http://newcritics.com/blog1 culture blogging for the good of the planet Sun, 23 Nov 2008 09:05:23 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Let's just stipulate up front: It's hard to mess up the vampire story. Attractive people, baroque settings and outfits, a hint of danger and the forbidden... the thing really sells itself. When you mess it up - Francis Ford Coppola's overwrought Bram Stoker's Dracula comes to mind - it's usually ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/11/23/crouching-vampire-hidden-boyfriend/ At this late date, the biggest obstacle to refreshing the James Bond storyline is the fans. Everyone, it seems, comes to the table with expectations. There's even the set of Roger Moore fans who come with expectations... which is just sad, if you ask me. But, more seriously, there are the ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/11/22/james-bond-better-the-devil-you-know/ The title of the new Bond film begs attention be paid to its distinct words. "Quantum" is a great Latinate word meaning “the smallest discrete amount of any quantity.” As for "solace": “This flower is fair and fresh of hue, It fadeth never, but ever is new; The blessed branch this flower on ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/11/21/quantum-of-solace-shaken-beyond-belief/ The action films of the 1970s shot in and around New York embrace a curb-level realism - an obsession with gritty locations - that no studio or backlot can possibly reproduce. The storefronts, dented cars, barren parks and filigreed subway els dress movies like The Seven-Ups, The Taking of ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/11/09/the-twisted-head-chaos-and-comedy-in-the-north-bronx/ It is possible to undergo a profound crisis involving non-ordinary experiences and to perceive it as pathological or psychiatric when in fact it may be more accurately and beneficially defined as a spiritual emergency. -- Stanislav Grof The end of season two of Mad Men finds us all in crisis. Crisis. ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/10/25/live-blogging-mad-men-crisis-management-101/ Programming note:  Two more episodes of Mad Men left before the series finishes up its second season, which means there are only two more chances to join in Tom Watson and Mrs Peel's live-blogging of the show.  Check in with them right here tonight at 10 PM Eastern.Three episodes back ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/10/19/mad-men-all-the-mad-men-and-all-the-mad-women-are-looking-for-meaningful-work/ In the 1960s and 1970s, when I was a wee lad and people actually defined themselves by the music they liked, one was routinely compelled to chose sides--AM v. FM, Beatles v. the Stones, Punk v. Disco.  But one sound was ubiquitous and universally beloved, the sound of Motown--deceptively dense, ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/10/17/goodbye-levi-stubbs/ She is as famous for movies she turned down as those she made and now, after years of retreat into real life, Debra Winger at 53 is back as a reminder that nothing is more erotic than beauty and brains. Her disappearance inspired a documentary, "Searching for Debra Winger," in which ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/10/15/the-sexiness-of-smarts/ When we last saw Don, he was in the glow of sunlight through the window of DC8 on his way to Los Angeles to get away from his domestic travails. It’s the primal tactic of flight when fight doesn’t work. Good old running away. After the week we have witnessed, ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/10/11/mad-men-est-aka-even-suckers-transform/ Just a quick note to draw readers attention to today's Thelonious Monk birthday broadcast streaming on WKCR.org. KCR's birthday broadcasts--24 hours celebrating and exploring a jazz great on his or her birthday--have long been one of the best things about living in New York that the Internet has made a global ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/10/10/happy-birthday-thelonious-monk/ Here we are folks, the last call for Newcritics Wednesday Night at the Movies. This post in no way goes into everything that can be said about Serpico and 25th Hour--it's more like quick thematic notes, the whole truncated by some domestic goings-on chez Campaspe. But the Siren will be ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/10/09/wednesday-night-at-the-movies-serpico-and-25th-hour/ Let's set the Mad Men natterings - high toned, upscale criticism - aside for moment, shall we? And let's be honest - not everything about television is classy. That's not (solely) why we watch. I'm not too proud to admit that I watch popular entertainments, the kind sometimes known as "cheesy". ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/10/08/suds/ Among true fans of Mad Men, Jon Hamm's loss at the Emmys was something of a body blow. Hamm's portrayal of the surly two-faced creative director Don Draper on the early 60s period drama was the favorite going in, a buttoned-up Madison Avenue heir to Tony Soprano - the new ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/10/05/trapped-in-a-rat-pack-suit-on-a-soundstage-looking-for-grit/ Well, almost anyway. Dread Zeppelin. They were a one-joke band, but it was a good joke, wasn't it? "Heartbreaker" by Dread Zeppelin courtesy of Youtube. http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/10/05/elvis-sings-led-zeppelin/ The best book ever written about the scourge of drugs and the racial chasm in the deep interior of Brooklyn was Greg Donaldson's gritty 1994 true life new journalism book, The Ville. It covered the lives of two men - one a Housing cop and the other a gang member ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/10/03/race-drugs-and-murder-a-brooklyn-tale/ The Wednesday Night at the Movies Open Thread at Newcritics starts at 9 pm Eastern time. Saunter over and join the party. So when the Siren posted her list previously, it was pretty safe. Some people may dislike The Apartment, but nobody is going to jump up and down and scream ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/10/02/wednesday-night-at-the-movies-desperately-seeking-susan/ This week will feature a TV feast of his movies, showing the seriously sexy young stud of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "The Long Hot Summer," "The Hustler," "Hud," "Sweet Bird of Youth" and others that brought Paul Newman fame in his thirties. But almost alone among superstars of ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/29/paul-newmans-coming-of-age/ It’s been a week of certifiable madness. Stock market insanity; bank