Y’all, I need to be up-front about something. You probably shouldn’t watch this movie. I had vague memories of enjoying it as a young teenager, knew the science was absurd enough to provide plenty of material for this column, and will watch anything with David Duchovny. But it’s a terrible movie. The soundtrack includes...
Alice: Number One Son
Keye Luke, the actor who plays the mysterious Dr. Yang in Alice, has quite the Hollywood story. Making his debut in the 1934 Garbo vehicle The Painted Veil, Luke quickly established himself as a character actor with his recurring role in the popular Charlie Chan pictures, where he played opposite Warren Oland as “Number One Son”....
Alice: Clarinet Jazz, the Sound of Cinematic Estrangement
Taking on Alice was a choice made in an effort to overcome certain cinematic prejudices that I’ve developed over the years. So far, it’s been an interesting journey. I’ve learned a lot about myself, and come to a new, uneasy understanding (and begrudging occasional appreciation) of Woody Allen’s work. However, some things are just facts. One...
Enemy: Ode à Ma Mere
This week, we’re watching Denis Villeneuve’s Enemy. A particularly memorable scene features this image of an enormous spider strolling through Toronto. If this spider is familiar, it’s because it looks just like sculptor Louise Bourgeois’ Maman that lives at the Tate Modern in London. As the title implies, Maman is for Bourgeois’ mother “because my best friend was my mother and she was deliberate,...
Alternate Realities: A Multidimensional Man
“You’re traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That’s the signpost up ahead – your next stop, the Twilight Zone!” There are few who aren’t familiar with Rod Serling’s opening intonations on his brainchild, The Twilight...