Deepening Dreams by Andrew Collins The way Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer tell it, they pitched the idea for their freshman television show without a storyboard or written synopsis. Instead, the brothers stitched together clips out of dozens of films from the 1980s. That sounds about right. The opening scene of Stranger Things […]
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And Everything Turned Out OK by Jack H. Simons The basic story plot for all ages pits ultimate evil against flawed good with the flawed good coming out on top. The protagonist must be flawed because we are all flawed. Only Jesus Christ or an old-timey Methodist would claim sinless perfection, but the rest of […]
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Editor’s Note: This is the first in our new essay series Holes in the Wall, highlighting independent restaurants whose craft achieves the level of genuine artistry. The Good Life by Jack H. Simons “Chicago, Chicago, that Toddling Town” Frank Sinatra had it right. “They have the time of their life in Chicago.” A Chicago pizza and […]
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A Little Rogue by Andrew Collins Here’s an interesting question: is Rogue One a true Star Wars film, or isn’t it? Differentiated from the rest of the films in the beloved space opera saga by the descriptor, “A Star Wars story,” Rogue One breaks precedent with the rest of the Star Wars series in several […]
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Image: Valle della Scurosa by luigi alesi
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Internal Life by Andrew Collins Room, the much-lauded film directed by Lenny Abrahamson, defies simple categorization. Technically we could call it a drama, but while it has the necessary plot points and relational tension, the sum of its parts melds into something more like a meditation. The effect is reminiscent of something by Terrence Malick, where the […]
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‘Would That It T’were So Simple’ by Jack Simons Hail Caesar! – A movie set in 1951 – describes 24 hours in the life of a major Hollywood studio. The film that came from the mysterious Coen brothers’ universe has returned to its source without drawing many viewers, and according to Rotten Tomatoes 55 percent […]
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Living on Contradictions An Interview by Andrew Collins Dillon Hodges was into bluegrass before bluegrass was cool. Hailing from a small town in northern Alabama, he had his musical coming age playing bluegrass with musicians four times his age and at the tender age of 17 accomplished his life goal of winning the 2007 National Flat […]
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Wit But No Wisdom by Andrew Collins At one level, Deadpool is wonderful mockery of all things good and right in the superhero genre. In a tidal wave of violence, obscenity, profanity, vulgarity and general raunchiness (not to mention more than a little sadism), it pushes the envelope of the genre about as far as it can […]
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Happiness-Based Ironic Title by Andrew Collins Joy, the latest Jennifer-Lawrence-and-Bradley-Cooper-powered effort by director David O. Russell, takes a long, hard look at the American dream through the experience of a woman named Joy (Lawrence) in the late 80s and early 90s. The daughter of a twice-divorced small-business owner (Robert De Niro) and inept, soap-opera obsessed mother (Virginia […]
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