and company failures on an epic scale; the dollar amount of 700 billion said with a straight face. And now the maddening reality of the loss of Paul Newman, who embodied the sea change of generational sensibility that is rocking Don ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/echoes-of-a-movie-legend-in-the-world-of-mad-men/ I believe we must treat our political foes with respect in the arena of public opinion. And so I will dedicate this post to the Governor of Alaska. This is Banned Books Week, and it's always appropriate to look at what drives literary censorship in this country. According to the ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/in-honor-of-sarah-palin/ Paul Newman was one of the Oscar head-scratcher stories; long career, widely respected, clearly popular... yet no Oscar. For years. And years. His first nomination was in 1958 (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, as Brick). His big loss was for The Verdict in 1982. It was a long, long ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/27/newmans-own/ It's the old story of stealing from the rich to give to the poor. Well, kind of.  In the Showtime Series, Dexter, it's more like savagely murdering the criminal to protect the innocent. When I first heard the premise, a show that centers around a serial killer as our hero, I ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/26/everyones-favorite-serial-killer-returns/ Welcome to another edition of Wednesday Night at the Movies. Sorry about the mess. I've been sick in bed all day with a cold, an how appropriate is that, irony-wise? At any rate, I haven't had time to clean the apartment and get things ready for company. ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/25/shut-up-and-deal/ For many years now, curmudgeon-blogger-painter-author James Howard Kunstler has been predicting the downfall of America's vast consumer society in stark terms, in his non-fiction books (like his 2006 The Long Emergency) and on his iconic blog, Clusterfuck Nation. Read Kunstler for a couple of weeks, and he will piss ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/22/a-book-for-the-times-world-made-by-hand/ Tonight marks Round 2 of Wednesday Night at the Movies here at Newcritics. This week's selection: Sweet Smell of Success. Join us here at 9 pm Eastern time for the open thread and let's talk about this cookie full of arsenic, which for many is the movie about New York ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/18/wednesday-night-at-the-movies-sweet-smell-of-success-open-thread/ As I mentioned in our last outing, the life in the edges in Mad Men is often more entertaining than the faux suburban turmoil that makes up the lives of Don and Betty Draper. The world of Sterling Cooper is really coming into its own in season two, even as ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/14/the-world-according-to-bert-cooper/ Welcome to Wednesday Night at the Movies: New York City of the Mind. Our first open thread is on Alfred Hitchcock's very great Rear Window. The Siren spent a number of her early New York years in a rundown apartment on the fuzzy border between Harlem and Morningside Heights. Everything about ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/11/wednesday-night-at-the-movies-rear-window/ After an adventurous weekend that involved attending a wedding at a beach resort during a tropical storm, the Siren is back in warm, safe, almost-dried-out Brooklyn and ready to announce the Next Big Thing. No, no, not the New York Film Festival--the New York City of the Mind edition of ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/08/new-york-city-of-the-mind-the-series/ Is boredom of interest? The affliction troubling the two main characters of AMC's wildly popular Mad Men seems to be some type of low-grade non-fever, the after effects of a suburban existentialist bomb that exploded far off camera leaving viewers wandering the frozen landscape of Draperville without the pleasure of ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/07/languor-in-the-land-of-plenty/ Whoever did this site did a wonderful job. You might not appreciate it as much if you're not a fan of BSG. But the images of Col. Tigh and Laura Roslin from Battlestar Galatica and the images of McCain-Palin are classic: http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/02/political-satire-of-the-day/ No live-blogging of tonight's episode because of the holiday. Feel free to use this as an open thread. I was an altar boy from the time I was in fifth grade until just about halfway through my first year of high school, when getting up at six o'clock on a ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/08/31/all-the-mad-men-and-all-the-mad-women-are-having-epiphanies/ Two nights ago, sitting in a small outdoor park hidden in the Wall Street area within view of New York Harbor, we saw Imitation of Life, a 1959 movie directed by Douglas Sirk. Film experts like The Self-Styled Siren and NCYweboy can tell you all about the cinematography and the way ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/08/29/imitation-of-life/ BBC America has a new show for their Sci-Fi Saturday line-up called Primeval. I watched the three first episodes this past weekend, on demand on cable and on air, and was really impressed. The premise sounds a little silly, especially as it involves dinosaurs, but it seems to work. Eight years ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/08/28/thoughts-on-primeval/ As fun as it is to get lost in, and quibble with, the exhaustive amount of period detail in Mad Men, that's not quite where I come from on it. Right or wrong (or more to the point, right AND wrong), the period details of Mad Men are meant, I ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/08/24/mad-men-everybody-into-the-typing-pool-liveblog-the-new-girl/ Perhaps the most interesting, under-noted thing about Tropic Thunder is that it lacks women. There are no WAGs (Wives and Girlfriends) to muck up this war-buddy comedy, the only name actress to make a recognizable appearance I saw was Jennifer Love Hewitt, and that was 3 seconds, at the end ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/08/24/dumb-bunnies/ Little, Brown missed the mark in subtitling Joe Nick Patoski's absorbing new biography of Willie Nelson 'An Epic Life'. Willie's story is more of a tall tale. Like Daniel Boone, Willie belongs both to American history and American myth. Huckster. Trickster. Philanthropist. Pothead. Road dog. Genius. His nicknames read like godly ... http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/08/18/willies-world/