Category Archives: film

“Margaret” by Kenneth Lonergan

Thursday night I was walking with my parents on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. A woman walking behind us wearing a fake fur and with very, very blond hair, was talking in a normal voice on her phone, and we heard … Continue reading

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Arrival (review)

SPOILER ALERT! I’m gonna tell you pretty much everything that happens in this film. Thanksgiving weekend is a good time for movies, old and new. We saw Arrival two weeks ago, when it opened, and I started a review, but it was too early … Continue reading

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Hope

My sister has been staying with me the past ten days as I recover from surgery (three weeks ago). It’s been a really great time of visiting and she has leant her strength where I don’t have it. She has … Continue reading

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Miss Sharon Jones

Yesterday, Steve and I went on a date to Minneapolis. Our favorite dates go like this: Mass at the Basilica, brunch at Moose and Sadie’s, play at the Guthrie or movie at the Lagoon or Edina theater. Because the film … Continue reading

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Hail, Coens!

I am grateful for the Coen brothers. Watching their most recent film I couldn’t help but think of Woody Allen. That director’s angst over comedy vs. tragedy, and his nihilistic tendencies, make attending one of his movies a risk. It could be great, … Continue reading

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Journey of Hope– Pre-2015 immigration

Want to watch a sweet film about a Kurdish family from Turkey making their way to Western Europe? I recommend Journey of Hope, the 1990 Academy Award Winner for best foreign film. It’s a Swiss/Turkish collaboration and seen from the historical vantage point … Continue reading

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Hello 2016

The past few days I’ve been thinking about some kind of “best of 2015” post, and I have to say I didn’t get very far. Whatever I wanted to say about the year I think I said here already. One … Continue reading

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Eva and Ava: Dream Girls of the Future

If you read the film reviews on this site, you’ll know there are two kinds of films I love: AI/futuristic sic fi of a dystopian bent and foreign films (though not French so much). In the past week it’s been my … Continue reading

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Mysteries of Lisbon

It’s snowing like crazy outside, and so I’m settling in for a bonus day of writing. In this spirit, we enjoyed a long, challenging film this weekend, the 4 1/2 hour period piece by Raul Ruiz, Mysteries of Lisbon. I don’t know how … Continue reading

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Her: The Utopian Nightmare

We watched the Spike Jonze film Her on Saturday night. It’s about a man named Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) who has a romantic relationship with a computer operating system (OS). I wish I’d seen it on the big screen, in part because it … Continue reading

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