Movie Review: The Bad Sleep Well

1960. Starring Toshiro Mifune. Directed by Akira Kurosawa. The great Toshiro Mifune plays Nishi, an ambitious corporate assistant eager to climb the ladder of a shady land development company, going so far as to marry the chairman’s daughter. But unlike the other bureaucrats and salarymen who bow and scrape as part of their job, Nishi doesn’t want the respect of his father-in-law or the money that comes with his position. He wants revenge. Kurosawa’s The Bad Sleep Well has many of the elements found in American film noir, but instead of focusing on human corruption, it peels back the corruption …

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Movie Review: The Lady Eve

1941. Starring Henry Fonda, Barbara Stanwyck. Directed by Preston Sturges. There’s no better cure for a dark, rainy, depressing day than a Preston Sturges film. The Lady Eve is one of his best. Henry Fonda stars as snake expert Charles Pike, who, although heir to the Pike’s Pale fortune (“Pike’s Pale – The Ale That Won For Yale!”), doesn’t know much about ale or beer, and even less about women. As he states many times, he “just spent a year up the Amazon” and is returning with a newly discovered type of snake. But Charles is about to meet a …

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Movie Review: Gonzo, The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

2008. Directed by Alex Gibney. It was impossible, eventually, to tell Hunter S. Thompson, the journalist, from Hunter S. Thompson, the legend, and that was problematic. “Not only was I not necessary, I was in the way,” he explains in his familiar monotone mumble. The drinking had become expected, the drugs required, the guns were fired randomly, providing the dangerous edge, now that his writing wasn’t supplying it. The rebel celebrity had outlived the rebel insight, but, after years of drug use and alcohol abuse, he still controlled the narrative. He knew how to wrap up his story. This remarkable …

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Happy Six Months

Today marks six months since I quit my job. I’m happy to be able to say that I haven’t felt a bit of regret. Sure, when I go to pay rent every month, I wish I still had a paycheck I could turn over. But I don’t miss spending my days with bitter and unfriendly people. In a weird way, I miss the routine, but I’m working on a more-positive one, thinking of ways I can make and save money, applying for jobs, writing and communicating with creative and encouraging friends I’d neglected. Quitting at the start of a recession …

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Passings: Lux Interior

Back in the ’80s, music was pathetic. There are very few exceptions — the world was obsessed with MTV, and artists like Michael Jackson and Madonna dominated radio, and if you didn’t like it, there was always yacht-rock captains like Christopher Cross. There was also new wave, which to some was an attempt to make punk more acceptable, more popular. I bought many records that had guys wearing makeup on the cover and playing weak-sounding keyboards on the record. Then one glorious day, I bought a strange record with a slightly ominous-looking cover photo. Songs the Lord Taught Us was …

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