INHERENT VICE (2014) A title card in Inherent Vice references graffiti from a Paris wall in May of 1968, when French student and worker protests announced a social revolution there. That slogan — “Under the pavingstones, the beach!” — is about two forces pushing against one another, the cement on top eventually
7 Walks with Mark Brown is a documentary about French plants and the paleobotanist who loves them, and when I describe it that simply to friends, sometimes their eyes glaze over and they say something deadly like, “Oh… well, I guess that sounds nice.” 7 Walks is, of course, more
I woke up to a text from a friend letting me know that Radu Jude's latest film, Dracula, opens at the end of October. I admire Jude's films – his exuberantly long titles alone make me pretty happy: Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn; I Do Not
has nothing directly to do with what I'm writing about today. I just really enjoy Dr. Pepper and I couldn't find a decent picture to represent anything else.* I don’t often watch the Emmy Awards. I never know when they’re taking place. And because
There’s a terrible Google commercial featuring 26-year-old “Ted” asking Google AI to find him, very specifically, a “cool” music activity in his city that still gets him home at a reasonable hour. This Ted person is allegedly 26 years old. And cares about being home at a reasonable hour.
Fragments to follow. “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale.” It’s fine. I hope it’s the last one. As work vehicles for Hugh Bonneville go, it's almost as suitably cozy as the Paddington movies, and there are now three of both. If we're to vote on
The picture above was taken in July at the Los Angeles gallery CLEARING.* The artist's name is Henry Curchod and his immensely pleasurable show really knocked me out. Click on his name to see more. For now, we talk about galleries and how to enjoy them with me.
August is over. Time to watch a movie about it. Earlier this year, Alonso and I saw and reviewed “Grand Tour,” the latest film from Portuguese writer-director Miguel Gomes. Both of us loved it, so I went hunting for earlier films from Gomes that I hadn’t yet seen. “Our
Not long ago, someone posted this video to YouTube from a VHS recording. It’s 61 minutes long, from a Mudhoney show that I attended, May 12, 1989 at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies. It’s a fairly notorious show. The press – specifically
HEAVEN IS FOR REAL (2014) When Colton Burpo (played here by cherubic newcomer Connor Corum) was four years old, his appendix ruptured and he nearly died. On the operating table he experienced what he describes as Heaven. Not only did he go there, he met his great grandfather, as well
Quick one today. Go watch one of my favorite films of 2025, Jia Zhangke's "Caught By the Tides." Assembled from two decades of footage (alternate takes, scenes from earlier films, and b-roll) from his earlier films, it's a beautiful, not-fully-linear story of two people
Roberto Minervini knows it’s bad here, and how we got here, and he’s not even from here. An Italian writer-director who’s lived in the United States for quite some time, much of it spent working in Texas, he makes films that defies easy categorization, including early features