Jolie as Grendel’s Mother
Film Friday
I’m teaching Beowulf at the moment and of course my class wants to know what I think of the movie, by which they mean Robert Zemeckis’s animated 2007 version rather than the 2005 Swedish film Beowulf and Grendel. Neither is very good but it’s interesting to see what each does with [...]
Night of the Living Dead
Film Friday
Many of my students are fans of zombie movies (of all things). The genre has, in fact, taken off in recent years—a sure sign that one can never predict which symbol systems are going to grip our minds from one moment to the next (and why movie making will always [...]
Alicia Silverstone in Clueless
Film Friday
I’m currently preparing to teach a first year seminar on “Jane Austen and the Challenges Faced by Regency Teenagers.” For years it didn’t strike me forcefully enough that most of Jane Austen’s heroines are either teenagers or recent teenagers. That’s because (1) Austen heroines seem fully adult and (2) adolescence as [...]
Film Friday
In the spirit of the final weeks of summer when Americans are going to the beach and visiting theme parks, I thought I’d turn to a thoroughly enjoyable film where a magical transformation takes place at a carnival. The film is Penny Marshall’s Big (1988), starring Tom Hanks as a 13-year-old (Josh) who wakes [...]
Film Friday
Vic: What film are we talking about?
Lin: Does it matter what film?
Vic: Of course it does.
Lin: You choose then. Friday night. Not in a foreign language, ok. You don’t go to the movies to read.
[...]
Mel Gibson in Braveheart
Film Friday
Mel Gibson is in the news again with recorded rants against his girlfriend that are so vicious that even his ardent supporters are backing away. (You can learn about, and even listen to, the rants here but I advise caution.) I’ve never been a Gibson fan and this website ran an article critical [...]
Stand by Me (Rob Reiner, 1986)
Film Friday
First, a quick prayer of thanksgiving: my father, who is responsible for my love of literature and film, underwent successful surgery on a blocked artery Tuesday. He had been experiencing sharp pains and a stent was installed. Such are the miracles of modern medicine that, by Thursday morning, he [...]
Charlie Kane sold to a bank
Film Friday
Several weeks ago I wrote about the impact that the movie Citizen Kane had on my father in the months before he was drafted into the army in 1942. I was so fascinated by his response that I collaborated with him on an article about what Citizen Kane had [...]
Film Friday
There were no good adult movies in town last weekend so Julia and I went to see Toy Story III. Any superlatives thrown Pixar’s ways are well deserved. Toy Story III is a gem.
Like any good children’s story, it articulates a number of basic childhood fears, especially that of being abandoned, and then creates an [...]
