Category Archives: On Movies

Harrison Ford at 80

Harrison Ford is 80 years old today. He’s been one of my favorite actors–hell, for a lot of my youth he was my favorite actor–pretty much ever since I was aware of actors as actual people who had real names. Of course … Continue reading

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“The Force will be with you. Always.”

Forty-five years ago today, Star Wars opened in theaters. Here is a post I wrote in 2017 for the movie’s 40th anniversary. I didn’t see Star Wars on opening day. In truth I don’t even remember exactly when I saw … Continue reading

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“Think classy, and you’ll BE classy!”

Speaking of Bull Durham, here’s something I saw last week on The Athletic: Bull Durham has been my favorite baseball movie for pretty much forever (receipts!), so this particular promotion just makes me incredibly happy. It refers to one of the movie’s many … Continue reading

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Tone Poem Tuesday

A suite of film music today! We watched Avatar the other night, our first time watching it since we first saw it when the DVD came out after the movie’s initial release, way back in 2009 or 2010 or so. The … Continue reading

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May 4: Audrey, and Star Wars

Unrelated except by calendrical coincidence, it’s Audrey Hepburn’s birthday… …and, thanks to the pun May the Fourth be with you, it is also STAR WARS Day.  

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National Poetry Month, day 27: A Lesson from Mr. McLeod on “slipping the surly bonds of Earth”

I suppose there’s an entire genre that can be summed up as “Young person meets the teacher who unlocks their potential”. It’s a type of story that I’ve always warmed to, from Luke Skywalker seeking the wisdom of Ben Kenobi … Continue reading

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“I get why you shot him.” “Well, everyone tries at least once.” — Thoughts on NO TIME TO DIE

(NOTE: As this review heavily references ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE, I have revised and reposted my long essay about that film as well.) After a series of production false-starts, headaches, and then a global pandemic, No Time To Die, the … Continue reading

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“Thy dawn, O master of the world, thy dawn….”

A repost, with some revisions and additions throughout, to accompany my review of NO TIME TO DIE, which is coming tomorrow. I wrote this more than ten years ago, and if anything, my esteem for ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE … Continue reading

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“I’d rather have fewer spectacular theaters than tons of cheap little multiplexes.” –Douglas Trumbull

Filmmaker and special effects guru Douglas Trumbull died earlier this month. His body of work is not large, but its influence is gigantic. For filmgoers of a certain age and a certain disposition to genre–say, 50ish and inclined to fantasy and … Continue reading

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“So much of what we do is ephemeral and quickly forgotten, even by ourselves, so it’s gratifying to have something you have done linger in people’s memories.” — John Williams

John Williams was born ninety years ago today. I’ve written many times in the years I’ve been blogging about John Williams’s influence on my creative world. He has been a central figure in the cinematic stories that shaped my life … Continue reading

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