The art of losing isn’t hard to master; so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster. – from “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop Caring about anything is always a risk, because, as Elizabeth Bishop said, the art of losing […]
Moving house is one of the most dangerous things you can do in horror movies, asking for trouble as surely as having premarital sex, toking up, or going down to the basement to check the fuses. So, naturally, Sean Byrne’s 2015 film The Devil’s Candy follows the Hellman […]
I’d like to introduce you to one of India’s greatest movie superstars. Active from around 1950 to 1980, Uttam Kumar is still the biggest name in the popular cinema made in Calcutta. The term “matinee idol” doesn’t imply enough scope or staying power to describe his career, and […]
Sometimes I have a terrible suspicion that my favorite Halloween movie is actually Halloween III: Season of the Witch. For a long time, after being forced to downsize my movie collection in a move, Halloween III was the only film in the series I bothered to repurchase. Before […]
I think I probably watched the original Star Wars movies about 30 times when I was a kid. Given that, you’d think I’d have given the Star Wars philosophy some serious thought and in some ways I did, but there were also things that I just accepted without […]
One of the greatest joys in my life is coming across almost ineffable wonder. I take pleasure in the good and the bad, sure, but there are wonders in this world. There is art that transcends our petty categories of “good” and “bad.” Things I find difficult or […]