Beltmann

Happy Easter!

Had my second shot yesterday (while wearing my Summerteeth t-shirt) and spent quite a bit of time thinking about (and mimicking) Jeff's arm exercises!

Over spring break I shared quite a few movies with my 13-year-old boy, including Airplane!, The Pride of the Yankees, 42, Ford v Ferrari, The Call of the Wild, and The Journey of Natty Gann (which, I remain persuaded, is one of the most underrated Disney live-action features). Best of all? We enjoyed a big-screen experience with The Wizard of Oz, which he had never seen before. (He always resisted my overtures, and you can't force these things.) Damn straight I lied and warned him the whole thing was black and white. And damn straight that key moment when Dorothy opens the door to Oz still has

A few days ago I watched Slacker for the umpteenth time because I’m reading Melissa Maerz’s book Alright, Alright, Alright: The Oral History of Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused and the opening section contains roughly 50 wonderfully detailed pages about Slacker, Linklater's 1991 indie breakthrough. The film, which was made for $23,000 and has no plot, captures in amber the specific misfit subculture of Austin, Texas in the Nineties. The movie always peters out for me, but I nevertheless remain fascinated by its shaggy ambience and its baton-passing structure, which lets more than 80 char

I've been a huge Demme fan since the late '80s. He surely made many great docs (Stop Making Sense is a landmark), but he is perhaps better known for his narrative features. Both Philadelphia and Silence of the Lambs made massive cultural waves (Silence swept all five major Oscars!). Even better, to my eyes, is 1986's Something Wild, which was my introduction to Demme and ranks among the greatest of American movies. I don't want to write an essay here, so I'll just say that there must have been a divine alchemy at work in Something Wild--how did one film get so lucky with its perfect script, pe

u2roolz, I was fortunate to catch Black Bear as part of a virtual film festival. It was the first movie that I screened, and it speaks to the film's originality that it somehow remained near the top of my mind as I navigated another 74 feature films! I, too, really liked The Vast of Night. Sound is elevated to a fascinating motif, whether it means speaking (the rat-a-tat dialogue is a compendium of ‘50s slang), listening (there are several long monologues, including one over a black screen), or recording (remember reel-to-reel machines?). But the visuals are often captivating, too, especi

Usmar Ismail's After the Curfew (1954) is a politically tense Indonesian drama that charts the PTSD of a returned soldier who had been ordered to commit war crimes during the tumultuous period after the nation declared independence from the Netherlands in 1945. While watching, I couldn’t help but think of The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), William Wyler’s celebrated portrait of WWII vets facing domestic challenges (and a quick search confirmed that Wyler’s film was indeed an influence on Ismail). But I also thought about The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence, Joshua Oppenheimer’s nonfict

My first screening of 2021 was The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. This new re-edit of The Godfather Part III confirms my view that part three is a highly personal, long underappreciated piece of the saga. Overall, the changes are relatively few but significant. The opening is dramatically different (the knighting ceremony is gone) but more streamlined. The ending, with an aged Michael alone in a chair, has been shortened but the edits radically change the meaning of both the scene and the movie. It's better, more tragic.

Of course I was there. I'm always hungry!

I had a full head of hair when this thing started! It's been great keeping up with you, too.

Seconded. HUGE thanks! They have become an essential reference for me!

Through happenstance, I noticed that today marks 16 years since I joined this forum as an unbridled enthusiast for all things Wilco. Today I remain deeply devoted to Wilco. They are still my favorite band. I respond deeply to their music, of course, but that's only a starting point and not the main reason why they top my list; after all, I can think of another dozen bands with records that I love equally, maybe more. But a “band” is more than just a collection of songs. The reason Wilco tops my list is because of the total package and all of the ancillary details: The m

I've been slowly working my way through Criterion's massive Ingmar Bergman box set. Most of the titles have been repeat viewings, but the early work “Port of Call” (1948) was new to me and rather surprising since Bergman chose to operate in an unusual register. The story, which concerns a young woman hesitant to tell her new beau about her checkered past, might be too melodramatic for, say, Rossellini, but the visual style, quotidian details, and focus on class and culture were clearly inspired by the traits and philosophy of neorealism. I also took another look at “Cries and Whispers” (1972).

You need to start pulling your weight around here, pal.

When I was 17, I set out to do the same. (This was 1991 and the VHS era.) Thankfully, the local video store had a Friday special that let you rent five catalog movies for five bucks for five days! I launched similar quests for Best Foreign Language Oscar winners, Most Controversial Movies Ever, etc. It was a great way to be introduced to some of the great artists of cinema history.

Agreed. At the start, the comments were fun, but they have become increasingly less so. While it's still nice to see familiar names, I've pretty much tuned out the comments (and limited my own).

I was thrilled to finally hear "Quarters" Thursday. It's one of my favorite Jeff tunes, and I had requested it every night for weeks (but not last night!).

I've asked for "Quarters" every night for several weeks now. Long shot, I know, but it seems like the Tweedy couch might be the perfect setting for that song. And it's among my favorite Jeff songs--it reminds me of my grandfather, who died about a week before my wedding in 1994.

Susie just asked u2roolz for permission to use the recaps as part of her YouTube channel!

Love those shirts. I wore them on back-to-back days. I ended the second video by saying, "And yes, I do actually have TWO of these shirts, one orange and one yellow."

I posted this over at the Shot in the Arm FB page and thought I'd share it here, too. On the first day of distance teaching, I promised my students that I would wear a different Wilco shirt for each video lesson.

I was there, too! That's still one of my favorite concert-going memories, seeing two of my favorite bands at the time back-to-back. (I was almost 30, but felt giddy as a 15-year-old.) As for the news about Adam, I'm still reeling. (Just last week I was watching an old FoW DVD, a concert film called "No Better Place: Live in Chicago.")

I thought your joke was very funny! Laughed out loud.

Day 4 is going right now. All four days have been gems. Lots of music, lots of banter, lots of hanging out.

Thanks for that jambase link, nalafej and theashtraysays! That's going to prove very useful.