Friday, December 6, 2024

On this day in movie history - Adaptation (2002)

Adaptation

directed by Spike Jonze,

written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman,

based on the book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean,

was released in the United States on December 6, 2002.

Music by Carter Burwell.

Cast:
Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Cara Seymour, Brian Cox, Tilda Swinton, Ron Livingston, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Judy Greer, Bob Yerkes, Jim Beaver, Litefoot, Jay Tavare, Doug Jones, Peter Jason, John Cusack, Catherine Keener, John Malkovich, Lance Acord, Spike Jonze, Doug Jones, Curtis Hanson, David O. Russell.

On this day in movie history - Out of the Furnace (2013)

 

Out of the Furnace

directed by Scott Cooper,

written by Brad Ingelsby and Scott Cooper,

was released in the United States on December 6, 2013.

Music by Dickon Hinchliffe.

Cast:
Christian Bale, Woody Harrelson, Dendrie Taylor, Carl Ciarfalio, Nancy Mosser, Casey Affleck, Zoe Saldana, Sam Shepard, Bingo O’Malley, Tom Bower, Willem Dafoe, Bobby Wolfe, Charles David Richards, Forest Whitaker, John W. Kleer, Boyd Holbrook, Corey Rieger, Jack Erdie, Gordon Michaels, Jason Greear, Elias Lemon, Tommy Lafitte, Angela Kauffman, Tony Amen, Diedra Arthur-O’Ree, Matt Baker, Tiffany Bell.

Monday, November 18, 2024

Recommended reading - In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash

 
In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash

by Jean Shepherd.
 
Filmed as A Christmas Story (1983), directed by Bob Clark.
 
Published by Broadway Books.
Published 1966.
Paperback.
ISBN-10: 0385021747
ISBN-13: 978-0385021746
 
Description:
 
A collection of humorous and nostalgic Americana stories – the beloved, bestselling classics that inspired the movie A Christmas Story.
 
Before Garrison Keillor and Spalding Gray there was Jean a master monologist and writer who spun the materials of his all-American childhood into immensely resonant – and utterly hilarious – works of comic art. In God We All Others Pay Cash represents one of the peaks of his achievement, a compound of irony, affection, and perfect detail that speaks across generations.
 
In God We Trust, Shepherd's wildly witty reunion with his Indiana hometown, disproves the adage “You can never go back.” Bending the ear of Flick, his childhood-buddy-turned-bartender, Shepherd recalls passionately his genuine Red Ryder BB gun, confesses adolescent failure in the arms of Junie Jo Prewitt, and relives a story of man against fish that not even Hemingway could rival. From pop art to the World's Fair, Shepherd's subjects speak with a universal irony and are deeply and unabashedly grounded in American Midwestern life, together rendering a wonderfully nostalgic impression of a more innocent era when life was good, fun was clean, and station wagons roamed the earth.
 
A comic genius who bridged the gap between James Thurber and David Sedaris, Shepherd may have accomplished for Holden, Indiana, what Mark Twain did for Hannibal, Missouri.
 
“Shepherd has a fine eye for absurdity, for the madness and idiocy in all of us.” – Best Sellers.


Friday, November 1, 2024

Anaïs Nin, on writing:


 We write to taste life twice, in the moment, and in retrospection.
- Anaïs Nin.


Wednesday, October 16, 2024

On this day in movie history - Barfly (1987)

 

Barfly


directed by Barbet Schroeder,

written by Charles Bukowski,

was released in the United States on October 16, 1987.

Music by Jack Baran.

 
Cast:
Mickey Rourke, Faye Dunaway, Alice Krige, Jack Nance, J.C. Quinn, Frank Stallone, Sandy Martin, Roberta Bassin, Gloria LeRoy, Joe Unger, Harry Cohn, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Joe Rice, Julie ‘Sunny’ Pearson, Donald L. Norden, Wil Albert, Hal Shafer, Zeke Manners, Pearl Shear, Rik Colitti, Michael Collins, Ronald G. Joseph, Damon Hines, Lahmard J. Tate, Gary Carlos Cervantes, Peter Conti, Vance Colvig Jr., Stacey Pickren, Leonard Termo, Gary Cox, Fritz Feld, Albert Henderson, Sandy Rose, Madalyn Carol, George Marshall Ruge, Debby Lynn Ross, Charles Bukowski, John Forker.