Today's NYT reports this most recent attempt to influence American Catholics, this time by rapping the knuckles of newly-elected NY governor Andrew Cuomo.

A Call to Deny Communion to Cuomo

By THOMAS KAPLAN

Published: February 22, 2011

Claude Chabrol and Isabelle Huppert’s creative partnership was one of the most effective in French cinema : his intelligent, compassionate but scrupulously honest approach to storytelling found a superb complement in Huppert. In reviewing this film, 1988’s STORY OF W… Read full post »

I was feeling blue last night, and, on the cusp of a birthday, that isn't good. Fortunately, my DVR is chock full of diversions, and I finally settled on one: FUNNY GIRL. Now, I like Streisand, and 2:45 hours of her is a lot, but I needed entertainment, and one of… Read full post »

1958’s “The Quiet American,” based on the eminently filmable Graham Greene’s novel, was a history-making enterprise, the first American film made in Vietnam. It makes a historian’s heart beat faster to actually see French Indoc… Read full post »

 I'm reviewing some of the writing I've done over the past years about films I loved. These were all presentations before the film screening -- and I tend to find the forgotten, so perhaps these will be of use. 

Denys Arcand’s 1989 film, JESUS OF MONTREAL/… Read full post »

Yes, it's that time again: Phil Spector's Christmas album is absolutely my favorite holiday disc, and if there's a record with a more unusual history, I don't know it. Released November 22, 1963, it understandably had a slow start -- all of eleven, I remember that Christmas as so desperately sad,… Read full post »

You know you are holiday challenged when you start thinking of yourself as a sort of angry Scrooge figure -- last weekend  I caught a few moments of the less distinguished version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL  with Reginald Owen, which eliminates some of Dickens' most scathing moments to achieve th… Read full post »

Prompted by Lucy Mercer's beautiful post wherein she asked for favorite Christmas carols, I didn't have to think for long. I have many: years of singing in choirs gave me quite a few to choose from, and some great memories. Hard to forget the time our high school glee club sang… Read full post »

Christmas of 1965 brought DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, another of David Lean's splendid, visually stunning evocations of another time and place, this time Russia, caught up in the throes of revolution. If you were around then, no doubt you recall the impact of this big, handsome epic on the American consciousness… Read full post »

This weekend I am living through the end of a relationship, a breakup I initiated and have nearly completed. I thought I would be home free, since I knew it was necessary. The pain and the tears took me by surprise: I never saw them coming. Living on Lake Ontario's shore,… Read full post »

OK, fellow lovers of roadside kitsch: "Touchdown Jesus," a famous sight for motorists on Ohio's I- 75, is no more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jtU2LmnsCiWr7nQtlMQF4X0fyj0QD9GBNBT80

The six-story statue was struck by lightning and went up in flames. Like "Holy Land USA" near… Read full post »

Lena is gone.

From today's NYT:

 Looking back at the age of 80, Ms. Horne said: “My identity is very clear to me now. I am a black woman. I’m free. I no longer have to be a ‘credit.’ I don’t have to be a symbol to anybody; I don’t… Read full post »

As St. Patrick's Day approaches once more, oddly enough, love is on my mind. That and the luck that has buoyed me up many a time. A man I loved for decades passed through my life again,  and another, better,  kinder one, visited me as a wistful shade, a lover… Read full post »

Exactly, Your Holiness. 

Thanks to an Associated Press reporter, the big question about Tiger Woods, sometime Buddhist and remorseful corporate shill, and his extramarital adventures came up. But who knew it would put Tiger and his inflated ego in the proper perspect… Read full post »

Emboldened by my friends' comments, I think I'll post some of my favorite film  comments from recent times. Looks like it is still only available outside of the US, a shame for sure. But there's always TCM: 

I confess to a mad passion for James Mason, and Joan Bennett… Read full post »

 Another of my Eastman House talks. Found out I share a birthday with Vikki LaMotta, herself famous for a Playboy spread at age 51 (and she looked damn good, too). She passed on five years ago, but Jake is going strong at 88. He just came out against Ultimate Fighting, calling… Read full post »

 I often do film introductions at the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY, one of the world's great film archives. My late teacher, Jim Card, did them back in the early days. On this occasion, right after Christmas, an elderly man told me that his wife often said that "Even if… Read full post »

Lately I have become aware of the fascination others have with my avatar -- a few thoughts on that subject. My initial love of Pandora -- she of "all gifts" and the first woman, herself a gift from the gods --  went right along with my first grade musings  about how… Read full post »

Thanks to my friends (and your kind words supported me when my colleagues didn't - I now have a list of lovely people to read and write to). It only got worse this week, and I skipped the wan Christmas party my former friend aggressively promoted for her greater glory --… Read full post »

In my business, academia, betrayal is the norm if you aren't a killer yourself, which I refuse to be. The old adage about about people fighting most fiercely over the smallest things is always applied to academics. Where it gets particularly ugly is when friendships dissolve due to opportunism. I am… Read full post »

I am spending Thanksgiving quite alone this year, by choice and because it feels right. It would have been my father's 86th birthday; he passed away last February. In the past, Thanksgiving was a pleasant dual holiday -- as long as my father had a pie, he was a… Read full post »

I admit to being frankly delighted by Representative Alan Grayson's remarks concerning Republicans and their obstruction of health care reform.  It  is about time someone spoke their mind in a way that cut through the clutter that is the  so-called health care debate. It was startling… Read full post »

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