Category: Film
-
Some Like It Hot
Published in the North Central Chronicle on November 2, 2007, as part of a series called “Chad Picks Classic Flicks.” After tackling a few different genres—film noir, thriller, crime drama—all of which can take a heavy toll on your senses, I thought it best to visit a genre much older than the film medium and…
-
Taxi Driver
Originally published in the North Central Chronicle on October 19, 2007, as part of a series called “Chad Picks Classic Flicks.” In this edition of “Chad Picks Classic Flicks,” I’m skipping over the 1960s in favor of tackling the wide array of great movies in the 1970s. I will return to the decade of sex,…
-
Rear Window
Published in the North Central Chronicle on October 5, 2007, as part of a series called “Chad Picks Classic Flicks.” Today we’re going to visit the 1950s, a time when television shows delivered the least objectionable content, when the president of the United States was roundly respected, and when rock stars needed only to shake…
-
First Love Birds: Notes on The Notebook
I watched The Notebook again recently. I still really like it, but now I have some reasons for it. (Though I’m still searching for more.) There is a bird motif. Birds of some kind appear in 3 obvious time: in the very beginning, when old Allie overlooks a boater we assume is Noah/Duke; on the…
-
Quinceañera
Our protagonist, Magdalena (newcomer Emily Rios), is on the verge of her own quinceañera, the Latino equivalent of a bar mitzvah/Sweet Sixteen for girls. But she first has to take part in her friend’s quinceañera, which is way more decked out than hers will be, and she knows it. Coveting her friend’s wealth notwithstanding, she…
-
and the oscar goes to…
Ahhh, the Oscars. Such a glorious time. I guessed 11 correctly which is pretty good for me. Things I’m pumped about: –The Departed winning 4 awards including Best Picture, Best Screenplay, and a much deserved Best Director for Martin Scorsese (finally!) -Alan Arkin blowing everyone away and upsetting Eddie Murphy for Best Supporting Actor –Pan’s…
-
you’re coming alive to me
I love it when music and movies come alive. Recently I listened to Copeland’s new album, Eat, Sleep, Repeat. That album, as well as Jack’s Mannequin’s Everything In Transit, somehow opened up a new gateway into music and life for me. When I listened to them, everything else I had ever heard before that seemed…
-
The Prestige
The Prestige is a film about magicians and their illusions, but it is also an illusion itself. In the film and in magic, we are first shown the Pledge; a seemingly ordinary scenario that we will assume is probably not so ordinary. Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and Rupert Angier (Hugh Jackman) two rival magicians who…