returns →