The Set-Up

Dec 13, 2006 — Well, it’s not exactly writer’s block, but it’s related. I’ve been trying to get this blog entry posted since Tuesday afternoon, but there’s always something that takes me away from the task at hand. I’m procrastinating, and I know why:...

Jan 11, 1999 — It was quite a surprise to learn that David Lean had not read Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations before he embarked on his film version in 1945. The closeness of the adaptation, the understanding of the characters, make one swear it...

Sep 26, 2025 — The week brings a celebration of restorationists and the new and younger audiences showing up to see their work.

Mar 18, 2024 — It’s an eclectic bunch this month, featuring a new play, a ban on the color green, and Godzilla.

Aug 4, 2022 — A quick briefing on the latest news from Venice, New York, Toronto, San Sebastián, and Philadelphia.

Apr 16, 2019 — In a Lonely Place (1950), screening Friday at MoMA, and The Big Heat (1953), featured on the Criterion Channel, score high on Slant’s list of top noirs.

Sep 3, 2015 — Wes Craven, who died this week at age seventy-six, was a horror master with few equals in contemporary American movies. The director of A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream may not often be spoken of in the same breath...

Feb 2, 2024 — Film Forum’s series of thirty films centering on women loving women is “eccentric, enduring, and genre-encompassing.”

Jan 14, 2022 — This week we’re watching and reading about Tom Noonan, Jean Vigo, Marie-Claude Treilhou, and Miklós Jancsó.

Mar 29, 2013 — When the world’s favorite comedian asked his audience to see him as a sociopathic serial killer, he was venturing where cinema had barely dared to tread.