Category Archives: Advocacy

Golden Ear: Taylor Hackford and the Art of Popular Songs in Cinematic Mediocrity

robert-smith-cureNOTE: A slightly different version of this post first was published at FILMINQUIRY.COM, an independent film magazine.

As a person who came of age in the 1980s, I was lucky enough to witness some incredible cultural, societal and artistic developments. The fall of the Berlin Wall, for example. Chernobyl. The wedding of Charles and Diana. Feathered mullets. David Byrne‘s big suit. The “Velvet” Revolution. Cher‘s renaissance. Perestroika. “New” Coke. Pegged jeans. MTV before it sucked. The Soviet War in Afghanistan. Pac Man. The Sony Walkman. “Just Say No.” Madonna before she got old. The Cure before Robert Smith got fat.

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Hollywood and 9/11: An Uneasy Relationship

NOTE: A slightly different version of this post first was published at FILMINQUIRY.COM, an independent film magazine.

Recently, I had the chance to tour the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York City, which, as you can imagine, is quite a somber experience. Amid the thoughtfully presented exhibits, I started wondering about 9/11 as portrayed in film. Now, when I say “portrayed” I’m not talking tangentially, as when 9/11 is used to jumpstart plot (e.g., Zero Dark ThirtyReign Over MeJack Ryan: Shadow RecruitExtremely Loud and Incredibly Close, to name but a few), but rather films that use the terrible events of that day as their plots.

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Forgotten Gem: Steven Soderbergh’s KING OF THE HILL

NOTE: A slightly different version of this post first was published at FILMINQUIRY.COM, an independent film magazine.

Back in 1993, Steven Soderbergh, just off the disappointment that was his ambitious yet unloved second feature, Kafka, turned his attention to a property best described as a sure-thing, a money grab if you will: writer A. E. Hotchner’s despairing, yet uplifting, childhood memoir “King of the Hill”. Of course I jest.

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Father’s Day Spectacular!

The Conflicted Film Snob shares a special bond with his father. In fact, the bond is so special, I’ve never lied to him. Ever. That’s 45+ years we’re talking. All because of the bond. If you’re not familiar with the power of such a filial bond, or even question it’s existence, I’d recommend the following clip. Who better to explain its power than Albert Brooks, in a scene from his 1991 comedy Defending Your Life

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Four Sublime Weeks in 1994

No, I’m not about to describe some long-ago fling so get your mind out of the gutter. Rather, I’m going to wax nostalgic about the incredibly fecund 28-day period in the fall of 1994 that saw the release of three terrific films, all personal favorites of The Conflicted Film Snob and, in his humble opinion, all still as vibrant, entertaining and relevant as they were—good Lord, could it really be?—22 years ago.

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Forgotten/Ignored Gems #4 – War Correspondent Edition

Back on April 18, 1945, as the Battle of Okinawa raged in WWII’s Pacific Theatre, arguably the most beloved reporter in the field, Ernie Pyle, was felled by enemy fire. Nine years later, while covering the First Indochina War, photographer Robert Capa, a veteran of the Spanish Civil War, the Second Sino-Japanese War, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the man solely responsible for the only photos of D-Day’s first-wave landings, was killed by a landmine.

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The Mysterious Disappearance of Roland Joffé

Let’s pretend for a moment that you didn’t pass high-school English by the skin of your teeth and you actually spent some quality time with the poems of Emily Dickinson, specifically this one:

Fame is a fickle food
Upon a shifting plate

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Purple Rain Revisited

The untimely passing of His Royal Badness has offered up one bittersweet positive: various movie-theater chains are showing a limited engagement of Purple Rain (1984) on the big screen.

Back in the fall of 1984, at the tender age of 15, The Conflicted Film Snob was lucky enough to see the film with some friends during its original

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Rooftop Spectacular!

run-down-houseThe Conflicted Film Snob is getting a new roof today. That’s the good news. The bad new (in addition to the financial outlay) is that the noise is unbelievably distracting, as if a half-dozen man-sized woodpeckers were trying to breach the worn shingles in order to pluck me from my chair and eat me as a snack.

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B-Movie Cult Classics Unearthed Watching Late-Night HBO in College (Pt. 4)

Mike Figgis, wherefore art thou? For those of you who don’t recognize the name, Figgis had himself a nice little cinematic run for about a decade, his first success coming with 1988’s satisfyingly noirish Stormy Monday, which starred Melanie Griffith’s fiery red, downright explosive 80s hair (coiffure soon to be overshadowed by her turn in Working Girl), a very young Sean Bean, Tommy Lee Jones and, yes, our favorite history teacher turned golden rock God, Gordon Matthew Thomas “Sting” Sumner**…

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