Remembering the USS Indianapolis, Robert Shaw and The Scene
Sean MurphyOn July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis, which had just delivered key components of the Hiroshima atomic bomb to the Pacific island of Tinian, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine.…
Remembering (and Celebrating) The Kids In The Hall
This weekend PopMatters is revisiting an outstanding feature from a couple of years ago: The Best of TV on DVD. Definitely worth checking out. My entry, below, was on the gone…
You See This Sign?: Appreciating ‘Five Easy Pieces’
MacMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest; Jake Gittes in Chinatown; Jack “Here’s Johnny!” Torrence in The Shining—these aren’t characters from famous movies, they are permanent fixtures of American…
Being the Ball: What We Talk About When We Talk About ‘Caddyshack’
Well…we’re waiting! Actually, you already read this review. You already wrote this review. You can easily recall, now, when it occurred to you, sometime between the fifth or fifteenth (or…
‘Walkabout’ Is the Rarest of Films That Will Change Your Life Again Every Time You Return to It
There are those special movies that change your life after you’ve seen them. Then there are the almost miraculous movies that stay inside you and then change your life again…
They Lived This Way Because Nobody Else Could
My vices protect me but they would assassinate you! That is from Mark Twain, a man who talked the talk, walked the walk, drank the drank and, for good measure, smoked the…
A Serious Mess
First off, full disclosure. I don't exactly have a love/hate relationship with the Coen Brothers, because there is too much gray area. Some of their movies I love without reservation (Raising…
There Already Was Blood (Part One)
I wasn't trying to be a hero. Picking the "best" (you have to put that word in italics for a variety of obvious reasons) 50 albums of the last decade…
I’m In Love!
I'm in love! No, not really. But I am in love with this movie (Sunshine Cleaning), the writer (Megan Holley) and especially the two leading ladies, Amy Adams and Emily…
Ballast: See This Movie
Remember the last movie you saw that didn't hit a false note and managed to effortlessly convey important things that you knew (even if you didn't know that you knew…